Head of Production Engineering

Advanced Navigation is the world’s most determined innovator in AI robotics and navigation technologies across land, air, sea and space applications. Founded on a culture of research and discovery, Advanced Navigation's mission is to be the catalyst of the autonomy revolution. Fields of expertise include artificial intelligence, underwater sonar, GNSS, radio frequency systems, inertial sensors, robotics, quantum sensors and photonics. 

Today, Advanced Navigation is a supplier to some of the world's largest companies, including Airbus, Boeing, Google, Tesla, NASA, Apple, and General Motors. Discover it for yourself: https://youtu.be/F7uAqs1gtuk

Overview of Position 

Advanced Navigation designs and builds complex navigation electronics for Defence and commercial applications. The production team are assembling, programming and testing highly complex electronics, optics and composites in house. As a Head of Production Engineering you will lead the Team to maintain and deliver Production systems, including production equipment, process and training, quality management, returns management and Design for Manufacture.

You will report directly to the Chief Operating Officer and partner closely with the Head of Production, Head of Purchasing & Logistics and relevant Heads of R&D. You will be based at our UTS TechLabs Botany facility, spending 1-2 days a week at our George Street Office and 1-2 weeks / quarter at our Balcatta facility in WA.

Role Responsibilities

• Manage a team of 7 Production Engineers, based at Botany and Balcatta facilities. Provide the Team with direction, coaching, development and support. Hold them accountable to deliver against Production Engineering quarterly goals and weekly targets.
• Take a Leadership role in Advanced Navigation’s quarterly planning process. Analyse company goals against status and design laser focused Production Engineering goals for the Team.
• Enable Advanced Navigation to meet its Production targets by introducing and maintaining effective and efficient production systems and processes and removing technical blockers.
• Provide expert guidance and Production technical expertise to both the Production and R&D Teams.
• Partner with the Head of Production to maintain the Production Line. Work with the team to analyse failed products, equipment or process to Quarantine for analysis and repair. Drive root cause analysis best practice through the business.
• Drive supplier selection protocols within the business and supplier performance through regular category reviews.
• Keep up to date on advancements in engineering and production, and share findings with the relevant teams
• Oversee the process by which production failures are managed, reported, investigated and resolved.
• Oversee the technical process by which Customer Returns are managed, reported, investigated and resolved 
• Assist and support the Head of Production to drive continuous improvement and change in the Production Team
• Work with R&D Project Managers to plan R&D deliverables for the hand over to production and provide feedback;

Qualifications, Skills and Experience

• 10+ years of working in Production & Production Engineering functions with solid track record of managing people
• 5+ years of experience working in high volume electronics manufacturing
• Capable of upskilling quickly to develop deep technical capabilities in a challenging technical domain
• Able to work collaboratively with a variety of stakeholders across the business, including R&D Engineers, Production Technicians, and Head of Departments.
• FAI and Verification & Validation (V&V) experience as well as PCB electronics design, testing and troubleshooting 
• Strong, efficient communicator, written and verbal
• Well developed, structured problem solving and debugging skills
• Be highly motivated with an energetic, responsive and decisive disposition;
• Strong knowledge of WHS practices;
• Proven high standard of attention to detail, time management and “follow-through”. 
• Familiarity with IPC-A-610 and ISO 9001:2015
• Familiarity with an ERP tool, such as Microsoft Dynamics, Salesforce or SAP.

What are some of the benefits you will have access to?

You'll have access to industry-leading products with diverse applications within some of the most interesting and exciting projects worldwide. We’re growing a team of inspired, smart, and driven individuals from all sorts of backgrounds. With great opportunities for growth and variety, we strive to help each employee carve out the path that’s right for them.