Program Manager, Production Optimization

Who We Are:

At Formic, we’re on a mission to revolutionize American manufacturing and create more abundance in the world. We believe in continuing the American legacy of innovation by making automation accessible to all manufacturers and increasing their factory productivity by 10x. 

Built upon deep expertise in robotics and manufacturing, our unique Pay-for-Productivity robotics solutions combine the best automation technology, tools, and uptime services for manufacturers, paving the way for a new era of supercharged efficiency and competitiveness. 

As the world faces growing pressure from rising costs and labor shortages, Formic is a uniquely powerful tool in overcoming these challenges. Fueled by our vision for a resurged “Made in America,” we’re growing fast - achieving 70% quarterly growth in customer count and ARR, with ~30% of our customers having already deployed multiple systems.

Supporting us in our mission, with investments thus far totaling over $60 million, are backers including Blackhorn Ventures, Mitsubishi HC Capital America, NEC, Lorimer Ventures, Translink Capital, Alumni Ventures, FJ Labs, Lux Capital, Initialized Capital and founders of multiple Fortune 50 companies. 

About the Production Optimization Team: 

As a Program Manager, Production Optimization at Formic, you will lead the execution of key technical initiatives that drive operational efficiency; streamline system integrations; and enhance the customer, field service, and technician experience. You will standardize critical workflows and processes such as spare parts, inventory, work processes, backups, continuous improvement efforts, customer outreach, and develop scalable automation solutions that improve monitoring, analytics, and internal communication across our organization.

This is a highly collaborative role, working cross-functionally with Customer Success, Deployment, Field Services, and Engineering teams to align business objectives with technical execution. You will also be responsible for developing technician training programs, managing work order automation, and ensuring seamless data flow between systems like Slack, Salesforce, and CMMS (MaintainX).

This role is highly strategic and execution-focused, ensuring that Formic’s internal operations are efficient, scalable, and seamlessly integrated across our growing fleet of automation solutions.

As the Program Manager, Production Optimization, you will:

• Drive the successful implementation of a CMMS (computerized maintenance management system) including work order automation, technician scheduling, performance tracking, automated reporting, etc.
• Optimize business workflows across Maintenance, Customer Success, and Field Service, Sustaining Engineering, to improve efficiency and scalability.
• Develop and deploy standardized processes for critical business processes.
• Integrate and automate key platforms (e.g. Slack, Salesforce, MaintainX, email) to improve real-time visibility for internal and external communication.
• Partner cross-functionally with Product Managers to optimize the customer experience with Formic’s proprietary mobile app.
• Improve monitoring and analytics capabilities by aligning with Formic’s Product Intelligence team to bridge the gap between proposed solutions and real-world performance.
• Enhance technician onboarding, training, and leveling, ensuring a scalable, structured approach to skills assessment and development.
• Work cross-functionally to establish local spare parts inventory at the technician and customer location.
• Ensure easy access to robust data backups and critical knowledge bases, including BOMs, CAD files, robot configurations, automation passwords, etc.
• Lead special projects to improve fleet-level reliability.

What makes you a great fit:

• Willing and able to work a hybrid schedule (at least 3 days/week) in our Woodridge, IL headquarters
• 5+ years of experience in technical program management, business systems engineering, or enterprise systems integration in a manufacturing, automation, logistics, or industrial environment.
• Hands-on experience with CMMS (computerized maintenance management system) platforms required (e.g. Fiix, eMaint, UpKeep, Limble… we use MaintainX)
• Ability to analyze complex business processes and develop scalable automation solutions.
• Strong knowledge of technician workflows, preventive maintenance, continuous improvement and field service operations.
• Proven ability to manage cross-functional projects, balancing technical execution with strategic business priorities.
• Strong problem-solving skills, with a bias toward automation, efficiency, and scalability.