Title Senior VP Operations

Location NJ 

 

PURPOSE OF THE ROLE
To lead the introduction of best of breed engineering/operational processes and a change of culture to support profitable growth of the company from sub $10 million to $ 30 million in 3 years.
Established in 1997, the company continues to evolve from a small lifestyle business to a process driven, private equity owned portfolio company. The company is now at an inflection point as it launches a new, disruptive telecom technology, invests in a digital platform for telecom and expands into both the US military and overseas markets at levels of production not previously seen by the company.
The need for rapid but robust engineering development and reproducible, well documented manufacturing is essential for that success to be fully realized. The successful incumbent will have achieved success driving process and culture change in a similar environment.
SUMMARY
Industries
• Military RF amplifier experience
• High Power Amplifiers Solid State
• High Power Test and Measurement Equipment
• High Power Amplifier Systems Solid State

Competitors
• Empower
• Ophir
• NuWave
• Frontgrade formerly Aethercom
• Ametak formerly Amplifier Research
• Rhode and Schwarz
• Triad
• Other HPA or RF test and measurement manufacturers
• Note: Google searches do not bring up many manufacturers

Candidate Profile
• Operating currently in a mid/small company environment $ 20 mil or less
• Large Company experience
• Median $180+k . Open to discussion. Experience dependent
• Relocation: Yes. Contribution
• 100% Office: Yes
• Travel: Minimal
• Reports to CEO
• Reports: Production Manager. Org needs to be built out
• Demonstrated change agent in and Ops environment. Please ask them for examples and give me examples during your screening process
• Need depth and breadth. Someone less that 45 is unlikely to have both
• Must be hands on. On the floor. No sitting in the office/ivory tower
• Electrical Engineering degree,
• 7+ years Ops experience (with supply chain would be an advantage)
• Make or Female
• Either Spanish or Russian or Hebrew or Polish would be and advantage but no real preferential “nice to have”
• Knows and understands mil specs

Candidate Aptitude
• Detail in process and follow through for accountabilities
• Record Keeping and Documentation
• Collaborator but a fast decision maker
• Doesn’t wait for data. Not wait to be fed information.
• Go getter for data and information. Self-sufficiency required
• Firing experience
• Hiring Experience
• Continuous improvement mentality
• Solid back bone to the company

APPLICATIONS DOMAIN
Experience in development and manufacture predominantly high power RF amplifiers is the corner stone of the company through the manufacture of discreet modules and systems. Applications are military (EW, radar, communications) and telecommunications (Bi-directional amplifiers for wireless public safety, wireless cellular and RF to light, wired applications) supporting product line is cavity filters. Frequency range is UHF upwards.
SUPERVISOR
The position reports to the CEO and member of the Clients Solutions management team. Interfaces with cross functional heads of departments and the Board of Directors
RESPONSIBILITIES
 Lead, with the support of the CEO, the process to hold departmental heads accountable by:
• Establishing a bi-weekly cadence with each department head as to steps to achieve SMART goals. Extend initially to supervisor level and eventually operator level
• Assess ability of key individuals to extend skills beyond “one trick pony”
• Remove the culture and attitude of “this is how we have done it for the past 30 years”
• Assess training and development needs of departmental heads and key individuals. Assess if a training investment will result in a successful and lasting change
• Define skills and responsibilities of replacement personnel. Lead recruitment using personal networks and recruiting agencies as needed
• Drive a culture to be metrics and KPI led with individual accountabilities to meet short and medium term objectives. Be will to take corrective actions in the event of short falls
 Implement Objectives and KPIs to include but not limited to:
• Seek to reduce cycle and labor time to the maximum possible extent from design through to production, test, QC and shipping/receiving
• Development, Use and Maintenance of component libraries for all new product and adaptations of prior designs.
• Always follow industry standard RF design procedures (eg schematics, layout, mechanical component standardization, design and tolerance for “lights out machining”). Assign target timelines at each step.
• Ensure a culture of
• Reproducible manufacture
• Inline QC and capturing of all technical deviations
• Consistently achieve a 98% on time delivery metric
• Remove RMAs due to a failure being 2% or less
• Ensure chargeable RMAs to have a gross margin of 50%
 Lead, track, mentor, train and implement initiatives to change company culture to operate best in breed operational practices from engineering through production.
 Anticipate and analyze gaps required in skills, equipment, capacity (flow) and personnel to achieve required engineering and production goals. Develop metrics and tactics to mitigate negative effects (risks) or accelerate positive outcomes
 Hold key individuals accountable for tasks and actions and be prepared to train, augment, re-skill or re-organize as needed to create successful departments.
 In conjunction with other executive staff, ensure that the Board of Directors is appropriately and sufficiently informed to enable directors to make judgements on key issues and decisions well ahead of time.
 Serve as the key catalyst for introducing new thinking, approaches, practices, processes, tools and systems within engineering, production and the organization as a whole
 Build and nurture an organizational culture aligned with the Company’s vision, mission and values. Model behavior for others and hold the team accountable to operate in a manner consistent with them.
 Drive an objectives and performance driven new product development culture defining ROI/NPV metrics based on regulation mandated, performance specs, cost of development and sales projections, product line synergies
 Ensure the company meets required levels of compliance such as Mil specs, Export Regulations, ITAR, NIST, Phipps and company standards.
 Ensure effective internal controls and management information systems are in place.
 In conjunction with other executive staff, represent the Company to and effectively communicate and consult with customers, suppliers, partners, employees, government authorities, and other key stakeholders.
 Drive the engineering and production organization towards meeting the company’s financial goals

CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS
The following critical success factors represent those deemed most critical to be accomplished in year one to ensure success:

 Establish a bi-weekly cadence to set and track those capable of achieving operations goals across all departments
 Continue to nurture a specialized engineered solutions company culture using best of breed processes enabling the shortest time to market without compromising product quality or engineering standards.
 Demonstrate the ability to make decisions and impartially follow up and hold people accountable.
 Evaluate current QMS and fundamentally retool all aspects of its performance. Improve upon current OpEx framework and policies.
 Drive a “no surprises” culture – build and maintain a constant pulse on the business operations to anticipate positive and negative deviations to plan, proactively detect in time to communicate and have a chance to correct, all while operating with the appropriate level of attention to safety and quality.
IDEAL CANDIDATE PROFILE
Background
 15+ years including top leadership positions in operations.
 Experience in active RF components (High Power Amplifiers and Systems), assemblies and systems serving US military markets and/or telecom markets.
 Operations experience that includes most of the following – overall operations leadership, supply chain, production planning, manufacturing engineering, production, Facilities, EH&S.
 Understands the unique engineering requirements of the aerospace and defense industry, including the intricacies required to produce and assemble parts to the standards of the military sector and blue chip manufacturing organizations
 Metallurgical CNC machining including programing requirements, CMM inspection, cutting tools & applications on various metal, methods of non-destructive testing (x-ray, FPI, MPI), and non-conventional manufacturing processes.
 Experience in AS9100 and ISO 9000
 Knowledge of quality systems/standards, application of Lean principles, inventory/raw material rationalization, design/component standardization, rapid product development
 Government and military compliance.
 Experienced in process improvement techniques.
 Knowledge of business, finance, human resource, and management principles.
 Experience/Knowledge of technical operations with complex and varied workflows.
 Solid information system, data and analytical foundation, including systems such as ERP. Data Warehouse, Advanced Reporting, Manufacturing Execution Systems.
 General management and exposure to profit-and-loss leadership.
 Experienced in the integration of mergers and acquisitions in the middle market arena.
 Ideally, brings the dual benefits of training/pedigree from large scale company experience, combined with more recent “hands on” small/mid-sized company experience in a private/private equity context.
 Experienced in directly managing manufacturing and assembly operations, with proven success in an effective continuous process improvement.
 Experience leading the operations of a $25+ million business as envisioned for the foreseeable future.
 Proven experience in stewarding and supporting the profitable growth of an enterprise, through both organic and non-organic means.
 Direct experience working with primes, multi-billion dollar manufacturing companies, Tier 2 and Tier 3 defense contractors, large scale telecom system integrators, government entities.
 Demonstrated success scaling organizations.

IDEAL CANDIDATE PROFILE

Aptitude
 A visible, dynamic and engaged leader who is “out and about” in his/her organization. Not an “ivory tower” executive. Very strong and well-developed people leadership and people development skills, with an ability to inspire and motivate staff.
 Possess a bias to go to the root of the issue with a “GEMBA mindset”.
 Experience in production/manufacturing processes with variety of materials.
 Possess an ability to rapidly acclimate, identify high value payoff activities, decide the appropriate direction, and approach, and then execute rapidly. The preferred candidate is one who is easily frustrated by indecision, inaction, and suboptimal performance
 An unblemished record as related to his or her ethical integrity and that of the organizations he or she has served.
 Possess ability to rapidly acclimate to business environment which has potential to scale rapidly and demand other executive level functions/direct leadership requirements.
 Persuasive with good negotiation and influence skills. Effective at persuading others to change their minds or behaviors. This is particularly important for this role as success will be influenced by the job holder’s ability to partner and persuade the entire organization to rally behind a common cause or goals.
 Self-confident and determined. A confident, resilient, grounded executive able to handle challenging situations comfortably and calmly. Takes responsibility and leads the front, with sufficient gravitas to inspire and give confidence to all stakeholders.
 Ability to fit in with and drive towards achieving a target culture as defined by getting things done, working at pace through collaboration, being ambitious and creating a positive and inclusive place to work.
 Above average negotiation and influence skills. Effective at convincing others to change their minds or behaviors. This is particularly important for this role as success will be influenced by the SENIOR VP OPERATIONS’s ability to partner and persuade the entire organization to operate as one brand to all customers.
 Recognizes how to delineate between “pillars” of talent which are autonomous and driven or require motivation but are vital to company success. Can identify all “high potential” in the organization where it is necessary to accelerate career planning and promotes such “A” Players. Last, is not satisfied and does not accept “B” Players – and has a “coach first, but if not successful then cut” mentality commonly found in top-tier organizations.
 Communication – An effective communicator with highly effective written and verbal communication skills and the ability to effectively convey XYZ’s strategic imperatives to motivate and align employee behaviors.
Engaging – A magnet for talent who is also able to develop and retain. Has an available network of proven talent to potentially draw from and can build effective teams in an inclusive and collaborative manner to achieve common goals

 

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