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Director of Manufacturing – Spaceborne Radar Payloads Verified today

Kapta Space · Redmond, WA · Payload · first seen 2026-09-03
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About the Role

Kapta Space is seeking a Director of Manufacturing to lead manufacturing strategy and execution for spaceborne radar payloads. You will direct all manufacturing activities from production planning and material flow through assembly, integration, environmental testing, qualification, and final delivery. You'll work closely with Engineering, Quality, Supply Chain, Program Management, and Operations to transition products from development into repeatable, scalable production.

Manufacturing Leadership

  • Lead all manufacturing activities for space-qualified radar, RF, microwave, digital, and electronic assemblies.
  • Develop and execute manufacturing strategy to support current programs and future production growth.
  • Establish manufacturing capacity, staffing, equipment, tooling, and facility requirements.
  • Build a high-performing manufacturing organization with clear accountability, processes, and performance metrics.
  • Establish production schedules and ensure on-time delivery of hardware to program milestones.
  • Drive continuous improvement in throughput, yield, cycle time, labor efficiency, and manufacturing cost.
  • Manage facilities maintenance and sustainability initiatives across all departmental functions.

Space Hardware Production

  • Oversee manufacturing of complex, high-reliability electronic assemblies and systems from prototype through qualification and production.
  • Establish robust processes for PCB assembly, electronic box builds, RF/microwave assemblies, harnesses, mechanical integration, and system-level integration and test.
  • Ensure manufacturing processes meet space-qualified hardware standards, including workmanship, contamination control, ESD control, handling, cleanliness, and configuration management.
  • Support production of engineering development units, qualification units, flight units, and spares.
  • Partner with engineering to develop Design for Manufacturability (DFM), Design for Assembly (DFA), and Design for Test (DFT) practices.

Production Process and Operational Excellence

  • Develop standardized work instructions, manufacturing processes, travelers, routings, tooling, fixtures, and work-cell layouts.
  • Implement lean manufacturing and continuous-improvement methodologies for medium-to-high volume, high-complexity space hardware.
  • Establish manufacturing KPIs including first-pass yield, schedule adherence, cycle time, labor hours, rework, scrap, and warranty costs.
  • Identify production bottlenecks and implement corrective actions.
  • Develop scalable processes that transition from prototype production to higher-rate manufacturing without compromising reliability.

Quality and Mission Assurance

  • Partner with Quality and Mission Assurance to maintain compliance with applicable space and aerospace quality requirements.
  • Ensure compliance with workmanship standards and customer requirements including AS9100, NASA, ECSS, IPC, and J-STD-001.
  • Establish strong process controls, inspection points, acceptance criteria, and manufacturing records.
  • Participate in root-cause investigations and corrective/preventive actions.
  • Maintain complete hardware traceability and configuration control throughout the manufacturing process.
  • Support customer audits, qualification activities, failure investigations, and production readiness reviews.

Supply Chain and Supplier Management

  • Partner with Supply Chain and Engineering to establish manufacturing requirements for critical suppliers.
  • Identify and mitigate manufacturing risks associated with long-lead, obsolete, constrained, or single-source components.
  • Support qualification and development of PCBA, machining, plating, RF electronics assembly, and specialty suppliers.

Required Qualifications

  • Bachelor's degree in Manufacturing Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, or related technical field.
  • 10+ years of experience in electronics, aerospace, defense, space, RF, or other high-reliability manufacturing environments.
  • 5+ years of manufacturing leadership or management experience.
  • Demonstrated experience manufacturing complex electronic assemblies or systems.
  • Experience taking hardware from prototype/development through qualification and production.
  • Strong understanding of PCB assembly, electronic integration, harnessing, mechanical assembly, and system-level integration.
  • Experience with manufacturing processes for high-reliability or mission-critical hardware.
  • Experience implementing manufacturing processes, documentation, tooling, fixtures, and production controls.
  • Strong understanding of configuration management, quality systems, nonconformance management, and hardware traceability.
  • Demonstrated ability to build and lead technical manufacturing teams.
  • Strong analytical, problem-solving, communication, and cross-functional leadership skills.
  • Eligible to obtain and maintain an active U.S. Top Secret/SCI security clearance.

Preferred Qualifications

  • Experience manufacturing space-qualified radar, RF, microwave, phased-array, AESA, or related sensing electronics.
  • Experience with RF/microwave electronics and high-frequency assemblies.
  • Experience with military, defense, or commercial satellite programs.
  • Experience with environmental qualification and acceptance testing, including thermal cycling, thermal vacuum, vibration, shock, EMC/EMI, and related testing.
  • Experience with NASA, DoD, or commercial space customer requirements.
  • Familiarity with AS9100, IPC-A-610, J-STD-001, IPC/WHMA-A-620, NASA workmanship standards, and ECSS.
  • Experience with ERP/MRP systems and production planning.
  • Experience scaling manufacturing organizations and production capacity.
  • Experience with vertically integrated manufacturing environments.
  • Lean/Six Sigma or other continuous-improvement experience.

Leadership Expectations

You will be a hands-on operational leader who moves comfortably between strategic planning and the factory floor. The successful candidate will build a culture of quality, accountability, urgency, and continuous improvement; develop manufacturing talent and create clear career paths; establish a data-driven operating cadence for production performance; proactively identify manufacturing risks; make sound decisions balancing quality, schedule, cost, and technical risk; work effectively in a fast-paced environment where products and processes continually evolve; and maintain a strong focus on delivering reliable hardware on schedule.

Success in the First 12 Months

  • Establish clear manufacturing processes, ownership, and performance metrics.
  • Assess current production capacity, staffing, equipment, tooling, and facility constraints.
  • Improve production predictability and schedule adherence.
  • Establish a scalable production-readiness process for new products.
  • Strengthen manufacturing documentation, traceability, and configuration control.
  • Build and develop a strong manufacturing organization.
  • Establish a roadmap for increasing production capacity while maintaining space-grade quality and reliability.
  • Partner with Engineering to improve DFM/DFA and accelerate transition from development to production.
  • Create a manufacturing organization capable of supporting the company's next stage of growth.

U.S. Citizenship, Lawful Permanent Residency, or Refugee/Asylee Status Required. To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations including ITAR, employees must be U.S. citizens, lawful U.S. permanent residents (Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted as a refugee or granted asylum, or be eligible to obtain required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State or Commerce.