Director, Production Support Operations

SpaceX was founded under the belief that a future where humanity is out exploring the stars is fundamentally more exciting than one where we are not. Today SpaceX is actively developing the technologies to make this possible, with the ultimate goal of enabling human life on Mars.

DIRECTOR, PRODUCTION SUPPORT OPERATIONS

The Production Support Director has a diverse scope that is critical to ensuring smooth and efficient plant operations. Main areas of responsibility are focused on all the enabling and supporting processes including; Critical Lift operations, Production and Facility Maintenance which includes Fluid systems and Automation and Control teams, Production Tooling and Vehicle Fleet Management and Maintenance.

Leading teams with vertically integrated supporting staff, the Director will be responsible for managing all asset performance and reliability risks that could adversely affect factory or business operations. As production develops and increases rate the team's goals are to achieve maximum asset and system up-time by implementing and executing plans to ensure the facility and services are always in peak condition, and to ensure Critical lift team services the site operations efficiently and minimizes production losses as well as optimize fleet effectivity.

RESPONSIBILITIES: 

• Lead the diverse supporting teams, and ensure that projects are designed and analyzed to maintain and improve safety, increase production rate, reduce critical path machine downtime, and promote long-term reliability.
• Maintain company leading spare parts management system, including but not limited to, asset-level demand signals, sourcing process optimization/execution, and warehousing methodology.
• Ensure that employees have the training, tools and materials they need to safely carry out their duties. Work with EH&S and Supply Chain to ensure all internal resources follow SpaceX best practices.
• Collaborate with design teams and provide feedback pertaining to Equipment design for manufacturing, with fit for purpose solutions that ensure new tooling and production equipment is user friendly, with high reliability and sustainability, including all Mech, Electrical, fluid systems and automations and control systems.
• Work with Engineering partners to improve quality and efficiency of all critical lift operations
• Initiate data-driven asset decisions that reduce production overhead and increase reliability through IoT-device campaigns, conditionally triggered machine events, and optimization of preventative planning for all supporting equipment, including Production equipment, CLT equipment, Fleet equipment and fluid/gas facilities.
• Motivate team members to take ownership of their projects, and promote collaboration between team members.
• Perform and execute in-depth reliability study driven improvement campaigns on the company’s greatest production asset risks.
• Implement and maintain detailed asset onboarding workflow for both vendor-purchased and internally designed controlled equipment; own record creation and active management system for all SpaceX controlled equipment.
• Develop and submit budget with ROI for proposed asset upgrade projects.
• Collaborate with business partners to drive change where necessary to improve asset reliability and operational efficiency.

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor’s degree in an engineering field or at least 8+ years of experience in a production/military/automotive environment.
• 5+ years of experience in a manufacturing/engineering leadership role.
• 2+ years of experience in a managerial role overseeing both direct and indirect reports.

PREFERRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:

• Proven track record of building, motivating, mentoring, and coaching high performance manufacturing teams.
• Technical project management experience.
• Excellent technical expertise and judgement across multiple engineering disciplines permitting peer-level review of your team’s work product.
• Creative problem solver that can bring multiple disciplines together.
• Ability to assess risk and make development decisions without all available data.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills with direct experience negotiating integrated system trades between various stakeholders.
• Experience working with cross-functional teams and external customers or vendors.
• Highly detail oriented and passionate about advancing the commercial space industry.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced, autonomously driven, and demanding start-up atmosphere.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS:

• Ability to work in outdoor environments as needed.
• Must be willing to work extended hours and/or weekends as needed to meet critical deliverable and launch/test schedule timelines.
• Able to travel for short and extended trips as needed (up to 10% travel).

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS:

Pay range:         

Production Support, Director: $185,000.00 - $230,000.00/per year   

Your actual level and base salary will be determined on a case-by-case basis and may vary based on the following considerations: job-related knowledge and skills, education, and experience.

Base salary is just one part of your total rewards package at SpaceX. You may also be eligible for long-term incentives, in the form of company stock, stock options, or long-term cash awards, as well as potential discretionary bonuses and the ability to purchase additional stock at a discount through an Employee Stock Purchase Plan. You will also receive access to comprehensive medical, vision, and dental coverage, access to a 401(k) retirement plan, short and long-term disability insurance, life insurance, paid parental leave, and various other discounts and perks. You may also accrue 4 weeks of paid vacation and will be eligible for 10 or more paid holidays per year. Exempt employees are eligible for 5 days of sick leave per year.    

ITAR REQUIREMENTS:

• To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful, permanent resident (aka green card holder), (iii) Refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) Asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about the ITAR here.  

SpaceX is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with SpaceX is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.

Applicants wishing to view a copy of SpaceX’s Affirmative Action Plan for veterans and individuals with disabilities, or applicants requiring reasonable accommodation to the application/interview process should notify the Human Resources Department at (310) 363-6000.