Vulcan Elements is manufacturing American rare-earth permanent magnets for a secure, resilient future. With a focus on national security and economic resiliency, we serve critical industries such as defense, aerospace, and automotive powering a high-technology future. Vulcan Elements is building a team of ambitious professionals committed to Mission Focus, Technical Excellence and Integrity.

This leader is hired ahead of equipment installation to build and lead the Magnet Manufacturing organization, including production operators, operations engineers and technicians. Working closely with the Commissioning Leader, this role will develop and support the commissioning plan, equipment startup sequence and field activities while ensuring the operating team is ready for turnover. The leader will own process performance during production qualification and ramp, including safety, throughput, OEE, yield, quality and cost; establish the sintered-block cost of goods sold (COGS) model; and own the Magnet Manufacturing operations budget.

Responsibilities

Own Magnet Manufacturing operational readiness across hydrogen decrepitation, jet milling, blending, pressing, sintering and heat treatment, providing Operations input from design review and factory acceptance testing through site acceptance, commissioning, process qualification and production turnover.
Partner with Manufacturing Engineering, Process Technology, Capital Execution, Automation & Digital Manufacturing, Maintenance, Quality and EHS on powder transfer and containment, equipment layout and access, instrumentation, sampling, maintainability, controls and material flow; serve as the Operations acceptance authority for equipment turnover.
Work with the Commissioning Leader to develop and support the integrated commissioning plan, equipment startup sequence, resource plan and execution activities; ensure Operations provides personnel, operating procedures, training and field support at the required milestones.
Prepare operators, technicians and operations engineers for equipment startup and qualification; support commissioning execution, then lead production ramp following operational turnover, using process data to improve output, quality, availability and repeatability.
Design and grow the Magnet Manufacturing organization for high-volume, multi-shift production: staffing model, supervisors and shift leads, operator coverage, operations engineering and technician support, escalation paths and daily floor leadership. Build the headcount plan backward from commissioning and production ramp milestones.
Recruit, onboard and develop operators, engineers and technicians in phases; establish qualification standards, training and cross-training, technical troubleshooting capability, standard work and shift handoff routines so the team can safely own the process at turnover.
Partner with EHS on job hazard analysis, pre-startup safety reviews, procedures and emergency response for hydrogen, reactive and combustible fine powders, inert atmospheres, dust collection, high-temperature furnaces, moving machinery, oxygen/moisture ingress and LOTO.
Own manufacturing performance measures - throughput, equipment and line OEE, availability, first-pass quality, stepwise and overall material yield, scrap/rework, labor productivity and key consumables. Define consistent measurement methods, loss categories and shop-floor data capture before startup.
Partner with Process Manufacturing Engineering, Process Technology and Quality to implement control plans, critical process parameters, sampling and traceability, product specifications and statistical monitoring that deliver consistent, qualified sintered blocks to downstream machining.
Lead the operations engineering and technician teams in structured troubleshooting and continuous improvement of bottlenecks, cycle times, powder losses, furnace performance, downtime and process variation; partner with Maintenance and Engineering to convert startup lessons into reliable standard work.