Senior Manager, HPS Back-End Manufacturing Engineering

Summary

As the Senior Manager of Back-End Manufacturing Engineering, you will lead the strategic alignment between early-stage product design and mass-production manufacturability for next-generation products and technologies. This role bridges the gap between top-tier design partners, internal Hardware engineering teams, and Manufacturing sites. You will be responsible for leading and scaling a team of high-performing engineers, driving Box Build Assembly, Rack-Level Integration, Automation, and Design for Assembly (DFA) to meet technology development roadmaps, optimizing cycle times and manufacturing costs, mitigating technical risks via the NUDD framework, and ensuring seamless execution from concept to product qualification.

Detailed Description

1. People Management Team Leadership

• Talent Development & Mentorship: Directly manage, coach, and mentor a team of Back-End Manufacturing Engineers, fostering a culture of technical excellence, accountability, and continuous professional growth.
• Performance Management: Establish clear individual and team KPIs, conduct regular performance evaluations, and build tailored career development paths.
• Resource Planning & Allocation: Oversee team workload, headcount planning, and resource distribution to effectively support multiple parallel hardware development projects and operational timelines.
• Technical Oversight: Act as an escalation point to provide technical guidance, helping team members resolve complex engineering and manufacturing bottlenecks.

Design for Assembly (DFA): Lead and participate in comprehensive DFA/DFx reviews, providing technical solutions and mitigations to resolve mechanical assembly, enclosure integration, rack-level architecture, and system-level risks before design freeze.

• Co-Design Partner: Engage with design teams and architects in the early design phases to align component and system specifications with cutting-edge manufacturing, box build, and full rack integration capabilities (including power distribution and thermal/cooling management).
• Ecosystem Partnership: Drive early-stage technology co-development and Level 2 qualification efforts with critical third-party automation vendors, tooling partners, rack components suppliers, and manufacturing sites.

3. Risk Mitigation & Technical Analysis (NUDD)

• NUDD Framework Execution: Evaluate New, Unique, Different, and Difficult (NUDD) processes against strict product technology requirements to identify potential assembly yield, throughput, and reliability detractors.
• Quality & Controls: Drive golden pFMEAs and define Critical-to-Quality (CTQ) parameters across final box build, rack-level integration, and system integration lines.
• Failure Analysis: Interpret complex hardware product features and Failure Analysis (FA) or out-of-box system failure results to generate comprehensive engineering and root-cause reports.

4. Advanced Box Build, Rack Integration & Process Optimization

• Rack Integration & System Architecture: Establish robust engineering and manufacturing procedures for full rack-level integration, including complex cable management routing, power distribution unit (PDU) configuration, busbar alignment, and liquid/air cooling loop validation.
• Automation & Robotics Implementation: Evaluate, characterize, and deploy automated assembly lines, robotic solutions, and smart fixtures to minimize manual touch-time, reduce human error, and scale throughput.
• Cycle Time Optimization: Characterize and optimize assembly cell layouts, line balancing, routing, and operator workflows to maximize throughput and minimize system-level and rack-level cycle times.
• Cost Optimization & Value Engineering: Formulate cost reduction strategies through design-to-cost initiatives, teardowns, waste elimination, and optimized tooling utilization without compromising product quality.
• NPI Prototyping Support: Provide hands-on engineering leadership during physical system and rack process builds, managing special build requirements and supervising deviation controls.

5. Technical Project Management & SME Leadership

• Cross-Functional Governance: Facilitate internal alignment meetings, manage action items, and maintain accountability across mechanical, thermal, power, and manufacturing engineering disciplines.
• Stakeholder Communication: Serve as the primary technical point of contact for external customers, suppliers, and internal engineering teams, leading weekly synchronization on all related Back-End box build and rack integration activities.

Knowledge/Skills/Competencies

• People Management Experience: 5+ years of direct experience managing, building, and leading engineering teams within a highly technical hardware development or manufacturing environment.
• Industry Context: Direct experience collaborating with hyperscalers, system integrators, or tier-1 hardware/enclosure/rack providers is highly preferred.
• Technical Expertise: Deep understanding of DFA/DFx principles, pFMEA methodologies, automation systems, line balancing, cycle time optimization, box build, and full-rack integration characterization (including thermal/cooling loops and power rails).
• Leadership & Soft Skills: Strong emotional intelligence with a proven track record of mentoring technical staff; exceptional project management skills with the ability to lead cross-functional matrixed teams and present technical milestones to executive stakeholders.

Physical Demands

• Incumbent will perform the duties of this position in a normal office environment.
• Duties may require periodic sustained visual concentration on a computer monitor or on numbers and other detailed data.
• May require occasional travel.

Typical Experience

8+ years of experience in Electronic Manufacturing, Box Build Assembly, Rack Integration, System Integration, or NPI Leadership, with a proven track record handling complex mechanical enclosures, server rack inf