Director of Operations

The role

The Director of Operations will lead Medium Voltage Switchgear, Integrated Products, and Small Panels manufacturing. This role owns safety, quality, delivery, cost, productivity, capacity, and team development across assigned product lines.

What you will do

• Set and execute the operating strategy for Medium Voltage Switchgear, Integrated Products, and Small Panels.
• Align production, capacity, labor, scheduling, materials flow, maintenance, and support priorities with business objectives.
• Translate backlog and forecasted demand into practical capacity plans.
• Lead critical customer deliverables, production recovery plans, and new-product introductions.
• Provide operational updates and risk assessments to the Vice President of Operations and Executive Leadership Team.
• Champion a culture where safety is a core operating value.
• Ensure compliance with regulatory, internal, and customer requirements including OSHA, ISO, and UL.
• Drive root-cause analysis and corrective action for nonconformances and defects.
• Build a continuous-improvement culture using Lean practices.
• Lead and develop Value Stream Managers, Operations Managers, and senior manufacturing leaders.

Required qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Operations Management, Manufacturing, Business, or a related field
• 15+ years of progressive manufacturing or operations experience
• 5+ years in senior leadership roles
• Experience leading large-scale, high-mix, multi-stage, engineered-to-order, configure-to-order, or vertically integrated manufacturing operations
• Proven success improving safety, quality, delivery, productivity, throughput, cost, and employee engagement
• Strong knowledge of Lean manufacturing, daily management systems, visual management, standard work, capacity planning, production flow, and plant layout optimization
• Experience scaling operations, leading plant-wide initiatives, implementing automation, and introducing digital performance-management tools
• Strong financial acumen, including budgeting, cost management, capital planning, and operational performance analysis
• Ability to lead through complexity, set priorities, manage change, communicate effectively, and hold teams accountable

Nice to have

• master’s degree, MBA, or equivalent advanced education
• Background in medium-voltage switchgear, electrical distribution equipment, integrated power systems, industrial controls, panel manufacturing, or a comparable technical manufacturing environment

Benefits

• comprehensive and competitive benefits package

About the company

IEM builds electrical distribution systems and delivers solutions for complex power needs. The company has been operating for 75 years.