Director of Manufacturing

Build a career powered by innovations that matter!  At Novanta, our innovations power technology products that are transforming healthcare and advanced manufacturing—improving productivity, enhancing people’s lives and redefining what’s possible.  We create for our global customers engineered components and sub-systems that deliver extreme precision and performance for a range of mission-critical applications—from minimally invasive surgery to robotics to 3D metal printing.

Novanta is one global team with over 26 offices located in The Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific.  Looking for a great place to work?  You have found it with a culture that embraces teamwork, collaboration and empowerment.  Come explore Novanta.

Summary

Primary Responsibilities

• Lead end‑to‑end manufacturing operations for the Irvine site, including assembly, machine shop, clean room, manufacturing engineering, and production planning, with full accountability for safety, quality, delivery, and cost.
• Drive operational excellence and continuous improvement, embedding Lean principles, disciplined problem‑solving, and KPI‑driven execution to improve throughput, cycle time, yield, and cost performance.
• Ensure reliable production planning and capacity management, aligning labor, equipment, and resources to demand while supporting on‑time delivery, inventory management, and customer commitments.
• Partner cross‑functionally with Supply Chain, Quality, Engineering, Finance, and business line leaders to support new product introductions, process robustness, and execution of business strategy.
• Build and lead a high‑performance manufacturing organization, developing leaders and teams, establishing clear accountability, and fostering a culture of safety, engagement, and continuous improvement.

Required Experience, Education, Skills, Training and Competencies

• Progressive leadership experience in manufacturing operations, ideally within regulated, precision, medical device, life sciences, semiconductor, or clean‑room environments.

Physical Requirements

Travel Requirements

• Travel up to 25% to support business needs, cross‑site collaboration, and enterprise initiatives.

Compensation and Benefits

• The base pay for this position is $178,420 to $240,000 per year depending on the geographic market.

• This position provides an opportunity for competitive quarterly sales compensation based on an achievement to plan.

• Novanta supports all aspects of your life's needs. This position provides a full range of medical, financial, and other benefits to make your quality of life better.

Novanta is proud to be an equal employment opportunity and affirmative action workplace. We consider all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, military and veteran status, disability, genetics, or any other category protected by federal law or Novanta policy.

Please call +1 781-266-5700 if you need a disability accommodation for any part of the employment process.