Finisher​/Handwork Lead

About This Role

This role is being created to formalize something that has always existed at Acme but hasn’t had a title, a pay grade, or a clear scope: the experienced Finisher who knows the work cold, holds the team together, and is the first person newer people turn to when they’re unsure.

Acme is building Finishing into a permanent, structured department with defined skill levels, a career ladder, and a connection to the Workforce Development apprenticeship program. The Finisher / Handwork Lead is the anchor of that department — a working lead who does the job and sets the standard for how it gets done.

This is not a desk job. The Lead is on the floor, hands on parts, alongside the team. But the Lead is also responsible for the team’s performance, the quality of what leaves the department, and making sure newer Finishers grow. It’s a role for someone who is excellent at the work and ready to own more than just their own output.

Position Summary

The Finisher / Handwork Lead is a working lead in Acme’s Finishing department, responsible for the daily execution, quality, and throughput of all post-machining handwork operations on precision aerospace, defense, and industrial components. The Lead works alongside the team, deburring and finishing complex machined parts to exact specifications, while also coordinating workflow, coaching Finishers and trainees, troubleshooting quality issues, and driving the standards and behaviors that define the department.

This role reports to the Production Manager and operates in close coordination with Acme’s Workforce Development program to ensure that the Finishing department serves as an effective entry point and development pipeline for production talent.

Essential Responsibilities

Production Lead — Daily Operations

• Coordinate daily workflow across the Finishing team: assign jobs to Finishers and trainees based on priority, skill level, and traveler requirements
• Monitor shift throughput and communicate job status, delays, or quality holds to the Production Manager and shift supervisor in real time
• Confirm that travelers and work orders are being followed correctly and that documentation is completed accurately before jobs move forward
• Identify and escalate bottlenecks, missing tooling, missing or incorrect travelers, or other obstacles that affect on-time flow through the department
• Coordinate handoff between 1st and 2nd shift at the Lead level — clear communication of open jobs, quality holds, and team status

Hands-On Finishing Work

• Perform complex deburring, handwork, and surface preparation on precision machined castings, forgings, and components using hand tools, air tools, files, stones, and abrasive media
• Inspect parts against engineering drawings including GD&T callouts, surface finish requirements, and special notes; identify and flag non-conforming conditions before parts move to Quality or Ship
• Handle complex, close-tolerance, or high-value parts that require above-average judgment, care, and technique
• Read and interpret engineering drawings, job travelers, and work orders; raise questions with Engineering or Quality before starting if a print is unclear
• Perform or support in-process inspection and cleaning operations, including preparation for outside processing (plating, coating, heat treat)

Quality & Standards

• Set and enforce the department’s quality standard — if it doesn’t meet the print, it doesn’t leave the department
• Initiate nonconformance documentation when a defect is identified; do not pass suspect parts
• Follow all QMS requirements per Acme’s ISO 9001:2015 and AS9100D certification — traveler sign-offs, records, controlled document use
• Maintain 5S standards in the Finishing area; own the cleanliness and organization of the department
• Identify…