Director of Operations

Description

Director of Operations

Beachwood, OH  |  Full-time On-site 

Reports to: CEO

About the Position

As a member of the senior leadership team, the Director of Operations leads day-to-day execution across precision machining, assembly and finished goods, advanced manufacturing, and supply chain at Helix Linear. This is a floor-first role; you're in the building, in the data, and in the details, building the operating discipline that lets Helix scale.

You'll lead a team of 4-5+ direct reports and the broader production organization beneath them, building a team that owns outcomes and grows with the company. This role reports directly to the CEO and works closely with the leadership team as Helix grows and scales the company.

Helix builds precision motion systems for medical, industrial, aerospace and defense customers, where tolerances are measured in ten-thousandths of an inch. Here, how you lead matters as much as what you execute; relationships, trust, and credibility on the floor come first, and systems and change follow.

Responsibilities

Operational Leadership & Execution

• Own day-to-day operations across manufacturing, planning, supply chain, and advanced manufacturing; on the floor daily, not managing through reports.
• Own the OTD number and close the gap toward 90%+ by working the actual bottlenecks, not just tracking the metric.
• Improve throughput, utilization, and operating discipline in a high-mix, low-volume precision environment.
• Identify root causes yourself, walk the floor, pull the data, talk to the team, and lead structured problem-solving to resolve them.
• Manage the operational complexity that comes with growth: SOP discipline, more SKUs, more shifts, more structure, not just revenue growth on paper.

People & Leadership Development

• Lead your team of direct reports, and develop them into strong operators and strong people leaders.
• Set clear expectations for ownership, urgency, and follow-through, and hold your team to them.
• Coach directly and consistently. Leadership is taught on the floor, not in a conference room.
• Partner with HR on workforce planning, onboarding, and training systems.
• Earn trust and credibility with the team through presence and follow-through, not title.

Planning, Systems & Cost Discipline

• Set the standard for planning and scheduling; the structure, sequencing, and discipline the Supply Chain Manager and Production Managers execute against day to day.
• Hold the Supply Chain Manager accountable for a trustworthy production schedule; step in yourself on system-level issues, fixing routings, work centers, and scheduling logic in Epicor, that go beyond day-to-day execution.

Cross-Functional Coordination

• Serve as a key operating partner to the CEO and senior leadership team.
• Improve handoffs between engineering and production; NPI, manufacturability, documentation quality.
• Work closely with quality, supply chain, and sales to balance customer commitments with shop-floor reality.
• Run the daily/weekly operating cadence; meetings, gemba, priorities, follow-through, and hold the team to it.

Who You Are

• You are both a leader and a manager of people; vision and follow-through, not one or the other.
• You build trust before you build systems. Your first 30-60-90 days are about listening and learning, not restructuring.
• You have run a machine shop, CNC mills, lathes, and precision machining operations, and you speak that language fluently.
• You've led operations in aerospace or defense manufacturing and understand what mission-critical quality demands.
• You do the diagnostic work yourself, walk the floor, pull the data, talk to the machinists, before you draw conclusions.
• You respect what built this company. You work within Helix's culture, not around it.
• You pair speed with structure, not one at the expense of the other.

What You Bring

• Engineering degree or equivalent technical background in precision manufacturing.
• 7+ years in manufacturing operations, with direct leadership of production, planning, or quality functions. 
• Operational leadership experience running a machine shop; CNC mills, lathes, and related precision equipment. 
• Aerospace and/or defense manufacturing experience. 
• Demonstrated results improving OTD and delivery reliability in a high-mix, low-volume or precision environment.
• Track record building and holding accountable a team of supervisors or managers; with genuine credibility, not just authority.
• Experience building or fixing systems, not just inheriting them; planning, supplier, or cost-control systems.
• Comfort using data, dashboards, and root-cause analysis to drive decisions, not just instinct and floor presence.
• Familiarity with AS9100 or similar quality management systems.
• ERP system experience in a manufacturing environment; Epicor experience

What Success Looks Like

• OTD: measurable, sustained progress toward 90%+.
• Utilization: measurable, sustained progress toward 80%+.
• Team: your entire function, direct reports and the teams beneath them, operating with clear expectations, consistent coaching, and rising accountability.
• Floor credibility: known and trusted by machinists, engineers, and supervisors alike, not just leadership.
• Cost: measurable reduction in scrap, rework, and cost-per-part.
• Compliance: AS9100 audit readiness maintained; documentation and training standards hold up under review.
• Culture: Helix's values show up in how the team operates day to day; trust that holds, standards that stick, and change that lasts, not just change that happened.

About Helix Linear

Helix Linear Technologies designs and manufactures high-precision motion control systems for medical, industrial, aerospace & defense markets where performance isn't optional. We hold tolerances to ±0.0001 inches, machining, grinding, and assembling critical motion components in-house, including precision ball screws and linear systems.

We're in a growth phase; investing in R&D, advanced equipment, and new product lines. Our climate-controlled facility is built for precision and continuous improvement, and our team solves hard problems together. We value ownership, technical excellence, and a growth mindset, if that's what drives you, we'd love to meet you.

We offer competitive pay, comprehensive benefits, retirement plans, PTO, most major holidays, steady daytime hours, and flexible scheduling. This is a chance to build something real: strong teams, trusted customer relationships, and systems that last.

Helix Linear Technologies is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Due to U.S. export control laws, applicants must be U.S. persons (U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident).