Production Engineering & Operations Manager
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Description
As Production Engineering & Operations Manager, you will report to executive leadership, own day-to-day operations, and modernize how ZeroKey builds its hardware, including our production processes, PCB test stations, and the systems that run the operation. You will play an integral role in scaling a proven production system through significant growth in volume and product complexity, from functional testing on the bench to order fulfillment in our ERP. This role is designed to grow into Director of Operations, and we are hiring with that in mind. The role calls for hands-on production engineering experience, the ability to connect test, traceability, inventory, and order data into one system, and the leadership skills to run a much larger operation within a few years. You are a hands-on engineer who has built test stations, scaled a hardware production line, and replaced manual processes with data and automation without disrupting shipments.
Location and Work Model
This role is based on-site at our Calgary headquarters and manufacturing facility, where you'll work alongside the hardware engineering team and close to the production line, test stations, inventory, and shipping operations you manage. Relocation support may be available for exceptional candidates.
Key Responsibilities
- Own production processes from start to finish, including PCBA handling, assembly, calibration, end-of-line testing, and packaging, and define, document, and improve each step.
- Design, build, and maintain functional PCB test fixtures and stations, including test software, instrumentation, test coverage, throughput, and automated data capture.
- Integrate our operational systems, including ERP/MRP, test and calibration data, serial-level traceability, inventory, and order flow, to replace manual handoffs with automated data flow.
- Lead the modernization of the production floor, including digital work instructions, automated traceability, process automation, and, where it makes sense, deploying Quantum RTLS and OmniVisor AI on our own production line.
- Work with hardware and firmware engineering on new product introduction, including design for manufacturability and testability, pilot builds, test development, and production ramp-up.
- Improve yield and quality using data: find the root cause of test failures and field returns, complete corrective actions, and maintain the traceability to verify them.
- Own production planning and capacity, including schedules, staffing, and on-time delivery against sales commitments, and prepare the operation for much higher volumes ahead of demand.
- Manage the supply chain, including sourcing, supplier and contract manufacturer relationships, component lead times and costs, and inventory accuracy in partnership with finance.
- Manage global fulfillment and logistics, including freight, customs, and trade and export compliance.
- Oversee facilities and environmental, health, and safety (EHS) for our headquarters and manufacturing facility.
- Hire, lead, and develop the operations team, including production technicians, test technicians, and operations staff.
- Report KPIs to leadership, including on-time delivery, first-pass yield, test throughput, lead time, cost, and inventory turns.
- Stay current on electronics manufacturing, test engineering, and manufacturing systems.
Skills, Knowledge and Experience
Education and Experience:
- B.Sc. in Electrical, Mechatronics, Manufacturing, Industrial, or Computer Engineering, or a related discipline, required; M.Sc. or MBA is a strong asset.
- Minimum of 8 years of progressive experience in production or manufacturing engineering for electronics hardware, including at least 3 years leading teams or functions.
Requirements:
- Strong knowledge of electronics production processes, including PCBA and contract manufacturing, box build, calibration, and end-of-line testing, and the quality systems that govern them.
- Experience integrating ERP/MRP, MES or traceability, and test data systems, with the scripting and API skills to build those integrations yourself.
- Experience scaling a hardware production operation through significant growth in volume, product complexity, or both.
- New product introduction experience, including design for manufacturability and design for test.
- A track record of lean or continuous improvement results with measurable impact on yield, throughput, or cost.
- Experience managing supply chain and procurement for electronic hardware, including contract manufacturers.
- Experience hiring, developing, and retaining technical teams.
- Excellent problem-solving skills and the ability to work collaboratively in a team environment.
- Strong communication skills to effectively convey complex matters to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
Considered an asset:
- Experience with acoustic, ultrasonic, RF, or precision sensor products.
- Experience deploying automation or robotics in production.
- Lean Six Sigma, APICS/ASCM, or a comparable professional certification.
- Experience with trade and export compliance, or in a regulated or defence-adjacent manufacturing environment.
Benefits
- Stock options
- Extended health, dental, and vision care, plus life and disability insurance
- Paid time off, on-site parking at our Calgary HQ, and casual dress
- Company events and a team that is genuinely fun to work with
ZeroKey is building the spatial data layer for Physical AI.
AI transformed the digital economy by capturing every keystroke as data. The physical economy has no equivalent. On a factory floor, every human action, material movement, tool motion, and assembly step is invisible to software, and therefore to AI. We close that gap.
Our patented Quantum RTLS® (35+ patents) is the industry’s most accurate large-scale 3D real-time location system. Using ultrasound instead of cameras, it tracks people, tools, robots, and materials across entire factories with an accuracy of 1.5 millimetres, which is over 100 times more precise than anything else on the market.
That precision is the foundation of something bigger. The spatial data from Quantum RTLS feeds OmniVisor AI™, our agentic platform that puts a dedicated AI process engineer in every work cell. Together, our two technologies process 3.3 billion positions every month and prevent more than 1.1 million production errors every year.
Production accuracy is ultimately a safety story. Automotive and aerospace OEMs trust ZeroKey to verify safety-critical assemblies, torque by torque and step by step, down to the millimetre. The buses and planes they build carry every passenger safely to their destination. Those passengers will never know our name. That is the point.
Venture-backed, headquartered in Calgary, and winner of the 16th Innovation World Cup (2025), ZeroKey is deployed by 250+ customers across 41 countries, including roughly 1 in 10 Fortune Global 500 companies.
See it in action: