Production Manager

Slip Robotics is a B2B Robotics-as-a-Service company deploying autonomous loading and unloading robots — SlipBots and SlipLifts — at warehouse and fulfillment sites across North America. Our customers are some of the largest shippers and 3PLs in the industry, and we're scaling fast. We build the robots, we deploy them, and we keep them running.

We are hiring a Production Manager to own the assembly floor. You will run the daily build — the production schedule, the technicians who execute it, the quality of what leaves the dock, and the throughput we can promise the business. Today production runs on a small team and a lot of individual know-how. Your job is to turn that into a floor that can scale in volume with a takt time, a shift structure, a first-pass yield number, and technicians who can build to a documented standard.

This is a hands-on role in a growing company. You will spend your time on the floor, not in a plant office. You will partner closely with Industrial and Manufacturing Engineers, who owns process design and work instructions, and with Supply Chain and Quality, who own inbound parts — you own execution, people, and output.

Responsibilities:

• Own the Build
• Own the daily and weekly production schedule and hit committed build and ship dates
• Run the floor day to day: line balancing, work assignment, station staffing, and Finished Goods handoffs
• Track and drive the numbers that matter — units built, on-time completion, first-pass yield, labor hours per unit, and rework
• Escalate part shortages, tooling gaps, and engineering blockers early enough to protect the schedule
• Establish a daily production cadence — shift start-up, a stand-up on the floor, and an end-of-day status the business can rely on Lead the Team
• Lead, schedule, and develop a team of assembly technicians, with clear performance expectations for each station
• Own hiring, onboarding, and cross-training as the floor scales; build a skills matrix so no build depends on one person
• Certify technicians against documented work instructions and hold the line on build standards
• Own safety on the floor: enforce PPE and lockout/tagout, run safety walks, and investigate incidents and near misses
• Build Quality and Repeatability
• Own in-process and end-of-line quality — build sign-offs, functional test completion, and containment when something escapes
• Drive root cause and corrective action on build defects with Manufacturing Engineering and Service Engineering
• Partner with Manufacturing Engineering on work instructions, station layout, tooling, and fixturing; you are the voice of the floor in those decisions
• Maintain accurate production transactions in the ERP — work orders, build completions, and material consumption
• Support new product introduction: staff and run pilot builds, and give design and process teams honest feedback on buildability before volume ramps

Requirements

• 5+ years in production, assembly, or manufacturing operations, including 2+ years directly managing hourly technicians or assemblers
• Hands-on experience running a mechanical or electro-mechanical assembly line — you can pick up a torque wrench and work a station when the schedule demands it
• Demonstrated ownership of a production schedule and the metrics behind it (throughput, yield, on-time delivery, labor efficiency)
• Experience creating shift structure, work assignments, and training or certification programs from scratch or near it
• Working knowledge of an ERP or MES for work orders and inventory transactions (NetSuite or similar)
• Comfortable reading mechanical drawings, wiring diagrams, and bills of material
• Safety-first mindset and a track record of enforcing it without being asked
• Calm under pressure, organized, and direct — you surface problems early rather than absorbing them
• Physical capability to work on a production floor: lifting up to 50 lbs, extended standing, and occasional after-hours coverage during ramps
• Startup or fast-paced environment experience; you are comfortable building the process while running it
• Nice to Have: Experience in robotics, autonomous vehicles, industrial automation, or another low-volume, high-complexity build environment
• Lean or Six Sigma training and real experience running kaizen, 5S, or standard work implementations
• Background in high-voltage battery, motor, or drivetrain assembly
• Experience scaling a line from low-volume prototype builds to steady-state production
• Machine shop and metal fabrication familiarity
• Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Operations, or a related field
• Bilingual English/Spanish