The Resident Regional Manufacturing Leader is the senior executive authority representing the company within the Contract Manufacturing (CM) partner’s facility. This is a resident role requiring a permanent on-site presence to oversee the high-velocity, hyperscale production of L10 (node-to-chassis) and L11 (full-rack integration) server infrastructure.
You will lead a dedicated cross-functional team to drive daily governance of quality, capacity, and materials. You serve as the lead commander for the On-Site War Room, ensuring that all production remains on schedule and that "Copy-Exact" standards are never compromised during rapid growth phases.
On-Site Leadership & Crisis Management
- Manufacturing Floor Authority: Provide daily, hands-on leadership at the CM facility. You are the "eyes and ears" of the organization, ensuring the CM adheres to proprietary assembly, safety, and test protocols.
- Delivery War Room: Establish and lead the on-site War Room for all production excursions, material shortages, or quality failures impacting delivery commits. Coordinate your team to drive immediate resolution and provide real-time risk assessments to global leadership.
- Team Management: Direct and mentor a resident team of Quality Engineers, Process Engineers, and Manufacturing Program Managers (FPMs). Ensure they are effectively auditing the CM’s performance and engineering changes.
- Partner Governance: Manage the daily relationship with CM senior leadership (Plant Manager/VP of Ops) to ensure hyperscale volume receives top-tier priority in labor allocation and equipment utilization.
Capacity Planning & Scalability (L10 & L11)
- Infrastructure Roadmap: Lead long-range capacity modeling for L10 and L11 production. Ensure the facility has the requisite square footage, specialized lifting equipment, and high-density power/cooling to meet 3-year growth forecasts.
- Test Cell Scaling: Manage the expansion of L11 Test capacity. Calculate "Rack-Hours" to ensure sufficient power-shrouds, network switch ports, and diagnostic infrastructure to validate thousands of racks simultaneously.
- Burst Strategy: Develop and test "Surge Plans" on-site to scale throughput by 30–50% within a single quarter to support hyperscale data center "turn-ups."
Quality, Debug & Process Engineering
- Technical Root Cause: Lead on-site 8D investigations for complex hardware/firmware failures. Use debug tools and interpret test logs to trace failures back to specific assembly steps or sub-tier component defects.
- Preventative Governance: Drive the use of FMEA (Failure Mode and Effects Analysis) and DOE (Design of Experiments) through your team to mitigate potential rack-level failures before volume production.
- Process Optimization: Continuously refine manufacturing flow to reduce "Touch Time" per rack, utilizing Lean methodologies to optimize the transition from L10 node-loading to L11 final cabling and functional Test.
- Statistical Control: Implement Statistical Process Control (SPC) to monitor production "drift" and ensure every rack is built to the exact same global standard
Cross-Functional Operations: Materials & Business Audit
- Shortage & Allocation Strategy: Drive daily "Clear to Build" (CTB) visibility. Manage on-site material shortages, ensuring that "Golden Screws" (CPUs, GPUs, ASICs) are allocated to the most critical builds.
- Labor & Overhead Auditing: Conduct regular audits of the CM’s labor run-rates and overhead utilization. Ensure the Manufacturing is appropriately staffed and that quoted overhead aligns with actual floor operations. \
- Inventory Velocity: Oversee the flow of consigned and turnkey materials on the floor to maximize inventory turns and minimize liability.
Requirements & Qualifications
- Education: BS in Industrial, Mechanical, or Electrical Engineering (Required); MBA or MS in Operations Management (Preferred).
- Technical Certification: Six Sigma Black Belt (Required). Demonstrated experience applying DMAIC to high-volume electronic assembly.
- Experience: 12+ years in manufacturing leadership, with 5+ years specifically managing Tier-1 CMs (e.g., Foxconn, Quanta, Jabil, Celestica) at hyperscale volumes.
- Subject Matter Expertise: Deep understanding of server architectures, DC power distribution, and L11 functional testing/software provisioning.
- Presence: Must be able to work daily and indefinitely on-site at the designated CM facility.
