Factory Program Manager

Title: Factory Program Manager

Location: San Jose, CA. (Onsite – 5 days per week)

Duration: 6 months contract with possibility of extension

Job description:

As a Factory Program Manager for Hardware team, you will serve as our primary onsite representative at San Jose. You will coordinate daily factory activities, support new product introduction builds and engineering experiments, and drive follow-through on shared priorities and open issues.

You will bring structure and visibility to the work happening at the site. You will maintain the integrated schedule and issue list, coordinate onsite support, communicate weekly priorities, and escalate risks before they affect engineering or build schedules.

Qualifications

You will:

• Own the day-to-day coordination of activities at San Jose, including new product introduction (NPI) builds, design of experiments (DOEs), testing, failure analysis, material deliveries, and facility work.
• Maintain an integrated site schedule and master issue list, with clear owners, priorities, dependencies, and due dates.
• Establish a regular communication cadence that summarizes upcoming activities, required onsite support, progress, risks, and decisions.
• Drive cross-functional teams to close open actions and escalate issues when progress is at risk.
• Coordinate shared resources, including technicians, lab equipment, test fixtures, floor space, and engineering support.
• Support build readiness by coordinating materials, equipment, documentation, staffing, and other requirements.
• Ensure results from experiments, testing, and failure analysis are documented and shared with the appropriate engineering teams.
• Identify opportunities to improve factory processes, site organization, and collaboration.
• Coordinate site infrastructure and workspace needs in partnership with Engineering, Operations, and IT.

Skills You have:

• 5+ years of experience in hardware program management, factory operations, manufacturing operations, or NPI.
• Experience working onsite with a contract manufacturer, preferably in electronics or printed circuit board assembly manufacturing.
• Working knowledge of hardware development and manufacturing processes, including surface-mount technology, assembly, testing, and production ramp.
• Experience managing multiple workstreams with competing priorities, shared resources, and tight schedules.
• Strong issue management skills and a consistent track record of driving actions to closure.
• The ability to understand technical discussions, identify dependencies, and communicate effectively with engineering and manufacturing teams.
• Clear written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to summarize complex activity for technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• A proactive approach and the ability to bring structure to an environment where processes and priorities may change quickly.

Preferred qualifications:

• Experience supporting engineering DOEs, hardware validation, or failure analysis.
• Familiarity with thermal management, immersion cooling, power electronics, ASIC-based hardware, or high-density compute systems.
• Experience managing factory lab spaces, facility upgrades, or production floor layouts.
• Experience with material readiness, inventory coordination, and supply chain activities.
• Previous experience working with large electronics manufacturing services provider.
• A technical degree or equivalent practical experience.