Director, Manufacturing

FormFactor’s new Farmers Branch manufacturing startup represents one of the most exciting growth initiatives in our global network—a rare opportunity to help design, build, and scale a brand‑new advanced manufacturing operation from the ground up. As part of a collaborative, innovative, and people‑centered culture, you will play a critical leadership role in shaping our factory systems, organizational capabilities, and long‑term operational excellence during a transformative ramp. 

This Director‑level role offers visibility across the company, influence on startup strategy, and direct ownership of high‑impact manufacturing outcomes. 

The Director of Manufacturing is responsible for all operational activities across a vertically integrated probe card manufacturing facility, including wafer fab style processes, probe stitching and micro assembly, final assembly, and electrical/mechanical testing. This role ensures that production meets customer requirements for quality, throughput, cost, and delivery while developing a world class manufacturing organization. The Director leads supervisors, specialists, and manufacturing teams to drive disciplined execution, operational excellence, and continuous improvement.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

1. Manufacturing Leadership & Strategy 

• Own the full operational performance of the probe card factory—output, yield, cost, labor efficiency, OEE, and on‑time delivery. 

• Develop and execute the strategic manufacturing roadmap aligned with corporate goals, technology evolution, and capacity growth. 

• Partner with Process Engineering, Quality, Supply Chain, and Planning to ensure seamless, high‑reliability production flows. 

• Drive a manufacturing culture built on safety, discipline, accountability, and continuous improvement. 

2. Leading a High‑Performance Manufacturing Team 

• Build, mentor, and develop a team of manufacturing supervisors, leads, specialists, and technicians across fab, probe assembly, SMT, and final test. 

• Create a culture of ownership, teamwork, and operational rigor. 

• Implement structured coaching for supervisors on metrics management, problem‑solving, communication, and people leadership. 

• Lead workforce planning—hiring, training, competency building, career progression, and succession planning. 

• Foster strong collaboration across manufacturing, engineering, quality, and planning functions. 

3. Wafer‑Fab Manufacturing Operations 

• Oversee daily operations of thin‑film, lithography, etch, deposition, cleaning, plating, and metrology processes. 

• Ensure equipment uptime, process stability, and high wafer start‑to‑finish predictability. 

• Drive preventative maintenance, tool efficiency, and reduction of unplanned downtime. 

• Ensure production adheres to SPC controls, standard work, and quality requirements. 

4. Probe Stitching & Micro‑Assembly Operations 

• Lead production of probe stitching, alignment, and integration. 

• Improve labor efficiency, precision, consistency, and yield of fine‑pitch micro‑assembly operations. 

• Deploy automation, robotics, and inspection systems where beneficial to scalability and throughput. 

• Standardize work instructions, jigs/fixtures, and operator certifications. 

5. SMT & Vertical Probe Card Assembly 

• Oversee assembly of vertical probe cards including solder paste, pick‑and‑place, reflow, underfill, surface finishing, and mechanical integration. 

• Ensure consistent, repeatable SMT processes and robust assembly flows for complex probe card configurations. 

• Integrate SMT production tightly with probe module and substrate assembly for seamless build cycles. 

6. Final Assembly & Testing 

• Own final mechanical assembly, electrical test, parametric verification, planarity inspection, and reliability screening. 

• Partner with Test Engineering to maintain tester uptime, reduce cycle times, and ensure accurate correlation to customer test results. 

• Manage final certification, product readiness, and shipment processes. 

7. Operational Excellence & Continuous Improvement 

• Use Lean, 5S, Kaizen, DMAIC, and statistical methods to continuously improve quality, throughput, and cost. 

• Lead root‑cause analysis for yield, quality, or equipment excursions. 

• Drive standardization of processes, visual factory tools, and digital manufacturing systems (MES dashboards, performance boards, real‑time metrics). 

• Implement automation and advanced analytics to elevate production efficiency. 

8. Safety, Compliance & Documentation 

• Maintain a safe manufacturing environment, ensuring compliance with EHS requirements, chemical handling standards, and equipment safety protocols. 

• Ensure strong documentation—SOPs, safety procedures, training materials, audits, and certification records. 

• Lead internal and external audits, including customer factory audits. 

PREFERRED EXPERIENCES & BACKGROUND:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Engineering, Manufacturing, Operations Management, or related field. 

• 10+ years of manufacturing leadership experience in semiconductor, probe card, electronics, advanced packaging, or precision assembly environments. 

• Proven track record of managing supervisors and large operational teams. 

• Strong background in high‑mix/low‑volume, high‑precision manufacturing. 

• Expertise in operational metrics, Lean manufacturing, and structured problem‑solving. 

• Direct experience in probe card manufacturing, wafer‑level processes, micro‑assembly, MEMS, or SMT operations. 

• Experience scaling manufacturing capacity, driving automation, and implementing MES/ERP manufacturing systems. 

• Understanding of electrical test processes, planarity measurement, and probe performance metrics. 

• Experience working with cross‑functional engineering and R&D organizations. 

SUCCESS ATTRIBUTES:

• Strong operations leadership and people‑development skills. 

• Clear communicator with the ability to align teams across shifts and functions. 

• Data‑driven decision maker with strong manufacturing intuition. 

• Passionate about operational discipline, quality, and developing a world‑class organization. 

• Calm under pressure, decisive, and skilled at managing complex production environments.