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Salary: USD 160,000 - 195,000 / annual
Terran Orbital, a leading satellite manufacturer serving aerospace and defense industries, is seeking a Senior Manager of Vehicle Assembly, Integration & Test (AIT) to lead production execution for vehicle subassembly and bus build operations. Reporting to the Director of Systems Integration & Test, you will oversee supervisors, technicians, and production personnel, converting program requirements and production plans into disciplined, predictable factory-floor execution.
You will be responsible for leading daily production execution for vehicle subassembly and bus build, ensuring safe, efficient, quality-compliant work completed to schedule. You will translate production plans into clear daily and weekly priorities for supervisors and technicians, monitor progress, surface risks early, and drive timely recovery actions to protect delivery dates. A key aspect of this role is partnering with Planning and Materials to align production priorities, kitting, material availability, and floor readiness, while identifying material shortages, BOM or documentation issues, and other constraints that threaten execution.
Capacity planning is central to the role: you will own detailed AIT capacity planning across labor, equipment, tooling, facilities, and processes, maintaining clear visibility into current and future capacity and serving as the production point of contact for manufacturing capacity discussions. You will promote a strong quality-first culture, ensuring issues are identified, documented, and resolved at the source, and work with Quality and Engineering to drive root cause, corrective actions, and timely NCR closure without unnecessary production delays.
Cross-functional collaboration is essential. You will partner with Systems Integration Engineers, Test Management, and AIT leadership to coordinate production, integration, and test activities, ensuring issues are communicated clearly and resolved collaboratively across Production, Engineering, and Test. You will build a culture of ownership, early problem-surfacing, and cross-functional resolution, while developing team capability through coaching, training, and effective delegation. Finally, you will identify opportunities to improve production flow, labor efficiency, quality, standard work, and schedule performance.
This is a highly visible role demanding execution discipline, technical judgment, and clear communication to align multiple functions toward shared production objectives.
**Requirements:**
- Bachelor's degree in engineering, manufacturing, or related field preferred, or equivalent practical experience in high-complexity production environments
- 8+ years of progressive experience in manufacturing, production, assembly, integration and test operation, preferably in aerospace, defense, space or another highly regulated environment
- Proven ability to own and execute complex production schedules in a fast-paced, schedule-driven environment
- Strong understanding of manufacturing quality systems, configuration control, work instruction, and controlled production processes
- Excellent communication skills with the ability to clearly communicate production status, risks, priorities, and recovery plans
- Demonstrated experience in production capacity planning and management, including the ability to translate demand into labor, equipment, tooling, and process requirements
- U.S. Citizenship with ability to obtain and maintain DoD security clearance
