Director, Contract Manufacturing Operations

Aether engineers enzymes and uses them to make materials that are difficult or impossible to produce any other way. The long-term goal is to manufacture more or less anything quickly and cheaply anywhere by drawing on a few billion years of evolution rather than inventing the chemistry from scratch. Today that work pays for itself through advanced print materials. These are shipping into defense and unmanned systems with revenue and strong customer feedback. Aether is a Series A company that has raised a little over $60M with a small team based in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Aether manufactures its materials through a network of contract manufacturing organizations (CMOs) covering everything from chemical synthesis through compounding and finished material production. This role owns that network day to day. The VP of Manufacturing selects and qualifies CMO partners. From there you make sure each partner delivers what it committed to: on time on spec and at the agreed cost.

Youll be Aethers representative on site at each partner. Youll know the production plan at every CMO keep partners accountable to their contracts and act quickly when things go off track. This role works at the level of plant and site leadership. Its the counterpart to our process engineers who work with CMO engineering teams on the technical details. Youll also keep manufacturing execution in line with commercial demand so that what Aether sells is what the network can actually produce.

This is one of the first hires in a new manufacturing organization. Youll be setting how Aether manages its CMO partners for years to come.

• Own day-to-day performance of Aethers CMO network across multiple sites and production stages.

• Ensure each partner has credible production plans that meet Aethers schedule specifications and cost targets.

• Hold partners accountable to supply agreements and escalate and resolve issues directly with site and plant leadership.

• Be on site for production campaigns and new CMO onboarding and support the VP of Manufacturing in standing up new partners.

• Coordinate schedules and handoffs between partners where different stages of production happen at different sites.

• Translate commercial demand into production plans the CMO network can execute in partnership with the commercial and supply chain teams.

• Track partner performance on delivery cost and output and report it to manufacturing leadership.

• Work with quality and process engineering so that CMO execution reflects Aethers specifications and process requirements.
  

• 10 years in manufacturing operations with significant time managing contract manufacturers or outsourced production.

• Experience in chemicals polymers specialty materials or similar process industries.

• A track record of holding external partners to commitments. Youre comfortable escalating to plant leadership and can do it without damaging the relationship.

• Working fluency in supply agreements production scheduling and manufacturing cost drivers.

• Strong organizational and program management skills across multiple sites at once.

• Willingness to travel 30 to 50% of the time.

• Experience working at a CMO or tolling facility so you know the other side of the table.

• Experience at an early-stage or fast-growing company.

• Familiarity with ISO 9001 quality systems.

The pay range for this role is $140000 to $200000 per year plus equity with final compensation based on skills and experience.

Aether is committed to building an inclusive and diverse workplace. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds and do not discriminate on the basis of age disability gender identity or expression marital or civil-partner status pregnancy or maternity race religion or belief sex or sexual orientation. All employment decisions are based on qualifications merit and business needs.

We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations for candidates throughout the recruitment process. If you require any adjustments to participate fully in interviews or assessments please let us know and we will work with you to support your needs.