Director of Equipment Engineering Premier PV

Job Title: Director of Equipment Engineering & Maintenance (Greenfield)

Department: Operations / Manufacturing Engineering
Reports To: VP of Operations / Site Leader

Position Summary

The Director of Equipment Engineering & Maintenance will lead the design build and ramp of all manufacturing equipment automation systems and maintenance operations for a greenfield high-volume eBOS production facility.

This role is responsible for establishing a world-class scalable manufacturing platform to produce combiner boxes cable assemblies and overmolded harnesses. The Director will define equipment standards build maintenance systems from the ground up and ensure rapid reliable production ramp with best-in-class uptime quality and cost performance.

This is a hands-on leadership role requiring deep technical expertise and the ability to operate effectively in a fast-paced startup environment within a large-scale industrial build.

Key Responsibilities

1. Greenfield Facility Build & Ramp

• Lead equipment engineering and maintenance strategy from concept through full production ramp.
• Partner with design/construction teams on:
• Facility layout and line design
• Utilities (power distribution compressed air cooling resin handling systems)
• Equipment footprint flow and scalability
• Define manufacturing line architectures for:
• Combiner box assembly
• Cable and harness production
• Overmolding operations
• Support installation commissioning and vertical ramp to high-volume production.

1. Equipment Engineering Strategy & Deployment

• Develop standardized scalable equipment platforms across all production lines.
• Specify source and qualify manufacturing equipment including:
• Automated and semi-automated assembly systems
• Wire processing and crimping equipment
• Injection molding and overmolding systems
• Lead equipment validation (FAT SAT IQ/OQ/PQ).
• Ensure design-for-manufacturing (DFM) alignment with product and R&D teams.
• Establish engineering documentation standards and change control systems.

1. Maintenance System Build-Out

• Build the maintenance organization from the ground up including hiring training and structuring teams.
• Implement and deploy a CMMS for asset management work orders and spare parts control.
• Establish:
• Preventive maintenance programs
• Predictive/condition-based maintenance systems
• Spare parts strategy and inventory optimization
• Drive early equipment reliability through commissioning and ramp phases.
• Embed Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) culture across operations.

1. Process & Equipment Ownership

Oversee equipment performance across key processes:

Combiner Boxes

• Automated fastening busbar assembly enclosure handling
• Electrical test systems (hipot continuity insulation resistance)

Cable & Harnesses

• Cutting stripping crimping sealing routing
• Crimp force monitoring and pull testing

Overmolded Harnesses

• Injection molding presses tooling and auxiliary systems
• Material drying handling and process control
• Ensure process capability repeatability and robust error-proofing (poka-yoke).
• Standardize equipment and processes for multi-line replication.

1. Automation Controls & Digital Infrastructure

• Define and implement plant-wide automation architecture:
• PLCs HMIs SCADA
• Robotics and automated assembly cells
• Vision inspection systems
• Deploy Industry 4.0 systems:
• Real-time equipment monitoring
• Data collection and analytics
• MES integration and full product traceability
• Ensure cybersecurity and system reliability from day one.

1. Capital Projects & Vendor Management

• Own multi-million-dollar CapEx planning and execution for equipment and tooling.
• Select and manage OEMs integrators and tooling suppliers.
• Drive project execution from concept through commissioning and ramp.
• Ensure all projects meet timeline budget and performance targets.

1. Reliability & Operational Excellence

• Establish and track key performance metrics:
• OEE uptime MTBF MTTR
• Lead structured root cause analysis (RCA) and CAPA processes.
• Drive continuous improvement in:
• Throughput
• Changeover time (SMED)
• Scrap reduction (especially crimping and overmolding defects)
• Build a data-driven reliability engineering function.

1. Quality Safety & Compliance

• Ensure compliance with:
• OSHA NFPA safety standards
• UL and NEC requirements for eBOS products
• ISO 9001 / ISO 14001 systems
• Implement safe equipment design and maintenance practices (LOTO arc flash).
• Support audits validation (IQ/OQ/PQ) and quality systems from startup phase.
• Champion a zero-incident safety culture.

1. New Product Introduction (NPI)

• Build scalable equipment solutions for new combiner box and harness designs.
• Partner with R&D to ensure seamless transition from prototype to production.
• Enable rapid product launches without disrupting ramp.

Qualifications

Education

• Bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering Electrical Engineering Manufacturing Engineering or related field (Masters preferred).

Experience

• 1215 years in manufacturing engineering equipment engineering or maintenance.
• 710 years leading engineering and maintenance teams.
• Direct experience with greenfield or brownfield plant startups strongly preferred.
• Strong background in:
• Wire harness / cable assembly manufacturing
• Injection molding / overmolding
• High-volume automated manufacturing environments

Technical Expertise

• Equipment design and industrial automation systems
• Wire processing crimping and termination technologies
• Injection molding machines tooling and polymers
• PLCs robotics vision systems and SCADA
• Reliability engineering CMMS TPM
• Lean manufacturing and Six Sigma

Leadership Competencies

• Proven ability to build teams systems and processes from zero to scale
• Strong project and program management capability
• Hands-on execution-oriented leadership style
• Excellent cross-functional communication and stakeholder alignment
• Data-driven decision-making mindset

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

• Ramp-to-volume timeline achievement
• OEE and uptime during ramp and steady-state production
• MTBF / MTTR improvements
• CapEx delivery (on time on budget on performance)
• Scrap and yield performance (especially overmolding and crimping)
• Maintenance cost efficiency
• Safety metrics (TRIR near misses)

Work Environment

• Greenfield construction and startup environment transitioning to high-volume manufacturing
• Significant time on the production floor and during equipment installation phases
• Collaboration with global vendors contractors and internal teams

Travel Requirements

• Up to 30% travel for:
• Equipment supplier selection and design reviews
• Factory Acceptance Testing (FAT) at OEM sites
• Benchmarking across other facilities
• Supporting multi-site standardization as the network scales

Required Experience:

Director