Production Manager

About the role

The Production Manager is accountable for all production output across Emesent’s product lines — Hovermap STX, A3D STX, GX1, RMA, and Accessories. You own the production floor: the people, the processes, the schedule execution, the quality of output, and the safety of the environment. When production delivers on plan, on time, and on quality, that is your success. When it doesn’t, you own the problem, the root cause, and the recovery.

This role works in close partnership with the Planning Manager (who owns demand-to-delivery planning and material availability) and the Quality Manager (who owns the QMS and assurance framework). The Production Manager’s job is to execute the plan with the materials provided to the quality standard required — and to communicate clearly and early when any of those inputs create a constraint.

The role requires someone who can hold two things in tension simultaneously: the strategic discipline to drive process improvement, build team capability, and invest in production systems; and the operational intensity to manage daily floor execution, solve problems in real time, and never lose sight of today’s schedule while working on tomorrow’s improvements. The most common failure mode in this role is allowing day-to-day firefighting to consume all bandwidth, starving process engineering and continuous improvement of attention. Managing that balance is a core competency, not an aspiration.

Key accountabilities

Production floor ownership & schedule execution

Own daily and weekly production execution across all product lines: ensure build orders are completed on schedule, to specification, and within labour budget

Manage the daily production cadence: morning stand-ups, work allocation, constraint identification, and end-of-day status capture

Execute the production schedule provided by the Planning Manager; where conflicts or constraints arise, negotiate priorities and commit to revised dates with clear communication to affected stakeholders

Maintain real-time visibility of production status: what is on track, what is at risk, what has slipped, and what the recovery plan is

Own the interface between production and logistics for finished goods handover, packaging, and dispatch readiness

Process engineering & continuous improvement

Own the production process for each product line: build sequences, work instructions, tooling, fixtures, jigs, and test procedures

Drive continuous improvement on the production floor through lean methodology — 5S, value stream mapping, standard work, visual management, and waste elimination

Maintain a prioritised CI pipeline: identify improvement opportunities, quantify the business case (labour savings, cycle time reduction, yield improvement), resource the work, and track delivery to completion

Lead new product introduction (NPI) from a production readiness perspective: work with engineering to ensure designs are manufacturable, build processes are documented, tooling is in place, and technicians are trained before production handover

Own build time standards and update them as processes mature; ensure labour estimates used for capacity planning and costing reflect actual production capability

Protect process engineering bandwidth: this is not an activity that gets deprioritised when the floor is busy — it is the mechanism by which the floor gets less busy over time

Direct labour management & workforce development

Lead, manage, and develop the production team: team leads and technicians across all product lines

Own workforce planning: skills matrices, cross-training plans, shift coverage, and succession planning to eliminate single-person dependencies on any product line or process step

Manage performance formally: set clear expectations, provide regular feedback, conduct performance reviews, and address underperformance directly and constructively

Build team capability through structured training programs, progressive skill development, and deliberate cross-training — not just on-the-job absorption

Manage labour allocation daily: assign technicians to build orders based on skill, priority, and availability; manage overtime, leave coverage, and contractor augmentation when required

Own direct labour utilisation as a production metric: track productive hours against available hours, identify and reduce idle time, rework time, and non-value-add activity

Productivity & cost management

Own production productivity targets: units per labour hour, build time per unit, and cost per unit across each product line

Track and report OEE (or equivalent throughput metrics appropriate to Emesent’s build model), build cycle times, first-pass yield, and rework rates

Deliver a minimum of one quantified process improvement per quarter with measurable impact on labour, time, or cost

Manage production consumables and tooling costs within budget; flag variances early with explanation and corrective action

Provide production cost inputs to finance for standard costing, variance analysis, and inventory

valuation

Quality at the point of production

Own first-pass yield and rework rates as production floor metrics — quality is built into the process, not inspected in after the fact

Ensure work instructions, inspection points, and test procedures are followed consistently; address non-conformances immediately at the point of occurrence

Partner with the Quality Manager on root cause analysis for production defects; own the

implementation of corrective actions on the production floor

Maintain production area housekeeping and 5S standards to support quality outcomes and safety

Safety & compliance

Own the safety of the production environment: risk assessments, safe work procedures, incident

investigation, and corrective action closure

Maintain zero lost-time injuries as a non-negotiable standard; all incidents investigated and corrective actions closed within 5 business days

Ensure production operations comply with applicable WHS legislation, export control requirements (where relevant to build processes), and any site-specific safety protocols

Stakeholder communication

Provide daily production status visibility to the Planning Manager and leadership — what shipped, what’s in progress, what’s at risk

Issue same-day communication on any constraint, delay, or material change that affects committed delivery dates, including impact assessment and recovery options

Participate in the monthly S&OP cycle with production capacity inputs, constraint identification, and forward-looking throughput commitments

Communicate clearly to non-manufacturing stakeholders — commercial, engineering, finance — translating production complexity into actionable information without jargon

Key requirements

Essential:

7–10 years in manufacturing operations, with at least 3 years directly managing a production team

(leads, technicians, or operators) in a hardware build environment

Demonstrated ownership of production output: schedule adherence, throughput, yield, and cost targets — not just participation in production, but accountability for results

Strong process engineering foundation: ability to analyse and optimise build flows, identify bottlenecks, design fixtures/jigs, and implement process changes that deliver measurable productivity gains

Practical lean manufacturing capability — 5S, value stream mapping, standard work, visual management — applied in a real production environment, not just classroom exposure

Experience managing direct labour: workforce planning, shift scheduling, skills matrices, performance management, and building team capability through structured training and cross-training

Working knowledge of ERP/MES systems for production execution (work orders, labour tracking, BOM consumption)

Clear, structured communicator who can translate production complexity into actionable information for non-manufacturing stakeholders

Desirable:

Experience in electronics hardware, sensor technology, robotics, or precision electromechanical assembly

Hands-on Fishbowl ERP experience for work order management and production tracking

Lean Six Sigma Green Belt or equivalent continuous improvement certification

Experience with new product introduction (NPI) — transitioning products from engineering prototype to production-ready

Exposure to regulated manufacturing environments (ISO 9001, defence, or export- controlled production)

Experience scaling production from low-volume/high-mix to moderate-volume operations

Trade qualification or engineering degree in mechanical, manufacturing, electrical, or mechatronics engineering

The added perks

9-day fortnight - every second Friday off

Employee Share Option Plan (ESOP) - share in Emesent’s success

Work alongside a passionate and collaborative team building world-leading technology

Genuine learning and development opportunities including LinkedIn Learning access

Employee Assistance Program

One additional day of leave each year for your work anniversary

Novated lease options

Why Emesent?

At Emesent, you’ll work on technology that is genuinely shaping the future of how industries capture and understand the physical world. We offer a dynamic, collaborative environment, competitive compensation, and real opportunities for professional growth. Join us in pushing the boundaries of robotics and spatial intelligence.

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.