Senior Manager, Digital Manufacturing Systems; MES, AI & Industry
Listed on 2026-09-02
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IT/Tech
Systems Engineer, IT Project Manager, IT Consultant
Senior Manager, Digital Manufacturing Systems (MES, AI & Industry 4.0)
Function:
Integrated Operations & Technology – Digital Technology |
Location:
[Wilmington, Cheonan, Hsinchu, etc.] / Hybrid (~20–30% travel) | Scope:
Global, multi-site, multi-vendor
Role Summary Global leader responsible for MES, smart manufacturing, digital factory transformation, and AI-enabled manufacturing operations. Define and execute the enterprise MES strategy across our global manufacturing network. Own the vision, architecture, roadmap, and end-to-end delivery of modern MES capabilities in a deliberately hybrid landscape — where COTS, custom-built, and legacy systems each play a role chosen on the merits of the problem.
Champion a fit-for-purpose philosophy: leverage COTS where it accelerates time-to-value, and invest in custom or in-house solutions where differentiated process know-how, speed of iteration, or unique manufacturing physics demand it. Enable manufacturing operations with AI by embedding intelligence into MES workflows, decisions, and the operator experience.
Strategy & Architecture Define and evolve the multi-year MES strategy and ISA-95-aligned reference architecture supporting Industry 4.0 and the digital-thread vision. Establish a fit-for-purpose sourcing framework guiding COTS-vs-custom-vs-configure decisions case by case — weighing differentiation, TCO, change agility, supplier viability, and the value of internal IP. Preserve and modernize strategic in-house assets that encode proprietary process expertise; pursue standardization where it pays (data models, integration contracts, identity, observability, security, Dev Ops) without forcing convergence onto a single MES product.
Architect for composable MES: stable cores plus best-fit specialized modules and custom extensions.
Solution Delivery Own end-to-end delivery (discovery → hypercare → run & maintain) using Dev Ops and product-team operating models, with distinct playbooks for COTS, custom builds, and legacy modernization (strangler-fig). Manage scope, schedule, budget, risk, and benefits realization across concurrent global rollouts; establish engineering standards, Dev Ops/CI-CD, and OT-grade change control for both COTS configuration and custom code.
AI Enablement of Manufacturing Operations Define and execute the AI-for-Manufacturing roadmap integrated with MES — yield, throughput, quality, maintenance, scheduling, and energy. Embed AI/ML and generative-AI directly into MES workflows: intelligent dispatching, anomaly detection, virtual metrology, run-to-run control, recipe optimization, and automated root-cause analysis. Enable agentic and copilot experiences for operators, engineers, and supervisors; champion closed-loop AI with explainability and human-in-the-loop controls.
Establish responsible-AI practices for the shop floor (validation, drift monitoring, change control, traceability) and ensure MES is a first-class producer/consumer of the manufacturing data fabric.
Integration, Data, Team & Stakeholders Architect integrations across MES ERP (SAP S/4
HANA), PLM, QMS, LIMS, WMS, SCADA/DCS/PLC, Historians (PI), APC/FDC, and EDA; drive SEMI standards adoption (SECS/GEM, GEM
300, EDA, E10/E30/E40/E90/E94/E142). Build and lead a globally distributed team (architects, engineers, BAs, product owners) and a multi-vendor ecosystem of MES vendors, SIs, AI/ML partners, and managed-service providers. Partner with Manufacturing, Quality, Supply Chain, IT/OT Security, and Data & AI; communicate strategy, progress, and value to executive leadership and lead change management for AI-assisted operations. Ensure OT cybersecurity (IEC 62443, NIST CSF, Purdue), AI governance, BCDR, and 24×7 resilience for shop-floor-critical systems.
Required
10+ years in manufacturing IT/OT with significant experience delivering MES in semiconductor, electronics, or comparably complex industries; as well as leading globally distributed teams and multi-vendor programs. Track record deploying or modernizing MES at multiple sites — combining COTS implementations with custom or in-house engineering, including at least one greenfield and…
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