Build Operations Manager

Job description

WHAT TO EXPECT Heron Power is a startup company building cutting-edge power electronics for the 21st-century grid. We aim to debottleneck the growth of electricity generation and consumption with scalable, innovative, and less costly hardware solutions, accelerating the electrification of everything. Our first focus goal is to build better converters to connect large-scale renewables, storage, and loads to the grid. Heron Power's leadership team is made up of seasoned veterans who have designed and shipped gigawatts of power conversion products over the past decade. We understand that no one individual knows everything. We will all learn a lot together and from each other. We strive to build a collaborative, enriching environment conducive to personal, technical, and career growth. You can expect to work in a dynamic and collaborative environment, driven by first principles engineering, solving difficult problems. JOB OVERVIEW Heron Power's engineering organization is scaling from prototype builds to volume production, and this role owns that transition. We seek a builder, first and foremost — someone who thrives in a prototyping environment, gets energy from ambiguity and pioneering paths forward as processes take shape, and is genuinely at home on a factory floor. You'll lead the pilot build technician team and define the program-level process that turns engineering designs into buildable, repeatable, high-quality hardware — and you won't be afraid to get your hands dirty doing it. This is both a people-leadership role and a program-ownership role. Beyond hiring and developing the technician team, you lead the prototype program itself: build readiness, schedule, ramp-to-volume execution, and the handoff of manufacturing processes to the production plant. You will work daily across design engineering, EPMs, manufacturing engineering, supply chain, and quality to keep every build coordinated instead of executed in isolation. You are expected to operate with a “no surprises” standard — surfacing schedule, quality, and resourcing risk before it costs a build day, and be accountable to build status for each active program. As Heron scales toward high-volume production, we expect this role to grow with the company — including a potential path to Head of Production for the right person. HOW YOU WILL CONTRIBUTE - Own end-to-end build program execution of prototype and early engineering builds, including schedule, resourcing, and readiness gates, and driving ramp-to-volume strategy. - Build and lead the organization — hire, manage, and develop the pilot technician team, scaling structure and career paths as build volume and program count grow. - Serve as the cross-functional glue for every build, coordinating design engineering, manufacturing engineering, supply chain, quality, and EPMs so builds run against a shared plan rather than in isolation, with particular attention to change management. - Maintain build readiness plans to track part availability, tooling and fixture readiness, and open engineering changes ahead of each build; run readiness reviews and drive open items to closure with clear owners and dates. - Own the manufacturing transition of early manufacturing processes to the production plant, partnering with manufacturing engineering to define what “production ready” means for each process and calling out explicitly where a prototype process won't hold at volume. - Coordinate engineering change cutovers, including configuration and serial-number effectivity tracking, and plan and execute unique builds (customer pilot, qualification, demo units) without disrupting the core program schedule. - Own the master build schedule and risk mitigation, account for long-lead components and specialized processes, proactively identify supply chain and single-source risk, and drive contingency plans. - Monitor yield and build-related issues, drive resolution with the relevant stakeholders, and connect recurring issues back into a real root-cause and corrective-action process rather than one-off fixes. - Maintain program visibility through dashboards and KPI reporting on build health, on-time delivery, launch readiness, and risk for program leadership and executive audiences. - Identify cost and process improvement opportunities in design, materials, and process, and lead tradeoff discussions that balance low-risk savings against higher-payoff options. WHAT YOU WILL BRING We're looking for someone with hands-on NPI or manufacturing program leadership experience in a hardware environment who can run a build program end-to-end, build a technician organization from the ground up, and partner with supporting organizations to ensure build readiness without needing to own all technical decisions themselves. MUST-HAVE REQUIREMENTS - Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, or a related technical field; equivalent demonstrated experience will be considered. - 7+ years in NPI, prototype build, or manufacturing engineering in hardware, including 2–3+ years managing a technician or build team. - Direct experience owning prototype or early engineering builds as a program — schedule, resourcing, and readiness gates end-to-end, not just executing to someone else's plan. - Experience transitioning work from prototype to a production manufacturing organization, including ramp-to-volume execution. - Comfortable with the ambiguity of an early-stage hardware startup — willing to be hands-on on the floor while building the team and process so that eventually you don't have to be. - A strong communicator who can hold engineering, supply chain, and manufacturing accountable to build readiness without owning the technical decisions yourself. NICE-TO-HAVE QUALIFICATIONS - Power electronics, energy storage, or comparably complex electromechanical hardware background. - Experience with PPAP, APQP, or similar supplier and industrialization qualification frameworks. - Experience building program dashboards and KPI reporting for executive audiences. - Familiarity with cost-down or VAVE initiatives in a hardware manufacturing environment. - Proficiency with Atlassian tools (Jira, Confluence) or similar platforms for program tracking. If you are passionate about technology and enjoy working in a fast-paced environment, we would love to hear from you. Join us in accelerating the electrification of everything at Heron Power. Heron Power provides competitive compensation (salary and equity) and benefits.