Director of Production

Location:

Salt Lake City, Utah | On-site

Type:
Full-time, Exempt

Reports to:

Chief Executive Officer

Compensation: $120,000 - $150,000 base + 15% target annual bonus

National Water Services, backed by Tower Brook Capital Partners, is a mission-driven water company based in Salt Lake City that operates Fresh Pure(R) Waters and Arctic Mountain branded bulk water vending and refill stations in more than 1,000 natural and conventional grocery stores across the United States and Canada. Launched in 1991, the business delivers exceptionally pure drinking water at accessible prices while reducing single-use plastic by encouraging customers to refill their own containers.

Its systems are most often found in retailers such as Whole Foods and Sprouts, where shoppers value sustainability, wellness and high-quality water.

National Water Services designs, builds and maintains the in-store purification and dispensing systems themselves - reverse osmosis, deionized and high-pH alkaline water. The company differentiates from typical grocery-store water vending through commercial-grade technology, multi-step purification, permanent alkalization that mimics natural mineralization, and a field service model that sustains greater than 99% machine uptime.

Reporting to the CEO, the Director of Production will lead production, process improvement, quality and manufacturing execution in a low mix, low volume environment as the company grows and prepares for 3-5x scale over the next several years. This is a critical leadership role responsible for making Utah a world-class production hub while providing oversight to an established contract manufacturing partner in New York.

The successful candidate will be a builder of systems and teams who installs a formal Lean operating cadence, KPI dashboards and production planning discipline where much of it does not yet exist. They will own the end-to-end production lifecycle - through assembly, final test and readiness for field deployment - and coordinate closely with the service organization so that every system leaving the factory performs reliably in demanding retail environments.

• Lead end-to-end in-house production of dispensing and processing systems, from assembly through final test and shipment
• Own daily performance across safety, quality, delivery and cost, ensuring reliable output that supports installation and field service commitments
• Establish and report the production KPI set - schedule attainment, first-pass yield, scrap and rework, build cost per unit, on-time shipment and safety
• Absorb sustained annual growth of roughly 40-50% while preparing people, processes and systems for 3-5x scale

• Provide oversight to the contract manufacturing partner in New York, ensuring alignment on cost, quality, delivery and capacity, with a defined program cadence and escalation path
• Qualify and develop additional external partners to augment internal capacity and provide supply resilience
• Support demand and supply reconciliation and clear-to-build discipline so that build plans are grounded in real material availability

• Define and execute a multi-year manufacturing roadmap with clear capacity, capability and capital investment milestones tied to the growth plan
• Stabilize and optimize the consolidated Salt Lake City operation following the 2026 facility move, driving layout, flow and capacity improvements from a settled footprint
• Plan capacity, staffing, layout and capital needs in close partnership with the Finance team, and build and coach the Utah production leadership team

• Own production quality performance from incoming inspection through final test, maintaining and building on a strong quality foundation
• Ensure documented method on the floor - released work instructions, standard work and validated cycle times under document control
• Partner with engineering to ensure process driven change control, with manufacturing assessment and documentation updated before change reaches the floor
• Sustain product conformity and third-party listing requirements for equipment deployed in retail environments

• Install and sustain a formal Lean operating cadence - tiered daily huddles, Gemba walks, visual management and structured problem solving
• Implement and refine KPI dashboards and production planning routines that make performance…