Sr Director, Operations Engineering

Flex · California

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Level: Director+
Team: Production
Degree: Required
Experience asked: 15+ years
Industry: Industrial
Posted: 16 days ago

The role in 30 seconds

A director-level production role at Flex (industrial) in California.

They ask for: 15+ years · degree required
Tools it names: Automation, Time studies, Capacity planning

Read from the posting. The full description is below.

From the plant jobs report · week of October 19, 2026

Production Engineer roles in California: typical posted base $122k–$177k.

Median of the low and high ends of 37 live postings that list pay, out of 111 production engineer openings in California, read from manufacturers' own careers sites.

California plant jobs report →Pay by team and state →What moves pay →

How this role compares

Against 110 other live production postings in California.

Base pay: Not listed in this posting
Experience asked: More than usual (15+ vs 5+)

Skills these teams ask for most

✓ New product launch 37%
Lean 30%
Root cause 27%
✓ Automation 24%
Python 22%
Team leadership 22%

✓ = this posting asks for it too. % = share of similar postings that mention it.

Stands out: this posting asks for Time studies, which few similar roles mention. If you have it, lead with it.

It asks for 15+ years. If you're close, apply anyway: requirements are a wish list. Talk to someone doing this work there first.

At a glance

Training programPromotion path mentioned

Pulled from the posting text. If it's not listed here, the posting didn't say.

How to get in at this plant

Five moves over a week or two. The first one takes ten minutes.

1
Pick 2–3 people on the Production team at Flex
Engineers who joined in the last year or two reply the most. Use the team search on this page to find them.
2
Send a short, curious note
One real question about their work. No favors yet. Each person gets a different note, written for this role.
3
Turn a reply into a short call
Questions worth asking about this team:
- What does a normal week look like on your team?
- How did you land the job? What stood out in your interviews?
4
Apply with someone vouching for you
If the call went well, ask whether they’d pass your résumé to the hiring manager. Send your résumé link, apply that day, and let them know.
5
Bring proof to the interview
One page of before-and-after numbers from projects you led: scrap, OEE, cycle time, cost. Plant managers hire on results.

Full description from FlexAs posted on their careers site.Show

Job Summary

Flex intends to spin off its Cloud and Power Infrastructure segment into a new, independent publicly traded company, Axiom, with the spin planned for Q1 2027. If the intended spin occurs, this role will support Axiom, a company focused on critical digital infrastructure and delivering end-to-end power and thermal management solutions for AI data centers and other mission-critical applications.

To support our extraordinary team who build great products and contribute to our growth, we’re looking to add a Sr Director, Operations Engineering located in San Jose , CA.

Reporting to the VP, Global Operations the Sr Director, Operations Engineering is responsible for leading the global engineering organization across all RES sites, ensuring consistent execution of engineering strategy, manufacturing readiness, automation deployment, industrial engineering practices, capacity planning, process excellence, and customer technical support.

This leader will establish a unified global engineering model that enables scalable growth, operational excellence, improved productivity, accelerated new product introduction (NPI), and best-in-class customer performance. The role provides technical and organizational leadership across Manufacturing Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Automation Engineering, NPI Engineering, Process Engineering, Quote Engineering, and Engineering Program Execution. The position partners closely with Operations, Quality, Program Management, Supply Chain, Finance, and Business Unit leadership to support growth and profitability objectives.

The experience we’re looking to add to our team

✓Bachelor's degree in Engineering (Mechanical, Industrial, Manufacturing, Electrical, Automation, or related discipline).
✓Master's degree or MBA preferred.
✓15+ years of progressive engineering leadership experience within manufacturing environments.
✓10+ years leading global o

Show full description ↓

Flex is the diversified manufacturing partner of choice that helps market-leading brands design, build and deliver innovative products that improve the world.

A career at Flex offers the opportunity to make a difference and invest in your growth in a respectful, inclusive, and collaborative environment. If you are excited about a role but don't meet every bullet point, we encourage you to apply and join us to create the extraordinary.

Engineering Strategy & Leadership

•Develop and execute the global engineering strategy aligned to business growth objectives.
•Build and lead a high-performing global engineering organization across multiple regions.
•Define global engineering standards, governance, processes, tools, and performance expectations.
•Establish clear roles, competencies, career paths, and succession plans for engineering teams.
•Drive a culture of accountability, innovation, technical excellence, and continuous improvement.

Global Engineering Operations

•Standardize engineering workflows, handoffs, KPI management, and execution practices across all regions.
•Lead global engineering reviews to monitor performance, risks, resource requirements, and strategic initiatives.
•Develop resource balancing strategies to optimize capability and workload across sites.
•Ensure engineering support aligns with operational requirements, customer commitments, and business priorities.

Manufacturing & Industrial Engineering

•Drive manufacturing process optimization, labor productivity improvement, and operational efficiency.
•Establish global standards for capacity modeling, factory layouts, labor planning, and line balancing.
•Lead footprint studies and manufacturing optimization initiatives supporting business growth and transfers.
•Partner with Operations leaders to eliminate constraints and improve throughput and scalability.

Automation & Digital Manufacturing

•Lead automation strategy and deployment across the global footprint.
•Develop and prioritize automation roadmaps supporting productivity, quality, safety, and capacity objectives.
•Sponsor advanced manufacturing initiatives including AI-enabled solutions, smart factory technologies, data analytics, and digital engineering tools.
•Ensure automation investments deliver measurable ROI and operational benefits.

New Product Introduction & Customer Support

•Ensure robust engineering support for NPI, product transfers, customer ramps, and sustaining programs.
•Improve speed-to-revenue through disciplined engineering execution and launch readiness processes.
•Serve as executive escalation point for significant engineering and technical issues.
•Support customer engagements, technical reviews, design-for-manufacturing initiatives, and strategic business opportunities.

Financial & Business Performance

•Develop and manage global engineering budgets, capital plans, and resource requirements.
•Support business case development for expansion, automation, capacity investments, and strategic initiatives.
•Drive productivity improvements that improve margins and operational performance.
•Partner with business leaders to support growth, quoting, and strategic planning activities.

Talent Development

•Build global engineering leadership capability and succession pipelines.
•Develop technical talent through competency frameworks, training, mentoring, and career development programs.
•Ensure engineering capabilities evolve to meet future technology and customer requirements.
•Promote global knowledge sharing and best-practice deployment across sites.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

•Engineering productivity improvements
•NPI launch success rate
•Customer satisfaction metrics
•Automation ROI and savings realization
•Capacity utilization and engineering efficiency
•Product transfer execution performance
•Manufacturing yield improvement
•Labor productivity improvement
•Engineering project execution performance
•Talent retention and succession readiness