
General Manager, Commercial Manufacturing Facility
Orca Bio · Sacramento, CA
- Level
- Manager
- Team
- Manufacturing
- Degree
- Preferred
- Experience asked
- 15+ years
- Industry
- Pharma & life sciences
- Posted
- 30+ days ago
The role in 30 seconds
A management manufacturing role at Orca Bio (pharma & life sciences) in Sacramento, CA. While a traditional allogeneic stem cell transplant has been the best hope for many, the transplant itself can prove fatal or lead to serious conditions, such as graft vs.
- They ask for
- 15+ years · degree preferred
- Tools it names
- FDA / GMP
- Day to day
- some off-shift / weekend coverage · relocation help
Read from the posting. The full description is below.
From the plant jobs report · week of November 2, 2026
Manufacturing Engineer roles in California: typical posted base $112k–$168k.
Median of the low and high ends of 147 live postings that list pay, out of 388 manufacturing 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 387 other live manufacturing postings in California.
- Base pay
- Not listed in this posting
- Experience asked
- More than usual (15+ vs 5+)
Typical $110k–$157k, from 127 postings that list pay.
Similar roles usually ask 5+ years.
Skills these teams ask for most
- Tooling 52%
- New product launch 47%
- Root cause 38%
- Automation 35%
- CATIA / NX 27%
- Machining 27%
✓ = this posting asks for it too. % = share of similar postings that mention it.
Stands out: this posting asks for FDA / GMP, which few similar roles mention. If you have it, lead with it.
At a glance
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 Manufacturing team at Orca Bio
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?
- Is the work mostly new product launches or sustaining existing lines?
- How much time do you spend on the floor versus at a desk?
- How does off-shift and weekend coverage work?
- 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.
This plant: Orca Bio in Sacramento
3 other open roles at this site.
- Senior Engineer, Process Validation - Cell Therapy · Quality · Senior
- Engineer, Packaging and Labeling · Manufacturing
- Calibration Technician · Quality · Technician
Full description from Orca BioAs posted on their careers site.ShowHide
requirements
and long-range plans.
- ✓Manage site resources against business priorities and commercial demand.
- ✓Drive productivity and cost efficiency while protecting product quality and patient supply.
- ✓Ensure the site has the workforce, equipment, systems and infrastructure required for future growth.
Qualifications
- ✓Bachelor’s degree in engineering, life sciences, business, operations or a related discipline; advanced degree preferred.
- ✓15+ years of progressive leadership experience in commercial biologics, cell/gene therapy, pharmaceuticals, or radiopharmaceuticals.
- ✓Significant senior leadership experience as a Site Head, General Manager, Plant Manager or equivalent, with broad accountability for GMP manufacturing operations.
- ✓Demonstrated track record of improving manufacturing performance, efficiency, reliability and operational discipline.
- ✓Experience leading large, cross-functional organizations and building high-performing teams.
- ✓Strong business, financial and operational acumen, with a practical understanding of cGMP requirements.
- ✓Demonstrated ability to operate with urgency, make sound risk-based decisions and challenge established ways of working.
- ✓Experience with production ramp-up, commercialization and/or significant capacity expansion.
Show full description ↓Show less ↑
More than one million people in the United States today are fighting blood cancer. While a traditional allogeneic stem cell transplant has been the best hope for many, the transplant itself can prove fatal or lead to serious conditions, such as graft vs. host disease. Orca Bio is a commercial-stage biotechnology company redefining the transplant process by developing next-generation cell therapies with the goal of providing significantly better survival rates with dramatically fewer risks. With our purified, high-precision cell therapies we hope to not only replace patients' blood and immune systems with healthy ones, but also restore their lives.
We have built a state-of-the-art, 100,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Sacramento, CA (7910 Metro Air Pkwy) to ensure the consistent and reliable delivery of our high-precision cell therapy products. This site is essential to advancing our clinical pipeline and supporting future commercial availability of our life-saving therapies.
Summary of Position: The General Manager/Site Head, Commercial Manufacturing will have overall leadership responsibility for our 200+ employee, 24/7 Sacramento manufacturing site, which has undergone significant recent expansion and continues to scale. This leader will serve as the senior site executive accountable for operational performance, manufacturing execution, people, financial performance, quality and compliance, and long-term growth.
Reporting to the Chief Quality Officer/EVP Manufacturing, the General Manager will work closely with Orca Bio’s executive leadership team to strengthen the site’s operating model, culture and capabilities while driving reliable execution, operational efficiency and continuous improvement. This is a highly visible role for a strategic business leader and hands-on operator who brings a strong sense of urgency and stays close to day-to-day operations.
Location: candidate must live and work full-time in Sacramento; relocation support will be provided as needed.
Site Leadership & General Management
- •Serve as the senior leader and overall business operator for the Sacramento commercial manufacturing site.
- •Establish and build upon site priorities, governance, operating rhythms and performance objectives aligned with Orca Bio’s business goals.
- •Lead the site leadership team and create clear accountability, fast decision-making and strong cross-functional execution.
- •Build the organization, systems and capabilities required to support continued commercial growth.
- •Provide executive leadership with clear visibility into site performance, risks, opportunities and resource needs.
Manufacturing & Operational Performance
- •Lead commercial GMP manufacturing operations and ensure reliable delivery of patient-critical products.
- •Drive improvements in throughput, productivity, cycle time, schedule adherence and right-first-time performance.
- •Establish and build upon site KPIs and use data to identify bottlenecks, solve problems and improve performance.
- •Bring a strong sense of urgency and a creative, pragmatic mindset to simplifying processes and improving how work gets done.
- •Maintain strong quality, safety and compliance standards while enabling efficient, responsive operations.
- •Lead production ramp-up, capacity expansion and operational scaling.
People & Organization Leadership
- •Build, develop and retain a high-performing site leadership team and organization.
- •Create a culture of ownership, accountability, collaboration and continuous improvement.
- •Be a visible, hands-on leader who stays close to frontline operations and actively engages employees in solving problems.
- •Develop leadership capability and succession plans for critical roles.
- •Partner with Human Resources on workforce planning, organizational design and employee engagement.
Financial & Business Management
- •Partner with Finance and executive leadership on budgets, headcount, capital
More Manufacturing roles nearby
- Engineer, Packaging and Labeling · Orca Bio · Sacramento
- Engineering Specialist I-II (depending on exp) D shift, Wednesday - Friday, every other Saturday 6pm-6am · Bosch · Roseville · 16 mi
- Engineering Specialist I-II (depending on exp) C shift, Sunday- Tuesday, every other Saturday 6pm-6am · Bosch · Roseville · 16 mi
- Manufacturing Engineer · Watts Water · Woodland · 17 mi
