Director, Manufacturing Technology and Automation

Director, Manufacturing Technology and Automation About Re:

Build Manufacturing

Re:

Build was founded to ensure that the next generation of important products are made in America. We’ve assembled a powerful set of complementary capabilities and lines of business that enable us to design and manufacture nearly anything. Our acquired and organically grown businesses employ experts in every major engineering discipline, and we’re leveraging their combined expertise to migrate to increasingly sophisticated program development and production, as well as the generation of our own products.

Our unique set of capabilities – integrated into a single company and built upon common processes and culture - lend themselves to highly complex systems and products, and we offer customers a range of services including product and systems design, automation, fabrication, assembly, and large volume manufacturing. Our customers span a wide array of industries including aerospace, defense, mobility, healthcare, pharma, biotech, clean tech, chemicals, energy, lifestyle, food production, and industrial equipment.

The way we go about this work is as important as the work itself and is guided by The Re:

Build Way, sixteen principles that dictate the way we work with each other, customers, vendors, and the communities where our business operates (link to The Re:Build Way principles).

As AI rapidly reshapes industrial markets, Re:

Build is expanding its advanced computing, automation, and intelligence capabilities to deliver meaningful transformation across both digital and physical environments.

We are seeking an experienced manufacturing technology leader who can architect and drive Re:

Build’s automation journey across three layers: data infrastructure, software automation, and physical robotics. This is an individual contributor role with strategic scope — the person who identifies high-value automation opportunities, designs the on-site deployment strategy, selects and evaluates platforms and tools, builds internal and external technology partner relationships, and creates the playbooks that make every deployment repeatable across our manufacturing network.

The ideal candidate has lived at the intersection of manufacturing operations and digital technology. They have personally deployed both digital systems and physical automation in discrete manufacturing environments. They understand the economics of automation across the full production spectrum — from high-mix, low-volume work to higher-volume production runs. They know when a cobot machine tender pencils out and when it doesn’t, and they won’t try to automate things that shouldn’t be automated.

They can present to the CEO and be credible with a machinist in the same afternoon.

• Design and own the multi-site digital and automation deployment strategy across Re:
  
  Build’s manufacturing sites
• Identify and prioritize specific automation projects – define the problem, scope the solution, estimate the ROI and get stakeholder commitment
• Own end-to-end project delivery with the help from internal resources — from platform selection through integration, operator training, and sustained adoption
• Create documented, repeatable deployment playbooks so that projects can be replicated across different operations and each subsequent site deployment is faster and more predictable than the last
• Work with the AI Director to move AI applications to factory deployment
• Define the production data schema and quality requirements that enable AI model training — ensuring the data infrastructure supports the company’s broader AI and analytics strategy

• Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, industrial engineering, manufacturing engineering, or related field required; advanced degree preferred but not required if experience is strong
• 8+ years of experience spanning manufacturing/industrial engineering and automation, with hands-on deployment of both digital systems (MES, IoT, digital twins, data infrastructure) and physical automation (robotics cells, machine tending, automated inspection) in discrete manufacturing environments
• Deep…