Vice President Operations

VP of Operations - Bespoke Machine Build / Engineered Equipment

New Hampshire

The Opportunity

We are working with a highly successful bespoke machine build and engineered equipment organisation based in New Hampshire, supporting customers across a range of technically demanding industries.

With approximately $40M in annual revenue and 130 employees
, the business designs and manufactures highly customised machinery and complex equipment for customers where precision, performance and engineering capability are critical.

As the business continues to grow, they are looking to appoint an experienced VP of Operations to take overall responsibility for the operational performance of the organisation and help drive the next stage of its development.

This is a highly visible leadership position, working closely with the senior leadership team and providing strategic and operational direction across manufacturing, engineering, supply chain, quality and continuous improvement.

The Role

As VP of Operations, you will be responsible for ensuring the business can consistently deliver complex, high-value equipment on time, to specification and profitably
.

You will lead and develop a multidisciplinary operations organisation of approximately 100 employees, establishing the processes, systems and accountability required to support continued growth.

Key responsibilities will include:

• Providing strategic leadership across Manufacturing, Production, Engineering, Supply Chain, Purchasing and Quality
  .
• Leading, developing and mentoring the operations leadership team and wider workforce.
• Driving improvements in On-Time Delivery, productivity, capacity utilisation, quality and operational efficiency
  .
• Developing robust production planning and scheduling processes for a highly engineered-to-order / bespoke manufacturing environment
  .
• Working closely with Engineering and Project Management to ensure new projects transition effectively from design through to manufacture, assembly, testing and delivery.
• Identifying and removing operational bottlenecks across the manufacturing process.
• Establishing and monitoring meaningful operational KPIs and using data to drive decision-making.
• Developing and embedding a culture of continuous improvement and operational excellence throughout the organisation.
• Leading Lean Manufacturing / Lean Six Sigma initiatives to improve flow, reduce waste, increase productivity and optimise manufacturing processes.
• Applying structured problem-solving methodologies such as DMAIC, 5S, Kaizen, Root Cause Analysis and Value Stream Mapping where appropriate.
• Identifying opportunities to improve manufacturing processes, workflows, facility utilisation and resource allocation.
• Working with Supply Chain and Purchasing to improve supplier performance, material availability and inventory management.
• Ensuring appropriate quality systems and processes are embedded throughout manufacturing and assembly.
• Supporting capacity planning, capital investment and facility development decisions as the business continues to grow.
• Maintaining a strong focus on cost control, operational margin and overall business profitability
  .
• Ensuring the organisation maintains a strong culture of safety, quality, accountability and continuous improvement
  .
• Working collaboratively with Sales, Engineering, Finance and Project Management to ensure operational strategy is aligned with wider business objectives.

What We’re Looking For

We are looking for an experienced senior operations leader who has built their career within a specialist machine building, capital equipment, automation or complex engineered manufacturing environment
.

You are likely to have experience operating within an organisation where products are highly customised rather than high-volume, repetitive manufacturing.

The ideal candidate will bring:

• Significant senior operations leadership experience within machine building, capital equipment, automation or complex engineered manufacturing
  .
• Experience leading sizeable multidisciplinary manufacturing/operations teams.
• A strong understanding of Engineered-to-Order (ETO), Make-to-Order (MTO) or low-volume/high-complexity manufacturing environments
  .
• Experience managing complex production, assembly, integration and testing processes.
• A demonstrable track record of improving On-Time Delivery, productivity, quality, throughput and operational efficiency
  .
• Strong commercial understanding, including operational cost control, budgeting and profitability.
• Experience implementing structured…