Manager, Manufacturing

Job description

About Us At Antares, our long-term mission is to make clean energy abundant from Earth to the Asteroid Belt. We’re fueled by the belief that advanced nuclear energy can strengthen our military, solve the climate crisis, elevate global living standards, and expand humanity's presence in outer space. To achieve our mission, we’re building mass-producible, inherently safe, deployable microreactors that can be used terrestrially, underwater, and in space. The Antares team hails from SpaceX, the White House, the Pentagon, the Department of Energy, MIT, Rigetti Computing, General Atomics, Relativity Space, Ursa Major, and National Laboratories like Idaho, Oak Ridge, Los Alamos, and Savannah River. Antares has raised over $600M in venture capital from top-tier investors and has hundreds of million-dollars on contract with the military services, NASA, and the Department of Energy. About the Role The Manager, Manufacturing Engineering is responsible for leading manufacturing engineering and manufacturing technician teams to develop, operate, and scale production capabilities for reactor components and assemblies. This role owns the development of core manufacturing processes, facility and equipment readiness, and workforce planning to support near-term development builds and long-term production scaling. This position requires a hands-on leader with strong technical judgment, experience building manufacturing systems from early development through scaled production, and the ability to align people, processes, and facilities with aggressive program timelines. Roles and Responsibilities: Manufacturing Leadership - Lead and develop manufacturing engineering and manufacturing technician teams, setting clear priorities, performance expectations, and professional development plans. - Foster a culture of safety, quality, accountability, and continuous improvement across manufacturing operations. - Partner closely with design, safety, quality, and supply chain teams to ensure manufacturability and production readiness. Process Development & Scale-Up - Develop and mature core manufacturing processes for reactor components and assemblies, from prototype through production. - Establish scalable, repeatable, and robust processes that support increasing reactor production rates over time. - Define and implement process documentation, work instructions, tooling concepts, and quality controls. Facilities, Equipment & Infrastructure - Lead facility layout planning to support current and future manufacturing needs, including facility upgrades, material flow, safety requirements, and expansion pathways. - Support permitting activities by providing manufacturing and facility input required for regulatory approvals. - Coordinate installation, commissioning, and qualification of manufacturing equipment and infrastructure. - Ensure equipment and facility designs meet safety, regulatory, and operational requirements. Workforce & Capacity Planning - Determine manufacturing headcount and staffing plans aligned with near-term development, mid-term pilot production, and long-term full-rate production objectives. - Define skill mixes and hiring timelines for engineers, technicians, and support roles. - Plan capacity, shifts, and resource utilization to meet program schedules. Execution & Continuous Improvement - Track manufacturing performance against schedule, cost, quality, and safety objectives. - Identify risks and bottlenecks and implement corrective actions. - Drive continuous improvement initiatives in productivity, quality, and safety as production scales. Basic Qualifications: - Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Industrial Engineering, or a related technical field. - 5+ years of experience in manufacturing engineering or operations, with at least 3+ years in a people leadership role. - Experience developing manufacturing processes for complex, regulated, or high-reliability products. - Demonstrated experience with facility layout, equipment installation, and production ramp-up. Preferred Skills & Experience: - Experience in nuclear, aerospace, energy, or other highly regulated manufacturing environments. - Strong ability to translate product requirements into scalable manufacturing solutions. - Experience supporting permitting, regulatory interfaces, or safety-critical manufacturing operations. - Familiarity with advanced materials, precision fabrication, or complex assembly processes. - Experience scaling manufacturing from low-rate development builds to higher-volume production. Additional Requirements - Ability to work long hours and weekends as necessary to support critical milestones. Compensation - Manager / Senior Manager Pay Range = $140,000 - $190,000 - Director Pay Range: $190,000 - $230,000 Location - We are located in Torrance, CA in a 322,000 square foot, brand new facility featuring large open spaces for team collaboration, R&D, and production, as well as easy access to the 405, 105, and 110 freeways. Our facility is in the heart of Los Angeles' vibrant emerging tech ecosystem alongside many other high growth startups and enterprises. Culture At Antares, we like to specifically tie each role to our founding document’s set of values–here are the top five cultural values we think you should believe at your core to be successful: - Think in Systems - Energy and Defense are complex ecosystems with numerous stakeholders with competing priorities, conflicting policies, perverse incentives, and emergent and path-dependent properties. First principles thinking alone is insufficient. Think probabilistically and then take action. “If you want to be certain, then you are apt to be obsolete.” Over-optimizing the components often degrades the system - Obsess over the End User - The customer and end user are often not the same. We will never build globally competitive commercial products if we lose sight of our end users and their entire interaction with the product life cycle - Be Unconstrained by Convention - Our only limits are the laws of physics. Many, even experts, will say what we are working on is impossible. They said the same about SpaceX reusing rockets. Generationally impactful companies, by definition, must accomplish the seemingly impossible. If it were easy, it would have already been done. Never shy away from a solution because it has never been tried before, and never choose to do something because that's “how it's always been done” - Go Where the Work Is - Never miss a chance to meet a customer, user, or stakeholder face to face, even if that means hopping on a plane. If you can’t make it, find a teammate who can channel your intentions and go in your place. Deep work can be done from anywhere, but we believe teams are built in person, and aim to maximize our time together - Operate in the Grey - Embrace nuance in pursuit of truth. Question every fundamental assumption Equal Opportunity Antares is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Employment decisions are based solely on merit, competence, and qualifications, without regard to 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. 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 https://www.pmddtc.state.gov/?id=ddtc_kb_article_page&sys_id=24d528fddbfc930044f9ff621f961987.