Front-End Engineering Manager - PCB Manufacturing

Front-End Engineering Manager - PCB Manufacturing

Santa Ana, CA

Pioneer Circuits is a privately held U.S. manufacturer of innovative high-performance flexible circuit boards. We design, produce, and assemble advanced printed circuit board assemblies (PCBAs) for mission-critical systems in aerospace and defense sectors.

About the Opportunity:

The Front-End Engineering Manager leads Pioneer Circuits' Front-End Engineering organization, overseeing the Planning Engineering and CAM Engineering functions to ensure customer requirements are translated into complete, manufacturable engineering data. This role is responsible for the quality, accuracy, and timely release of manufacturing documentation that enables efficient production, supports on-time delivery, and ensures compliance with customer, regulatory, and industry requirements. The Front-End Engineering Manager partners with Sales, Quality, Manufacturing, Operations, and Engineering to improve manufacturability, standardize engineering practices, and drive continuous improvement across the front-end engineering process.

What You’ll Do:

• Lead, coach, and develop the Planning Engineering and CAM Engineering teams by establishing clear priorities, providing technical guidance, and fostering a culture of accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
• Oversee the front-end engineering workflow from customer order review through manufacturing release, ensuring engineering packages are complete, accurate, and released on schedule.
• Manage department workload, staffing, and priorities to support production schedules while balancing customer commitments and business objectives.
• Provide technical leadership for complex engineering requirements, high-layer-count designs, sequential lamination, rigid-flex constructions, and other advanced PCB technologies.
• Ensure customer purchase orders, drawings, specifications, and engineering requirements are accurately interpreted and translated into manufacturing documentation.
• Oversee planning and CAM engineering activities to ensure travelers, manufacturing instructions, tooling data, drill files, AOI programs, panelization, stack-ups, impedance models, and related outputs meet customer and manufacturing requirements.
• Partner with Sales, Quality, Manufacturing, Planning, Operations, and customers to resolve technical issues, improve manufacturability, and support successful product launches.
• Establish and maintain engineering standards, procedures, and best practices that improve consistency, efficiency, and manufacturing readiness.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives focused on reducing engineering errors, improving documentation accuracy, shortening engineering lead times, and improving production throughput.
• Analyze department performance metrics, identify trends and bottlenecks, and implement improvements that enhance operational performance.
• Support customer meetings, technical discussions, and engineering reviews related to manufacturability, process capabilities, and complex product requirements.
• Collaborate with Quality and Manufacturing to investigate engineering-related production issues and implement corrective actions that improve first-pass yield and reduce scrap and rework.
• Evaluate new technologies, software, equipment, and processes that improve productivity, automation, and engineering effectiveness.

What You’ll Bring:

• Strong leadership experience managing engineering or technical teams within a PCB manufacturing environment.
• Comprehensive knowledge of PCB manufacturing processes, including rigid, flex, and rigid-flex technologies.
• Strong understanding of Planning Engineering, CAM Engineering, DFM, manufacturing documentation, and engineering release processes.
• Excellent leadership, coaching, and team development skills.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities with experience making sound technical and operational decisions.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills with the ability to collaborate across departments and interact professionally with customers.
• Ability to interpret complex customer drawings, specifications, military standards, engineering documentation, and manufacturing…