NPI Operations Manager

Operations New Albany,Indiana United States

Founded in 1976, Samtec is a privately held, $950 Million global manufacturer of a broad line of electronic interconnect solutions, including High-Speed Board-to-Board, High-Speed Cables, Mid-Board and Panel Optics, Precision RF, Flexible Stacking, and Micro/Rugged components and cables. Samtec Technology Centers are dedicated to developing and advancing technologies, strategies and products to optimize both the performance and cost of a system from the bare die to an interface 100 meters away, and all interconnect points in between.

With 40+ international locations and products sold in more than 125 different countries, Samtec’s global presence enables its unmatched customer service.

SUMMARY / OBJECTIVE: The NPI Operations Manager is a senior global operations leader responsible for overseeing and aligning all operations departments worldwide that are accountable for non-released () and new product introduction (NPI) readiness. This role ensures that each new or unreleased product is fully prepared for production—on time, on budget, and at the quality standards required—before handoff to volume manufacturing.

Working cross-functionally with Engineering, Quality, Supply Chain, Sales, and regional Plant Managers, the NPI Operations Manager bridges the gap between product development and production, driving global consistency, speed-to-market, and operational excellence across all Samtec manufacturing sites.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS / RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Define and own the global NPI operations strategy and objectives, ensuring all manufacturing sites maintain aligned, scalable processes for transitioning new products from development into full production readiness.
• Lead the global operations representatives on NPI program teams as they collaborate with NPD Engineering to evaluate manufacturability, production feasibility, and operational risk during the product development lifecycle.
• Coordinate with Regional Directors and Plant Managers to align local NPI operations capacity, tooling, equipment, and staffing to support new product launch timelines.
• Lead global NPI readiness reviews to formally assess production readiness before any new product release to volume manufacturing.
• Provide incremental strategic goals (1-year, 3-year, 5-year) for all manufacturing sites globally as they relate to NPI capability growth, automation readiness, and product complexity scaling.
• Conduct regular regional NPI performance reviews with each manufacturing site to assess progress against launch milestones, process qualification status, and readiness metrics; create action plans as needed.
• Sponsor and monitor the development of key NPI operations talent globally, ensuring succession planning and bench strength within NPI-focused operations roles at all sites.
• Establish and govern separate operational lanes for new product development and customer-facing production orders on new products, ensuring dedicated capacity, resources, and scheduling buffers are maintained at all global sites so that early customer demand does not compromise or delay the engineering development and qualification process

• Oversee the global management of operations departments responsible for pilot builds, pre-production runs, and process/tooling qualification activities for all new and unreleased products.
• Drive the development and validation of manufacturing processes, work instructions, cycle times, capacity models, and quality control plans for new products in advance of production release.
• Partner with Engineering and Supply Chain to ensure component readiness, supplier…