Senior Program Manager Ramp Operations; Spector

Overview

Veeco just booked more than $250 million in orders for its Spector Ion Beam Deposition systems — equipment that deposits the ultra‑precise optical coatings enabling indium phosphide lasers at the heart of every next‑generation AI datacenter. Deliveries start this year and ramp hard into 2027, which means the operations machine that builds, tests, and ships these systems needs to scale just as fast.

As Senior Operations Program Manager, you will own the end‑to‑end execution of this production ramp: coordinating engineering, manufacturing, quality, and supply chain teams to deliver complex vacuum‑based deposition systems on schedule, on budget, and at the quality levels Veeco’s customers expect. Your decisions on sequencing, risk mitigation, and resource allocation will directly determine whether Veeco captures one of the largest growth opportunities in the semiconductor equipment industry.

This is a high‑visibility role with a direct line to executive leadership and a clear path toward operations director‑level responsibilities.

• Drive the full production ramp for Spector IBD (Ion Beam Deposition) and Lumina MOCVD (Metal‑Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition) systems — own the integrated program plan covering schedule, cost, quality, and risk across every sales order in the ramp portfolio.
• Build and maintain a risk management framework that identifies schedule, supply, quality, and design risks early, assigns owners, and tracks mitigation actions to closure — so problems are solved before they reach the production floor.
• Establish early‑stage testing and assembly sequences (“shift‑left” strategies) that move component validation and sub‑assembly bench testing upstream, shortening overall cycle time and creating a steady flow of verified assemblies into the main production line.
• Align engineering, supply chain, and supplier quality teams to ensure every incoming component meets defined performance and quality specifications — and that decisions on obsolescence, design changes, or specification deviations happen preemptively rather than reactively.
• Own the financial performance of the ramp, including gross margin tracking, capital expenditure planning, and cost control — presenting budget status and trade‑off recommendations to executive leadership on a regular cadence.
• Coordinate with production managers and contract manufacturing partners on all ramp readiness requirements: cleanroom capacity, utilities, tooling, staffing plans, training, and standard operating procedures.
• Serve as the single point of accountability for ramp execution, delivering regular status updates to executive management and traveling to contract manufacturer and supplier sites (up to approximately 30 % of the time) to resolve issues firsthand.

Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, or a related engineering discipline. An advanced degree (Master’s or MBA) is a plus. 12 or more years of experience managing complex, cross‑functional programs in semiconductor equipment, aerospace, defense, or a comparable high‑precision manufacturing environment is required. Hands‑on working proficiency with an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system such as SAP for production planning, materials management, or order tracking.

• Deep familiarity with lean manufacturing principles — including takt time (the rate at which finished products need to be completed to meet demand), value stream mapping, line balancing, and flow optimization — applied to complex electromechanical system builds.
• Demonstrated experience managing programs that require coordination across engineering, quality, supply chain, production, field service, and finance functions.
• Demonstrated ability to assess, quantify, and manage operational risk across design, supply chain, and quality dimensions, with a track record of preemptive problem resolution rather than firefighting.
• Skilled at translating complex program data — schedules, cost forecasts, risk registers — into clear executive‑level summaries that drive timely decisions.
• Experience planning and executing production ramps for…