Head of Operations (Aerospace Manufacturing)

Location: Davenport, Iowa, USA; full-time, on-site role. Requires travel to other hirify.global locations, suppliers, and customers, sometimes on short notice, and extended hours including weekends as needed. Applicants must be U.S. persons under ITAR requirements.

Company

hirify.global develops and manufactures aerospace and defense components and subsystems, operating seven factories across the United States.

What you will do

• Lead daily production, assembly, calibration, testing, material flow, and operational support at the Davenport factory.
• Own site performance across safety, quality, delivery, cost, productivity, and schedule attainment.
• Lead purchasing, production planning, inventory control, supplier management, and material logistics.
• Maintain the aerospace quality management system, audit readiness, configuration control, calibration, inspection, and corrective action processes.
• Lead new product introduction, prototype builds, product transfers, process planning, first articles, qualification builds, and production-readiness activities.
• Partner with the General Manager and hirify.global leadership on operating plans, budgets, working capital, capital expenditures, reporting, and the site ERP rollout.

Requirements

• Proven experience as a Manufacturing Manager, Quality Manager, Lead Engineer, Manufacturing Engineer, or similar operational leader in a regulated or high-reliability manufacturing environment.
• Experience owning production and supply chain execution in low-volume, high-mix, or otherwise complex manufacturing.
• Hands-on experience maintaining a quality management system, leading audits, and closing findings and corrective actions.
• Strong knowledge of production planning, capacity management, inventory, supplier management, and ERP or MRP systems.
• Demonstrated success improving safety, quality, delivery, cost, and productivity through Lean manufacturing and continuous improvement.
• Must be a U.S. person under ITAR, and must work on-site in Davenport, Iowa.

Nice to have

• Aerospace or defense manufacturing experience, especially with hydraulic, fluid-control, electromechanical, or test equipment products.
• Experience with aerospace quality systems and customer or certification audits, including AS9100.
• Experience with first article and qualification activities, configuration control, new product introduction, and long-cycle development programs.
• Engineering or manufacturing engineering background.

Culture & Benefits

• Lead the operations organization with credibility, clarity, urgency, and trust.
• Build a culture of ownership, transparency, disciplined problem-solving, quality, and continuous improvement.
• Develop production, supply chain, planning, and quality leaders through hiring, training, performance management, and succession planning.
• Operate with a high degree of autonomy while escalating risks early to site and company leadership.