Production Progam Manager, OpticsActive$194K

The Optics Production Program Manager will support the Director of Optics Production play a critical role in scaling and sustaining production of precision optical assemblies for advanced defense systems. This role owns the execution rhythm across the internal and external value…

What you'll do

• Drive Accountability: Drive initiatives across the optical production value stream which are aligned with our production and growth objectives to enhance production efficiency, scalability, and cost effectiveness. Assign tasks, set deadlines, track completion, and hold internal teams and external vendors accountable for delivering on commitments. Run regular cadences to ensure follow-through.

• Production Execution & Coordination: Track build schedules, monitor work-in-process, and support the Director of production through coordinating across teams to resolve blockers and maintain on track to the Operating plan.

• Supplier Execution Management: Serve as the focal point between external optical suppliers and internal supply and production teams to orchestrate material flow, ensure delivery performance, action closure, and issue resolution. Track multi-tiered supplier schedules, manage expedites, escalate shortages, and drive vendors to meet production requirements.

• Special Projects: Lead internal special projects as directed — production line moves, capacity expansion initiatives, vertical integration, new tooling or fixture introductions, process qualification efforts, and other cross-functional initiatives critical to scaling optical production.

• Cross-Functional Program Coordination: Act as the connective tissue between engineering, supply chain, manufacturing, quality, and program leadership — ensuring that design changes, quality escapes, supplier issues, and capacity shifts are communicated and addressed with urgency.

• Resource & Cost Management: M anage and oversee transactional material flow between multi-tiered supply, ensuring accurate cost accounting and price visibility in coordination with finance. Ensure appropriate allocation of materials, labor and equipment to meet production goals. Monitor project budgets, track progress and ensure we are continually focused on solving the largest problems to improve the bottom line

What they're looking for

• Metrics, Reporting & Risk Escalation: Maintain production dashboards tracking on-time delivery, open actions, supplier performance, and work order status. Proactively identify risks to production schedules and flag them early with proposed mitigations, ensuring transparency across programs.