6.3. Vice President of Manufacturing

Job description

**About Phoenix Tailings** Phoenix Tailings is a U.S.-based rare earth metals company building the most technologically advanced rare earth manufacturing platform in the world. The company develops and deploys breakthrough technologies across chemistry, industrial hardware, and digital infrastructure to produce rare earth metals and critical materials domestically at lower cost, higher efficiency, and greater scale. We operate a fully integrated rare earth production platform spanning extraction, separation, refining, and metallization with a zero waste and zero emissions philosophy. The company is focused on restoring America's leadership in critical minerals and building the foundation for a secure domestic supply chain powering defense, energy, robotics, aerospace, and advanced manufacturing. **Why Phoenix Tailings** At Phoenix, we believe nothing great is ever accomplished alone - or without the passion of people who push and motivate one another. You’ll be joining a team building the **foundational infrastructure for the modern world**, developing entirely new ways to produce rare earth and critical metals domestically, cleanly, and at scale. **Our Values:** ● *You are only crazy if you are wrong, it’s ok to be wrong* ● *Lead with Compassion* ● *Be Resourceful* ● *Listen* ● *Hustle* **About the Role** Phoenix Tailings is looking for a **Vice President of Manufacturing** to lead the scale-up, performance, and expansion of our rare earth metals manufacturing operations, beginning with our Exeter facility and extending to future production sites. This leader will be responsible for transforming first-of-its-kind production processes into safe, reliable, high-throughput, and economically competitive manufacturing systems. You will establish the operating discipline, manufacturing organization, continuous improvement systems, and production standards required to move from early commercial production to a repeatable manufacturing model that can be deployed at increasing scale. We are looking for a manufacturing executive who has built and scaled complex industrial operations, understands how to create stability in new production processes, and can bring the rigor of world-class manufacturing to technology that has never before been produced at this scale. ### Key Responsibilities: - Lead the scale-up of Phoenix Tailings' rare earth metals manufacturing operations, establishing the systems and production capabilities required to move first-of-its-kind processes into sustained commercial production. - Own manufacturing performance across safety, throughput, yield, quality, reliability, cost, labor productivity, and schedule attainment, driving measurable improvements as production volumes increase. - Develop and execute the manufacturing strategy for Exeter and future facilities, creating repeatable operating models, production standards, and processes that can be replicated as Phoenix expands. - Build and lead a high-performing manufacturing organization across operations, manufacturing engineering, production leadership, maintenance, and continuous improvement. - Establish Lean and Six Sigma operating systems, using statistical process control, structured problem solving, process capability, root-cause analysis, and data-driven improvement to reduce variation and strengthen production performance. - Drive production readiness and ramp-up for new equipment, process technologies, product introductions, and capacity expansions, ensuring manufacturing systems can reliably achieve target performance. - Create scalable systems for production planning, workforce development, standard work, operating procedures, maintenance, performance management, and manufacturing governance. - Identify and eliminate constraints across equipment, process flow, materials, labor, and operating systems to increase production capacity while maintaining safety, quality, and process control. - Partner with engineering and technology teams to transition developing rare earth processes into robust manufacturing systems designed for repeatability, maintainability, automation, and scale. - Define the manufacturing roadmap required to expand Phoenix's production footprint beyond Exeter and establish the operational foundation for a large-scale domestic rare earth metals industry. ### Qualifications: - Bachelor's, Master's or PHD in Engineering or a related technical discipline; advanced technical or business degree is a plus. - 15+ years of progressive leadership experience in manufacturing, operations, production, or industrial engineering within metals, mining, minerals processing, chemical processing, advanced materials, or another complex process industry. - Demonstrated experience scaling new or technically complex manufacturing processes from initial production through high-volume, stable commercial operations. - Proven experience leading manufacturing organizations through significant capacity expansion, facility ramp-up, process industrialization, or multi-site growth. - Strong background in Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma methodologies; Six Sigma Black Belt or Master Black Belt certification is strongly preferred. - Demonstrated ability to use statistical process control, process capability, production data, root-cause analysis, and structured continuous improvement to improve yield, throughput, reliability, quality, and cost. - Deep understanding of manufacturing systems, production planning, equipment reliability, maintenance, quality, workforce development, operational excellence, and manufacturing economics. - Proven ability to build and develop manufacturing leadership teams while establishing the culture, systems, and accountability required to operate effectively in a rapidly scaling industrial environment. - Experience working with first-of-its-kind technologies, new process commercialization, or manufacturing environments where production systems must be developed and improved while operating. - Executive-level judgment and communication skills, with the ability to translate manufacturing performance, operational risks, capacity requirements, and investment needs into clear business decisions. ### What we Offer This pay range reflects best estimate for the total cash compensation which includes salary + discretionary bonus for this role. Total package may vary based on experience and qualifications. Pay Range: $200,000- $300,000 total cash compensation plus equity - **Healthcare:** 100% Medical, dental, and vision coverage for employee. - **Stock Options:** Ownership in a fast-growing venture-backed company. - **Time Off:** Unlimited PTO. - **Learning:** Learning and development opportunities to grow your skills and career.