Manager, Manufacturing & NPI Engineering

Antora builds and deploys thermal energy storage to power always‑on industrial operations and data centers with low‑cost energy. Factory‑built in California, Antora’s thermal batteries deliver reliable and cost‑effective heat and power for industrial loads of any size. Antora is electrifying global industry while supporting U.S. manufacturing jobs, lowering costs for energy consumers, and enhancing the competitiveness of American industry.

We are growing our company with people who put team and mission first, value connection through laughter and joy, and build with humility and openness. We are committed to continue building a diverse, passionate, and creative team dedicated to a future where every industrial facility, everywhere on earth, is powered by abundant, clean, low‑cost energy.

Antora is searching for an experienced manufacturing engineering leader to lead our Manufacturing & NPI Engineering team in San Jose, CA. You will lead the function responsible for translating product designs into safe, repeatable, and scalable manufacturing processes, ensuring that Antora’s thermal battery modules can be built safely, reliably, and at increasing scale.

In this role, you will lead a team of engineers responsible for manufacturing process development, new product introduction, design‑for‑manufacturability, tooling, work instructions, manufacturing systems, and production readiness including released processes, trained operators, validated tooling, accurate manufacturing bills of materials, and clear launch criteria. You will partner closely with design engineering, production, supply chain, quality, and factory expansion teams to turn evolving product designs into scalable manufacturing processes.

This is a hands‑on leadership role suited for someone who enjoys both developing people and solving complex manufacturing problems on the shop floor. In the near term, you will help drive manufacturing excellence at Antora’s San Jose facility while translating today’s production learnings into the processes, equipment, and factory requirements that support Antora’s next stage of scale.

• Lead a team of Manufacturing & NPI Engineers; set priorities, run weekly syncs, and manage workload across concurrent product generations and production demands.
• Coach engineers on process plan quality, BOM accuracy, and ECO discipline; step in directly on high‑priority technical work when needed.
• Encourage the use of analytics, automation, and AI‑assisted workflows to improve manufacturing engineering quality, speed, and consistency.
• Build and maintain engineering processes, standards, and best practices for manufacturing engineering & NPI at Antora.

• Champion DFM in design reviews: provide manufacturability feedback that influences product architecture for cost, yield, cycle time, and ramp‑up speed.
• Lead manufacturing & NPI engineers to be key voices in the room, collaborating with design engineering teams to develop buildable designs early‑on when changes are easier to implement and cost less.
• Translate floor‑level learnings (yield drivers, scrap modes, ergonomic / takt‑time constraints) into upstream design guidance and DFM standards for the next product generations.

• Own the transition of each new product generation from design release into fully launched production including blank‑sheet process definition, BOM lock milestones, and EVT unit builds.
• Drive facility layout, work center design and commissioning, headcount requirements, and material flow for new product builds and parallel‑line launches of existing products.
• Set the strategy for and oversee the identification, justification, acquisition, and commissioning of capital equipment including cranes, fixtures, lift tooling, and specialized manufacturing equipment.
• Set and drive manufacturing readiness deadlines in coordination with production, supply chain, and R&D.
• Define and own manufacturing readiness gates across each product generation (EVT > DVT > production), including entry/exit criteria, readiness reviews, and clear hand‑offs…