Position Summary

The Senior Director, Advanced Manufacturing Engineering Center of Excellence (CoE) provides strategic and operational leadership for the company's most critical manufacturing technology programs. This Director is accountable for establishing and scaling a world-class CoE that drives competitive advantage through industrial automation, next-generation test engineering, advanced materials evaluation, and novel process development including New Product Introductions. The role bridges applied research, engineering execution, and cross-functional collaboration to translate emerging technologies into repeatable, high-yield manufacturing capabilities. The ideal candidate takes full ownership of outcomes, leads with genuine humility, and brings a passion for solving hard problems to every initiative they champion.

Travel expectation: Up to 30% domestic and international.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership & CoE Development

• Define the multi-year vision, roadmap, and operating model for the Advanced Manufacturing CoE, aligning priorities to corporate growth and technology strategy.
• Build, mentor, and retain a high-performing team of engineers, scientists, and program managers across automation, test, materials, and process disciplines; roll up your sleeves alongside the team, modeling the mutual respect and genuine investment in others that defines Neptune’s culture.
• Establish CoE governance, stage-gate frameworks, and portfolio review cadences to ensure disciplined prioritization of resources and investment.
• Partner with senior leadership, RDO, Product, R&D, Supply Chain, and Quality to translate strategic objectives into executable engineering programs, bringing individual expertise together toward shared outcomes.
• Represent the CoE with customers, suppliers, academic partners, and regulatory bodies; champion external collaboration and open-innovation initiatives.

Industrial Automation

• Lead the identification, development, and deployment of automation technologies — including robotics, collaborative robots (cobots), machine vision, and AI-driven control systems — to improve throughput, quality, and safety.
• Develop automation standards and design-for-automation guidelines applied across all manufacturing platforms and new product introductions.
• Drive ROI-based business cases for capital investment in automation infrastructure; oversee project delivery from concept through production readiness.
• Build partnerships with automation OEMs, system integrators, and technology startups to maintain access to leading-edge capabilities.
• Establish centers of competency for programmable automation controllers (PLCs/DCS), industrial communication protocols, and cybersecurity for operational technology (OT) systems.

Next-Generation Test Engineering

• Architect the long-range test strategy covering functional test, end-of-line validation, in-process inspection, and reliability / accelerated life testing.
• Drive adoption of advanced test methodologies including digital-twin-based test validation, AI-assisted anomaly detection, and automated data analytics for yield improvement.
• Oversee development of proprietary test equipment, fixtures, and software platforms that support product launches and protect IP.
• Establish test coverage metrics, escape rates, and continuous-improvement programs to elevate first-pass yield and reduce cost of quality.
• Collaborate with Product Engineering and Quality Assurance to integrate design-for-testability (DFT) requirements early in the product development cycle.

New Material Evaluation & Introduction

• Lead structured evaluation programs for candidate materials — including advanced polymers, composites, coatings, and metals — assessing performance, manufacturability, cost, and regulatory compliance.
• Partner with suppliers, material scientists, and R&D to develop a pipeline of next-generation materials that enable product differentiation or cost reduction.
• Establish robust material qualification protocols aligned with industry standards (ASTM, MIL-SPEC, IATF 16949, ISO, AS9100, etc.) and internal engineering standards.
• Maintain a materials database and knowledge repository supporting design engineering, sourcing, and regulatory/sustainability requirements.
• Monitor emerging material technologies — nanomaterials, bio-based polymers, sustainable alternatives — and assess applicability to the company's product roadmap.

Process Development & Optimization

• Direct the development, scale-up, and transfer of novel manufacturing processes from prototype through high-volume production.
• Apply statistical methodologies (DOE, Six Sigma, SPC) to characterize process wi