Production Manager (Nuclear Manufacturing)

Location: Paducah, Kentucky, United States; onsite work on an active fabrication floor is required. Travel up to approximately 25% to company sites, suppliers, and vendors.

Base salary: $120k–$170k annually.

Company

hirify.global is building low-cost uranium enrichment services and manufacturing process piping and steel fabrications for the nuclear industry in the United States. The company is backed by top-tier investors and applies a first-principles approach to nuclear fuel production.

What you will do

• Run the daily production schedule and lean operating system across welding and process piping cells, tracking schedule attainment and on-time completion.
• Build the production organization by hiring supervisors, shift and cell leads, a scheduler/planner, and operator cohorts while balancing labor across cells and shifts.
• Drive first-pass quality, 5S, traceability, current welder qualifications, and compliance with approved procedures in a nuclear quality and safety program.
• Lead floor safety with EHS, including near-miss reporting, job hazard analyses, lifting and rigging, hot work, and PPE.
• Coordinate equipment installation, commissioning, cell layout, first-article builds, and resolution of material, equipment, manpower, and engineering constraints.
• Manage production through MES and ERP/MRP systems; own the budget and report throughput, labor productivity, WIP aging, overtime, and 5S KPIs.

Requirements

• Evidence of exceptional ability through prior projects, a work portfolio, completed products, or comparable accomplishments.
• Strong engineering fundamentals and the ability to conduct trade studies on cell layout, capacity, staffing, and make-versus-buy decisions using first-principles reasoning.
• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, manufacturing, operations, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• 8+ years of manufacturing production leadership, including 4+ years managing supervisors and multi-shift hourly teams.
• Core lean manufacturing expertise in 5S, standard work, visual management, tiered daily meetings, value stream mapping, and continuous improvement with measurable gains in throughput, quality, and cost.
• Experience owning production schedules, capacity and labor planning, KPI accountability, and ramping a team to rate.
• Experience in a regulated quality environment such as nuclear, aerospace, defense, pressure equipment, or a similar industry, plus hands-on use of MES and ERP/MRP systems.
• Ability to work extended hours and weekends as necessary.
• Must be a U.S. person and able to obtain and maintain the site access authorization required for regular access to export-controlled environments.

Nice to have

• Experience in a fast-paced engineering or highly technical environment and delivering under tight timelines or budget constraints.
• Process piping or steel fabrication experience, including pipe spools, pressure piping, structural steel weldments, hands-on welding, or direct leadership of welding crews.
• Knowledge of GTAW, GMAW, FCAW, and SMAW; ASME B31 piping codes; welding procedure specifications; welder qualifications; and NDE.
• Nuclear-industry fabrication or another NRC-regulated quality program experience.
• Lean Six Sigma Green or Black Belt, AWS Certified Welding Inspector certification, or familiarity with AWS D1.1.
• Experience standing up production in a startup, greenfield, or brownfield facility.

Culture & Benefits

• Mission-driven, fast-paced, high-accountability environment with an urgency and transparency culture.
• Skunkworks-style projects focused on building a new multi-building manufacturing site from the ground up.
• Full-time hires may receive stock options and medical, vision, and dental coverage.
• Access to a 401(k) retirement plan.