Production Lead

About the role

Archangel Lightworks Ltd is seeking a Production Lead to build and manage the manufacturing function that will transition its free‑space optical communication products from prototype to serial production. The role will oversee facilities, teams, tooling and supply‑chain to deliver high‑quality optical ground stations to internal and external customers.

Key responsibilities

• Establish the production function, including facilities, layout, tooling, equipment, processes, documentation, team structure and supply‑chain.
• Lead manufacturing, assembly, integration, alignment, calibration and testing of deployable optical ground station products.
• Own production planning, resource and capacity plans to ensure on‑time delivery.
• Develop and champion end‑to‑end quality control and production assurance processes.
• Manage supplier and contract‑manufacturing relationships.
• Identify and mitigate production risks while maintaining schedule commitments.

Required profile

• Minimum 10 years of experience in manufacturing, preferably in a startup or scale‑up environment.
• Proven track record of transitioning products to serial production and scaling manufacturing operations.
• Strong experience in manufacturing planning, capacity planning, resource planning and production scheduling.
• Demonstrated ability to create and maintain manufacturing documentation and configuration control.
• Experience managing supplier and contract‑manufacturing relationships and quality management systems.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder‑management skills.

Required skills

• Manufacturing planning
• Capacity planning
• Production scheduling
• Work instruction and assembly procedure development
• Manufacturing records and configuration control
• Supplier relationship management
• Contract manufacturing management
• Quality management systems
• Production assurance processes
• Optical ground station assembly, alignment, calibration and testing