Director of Manufacturing

Planet

Berlin, Germany

Full Time

Posted March 6, 2026

Not Specified

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Job Description

The Director of Manufacturing oversees the end-to-end manufacturing processes for satellite hardware, leading continuous improvement projects, managing factory operations, and ensuring product quality and manufacturability to support Planet's space and data missions.

Key Responsibilities

Lead the NPI build process, manufacturing engineering, and factory operations.
Manage continuous improvement projects, new product launches, and manufacturing support.
Design, implement, and optimize manufacturing processes, equipment, and factory layout.
Ensure product and process quality through testing, standards, and process capability analysis.
Oversee production line operation, vendor qualification, and quality management.
Manage production costs, schedules, and resource planning.
Train and guide technicians and engineers, and supervise production staffing.

Requirements

8 years of technical hands-on work experience building and growing production teams for scale, quality management, insource outsource strategy, manufacturing throughput and capacity analysis.
6 years of supervisory leadership experience managing technicians and junior engineers, with the ability to multitask several projects.
An advanced degree in a relevant field.
Experience with manufacturing engineering, process engineering, product design, and extensive New Product Introduction (NPI).
Experience with complete end-to-end manufacturing documentation, process development, and analysis with deep understanding.
Ability to provide Design for Manufacturing (DFM) and Design for Excellence (DFX) guidelines to cross-functional teams and ensure manufacturability across the supply chain, partners, and Contract Manufacturers (CMs).
Professional experience in owned factory operations.
Experience in the design and selection of production processes, equipment, and consumables.
Experience with predictive software design packages and 6-Sigma certifications.
Experience with Superior Project Timeline Consumer Electronics Integrated Project Management adherence.
Knowledge of Production Part Approval Process (PPAP), Process Capability, GR&R (Gage Repeatability and Reproducibility), PMP (Project Management Professional), basic Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing (GD&T), basic cost estimation management, and process control plans.
Ability to communicate clearly and advocate effectively.
Compliance with labor practices and understanding of Cost of Goods Sold (CoGS).
The position requires access to U.S. and German EU export-controlled information, and employment is contingent upon the candidate's ability to access all applicable export-controlled information without additional export licensing being required by German, EU, or U.S. authorities.