Automation & Industrialization Director

The role

The Automation & Industrialisation Director will translate engineering designs and volume requirements into scalable production systems. This person will lead a team to scale from manual processes toward high-volume international manufacturing.

What you will do

• Own the Automation & Industrialisation roadmap
• Industrialisation of new products from prototype through stable serial production
• DFM/DFA and Design for Automation with Engineering
• Production process and line architecture
• Workstations, tooling, fixtures, test equipment and semi-automated production systems
• Automation concepts, specifications, supplier selection, commissioning and ramp-up
• PFMEA, process validation and production-readiness activities
• Cycle-time, capacity, line balancing, yield and labour-content optimisation
• Identification of the correct automation level based on volume, maturity, quality, flexibility and ROI
• Standardisation and replication of production systems across manufacturing sites

Required qualifications

• 15-20+ years of relevant industrial experience
• Personally taken complex electromechanical products from prototype into high-volume or rapidly scaling serial production
• Hands-on experience with semi-automated and automated assembly systems
• Hands-on experience with PLC-controlled equipment
• Solid understanding of DFM/DFA, PFMEA, and lean manufacturing principles
• Thrives under pressure in a fast-paced, dynamic environment
• Embraces a no-task-is-too-small mentality
• Willingness to travel
• Willingness to work flexible schedules (evenings/weekends as needed)
• Excellent written and verbal communication
• Capable of leading diverse principals from junior members to senior executives
• 100% dedication to Harmattan AI mission, vision, and ambitious growth plans

Nice to have

• Experience in aerospace, defence, advanced electronics, or mechatronics
• Combined experience from a highly developed industrial organisation with experience in a startup/scale-up, defence-tech, UAV, robotics or similarly fast-moving hardware environment
• Siemens PLC-controlled equipment

About the company

Harmattan AI is a next-generation defense prime building autonomous and scalable defense systems. The company is expanding its teams and capabilities to deliver mission-critical systems to allied forces.