Frontline Operations Manager - Manufacturing

Job Description Summary

Job Description

Working at our Clearwater Location

Clearwater is a provider of engineering, circuit card assembly, OEM Avionics, and MRO services to commercial and military customers. Products and technologies here are diverse and highly sophisticated. Your work will contribute to systems that manage the performance of Boeing 737 and 787 aircraft as well as F-18s, F-35s, Harriers, and Apaches. Not only will you work in a facility that has been awarded OSHAS’s highest safety rating, but you’ll be part of a diverse team of employees working together to impact the future of flight for generations.

Role Overview

The Frontline Operations Manager is the direct people leader for Clearwater’s Original Equipment (OE) manufacturing operation, with primary accountability for building a strong, engaged, and high-performing team on the manufacturing floor. This role helps lead daily plant operations by being highly visible on the floor, developing frontline leaders, removing barriers for production teams, and driving a culture of safety, quality, delivery, and cost performance through active floor leadership.

The ideal candidate is a hands-on manufacturing leader who leads from the floor, coaches in real time, and partners closely with supervisors and operators to solve problems where the work happens. In addition to owning day-to-day commercial and military production execution, this role serves as a key member of the site staff and sets the tone for operational discipline, accountability, and team engagement across the OE organization.

Roles and Responsibilities

• Directly lead the OE manufacturing organization to achieve targets in safety, quality, delivery, and cost.
• Maintain a strong daily presence on the manufacturing floor, leading where the work happens and ensuring issues are identified, escalated, and resolved in real time.
• Coach, develop, and hold accountable frontline leaders, including production supervisors, to strengthen team performance, engagement, and leader standard work.
• Build a culture of direct people leadership, with clear expectations, frequent feedback, visible support, and consistent follow-through.
• Lead daily operating rhythms for the business, including floor walks, tiered accountability, visual management, and action follow-up.
• Partner closely with hourly and salaried employees to remove barriers, improve communication, and ensure execution of daily production priorities.
• Drive continuous improvement according to site benchmarks and standards, with a focus on practical shop-floor execution and sustained results.
• Lead activities to improve manufacturing performance and reduce cost in support of Clearwater’s continued development as an Electronics Center of Excellence.
• Establish and reinforce control plans, daily standard work, and visual management around shop KPIs.
• Lead measurement standardization and systemic change management to support Clearwater site KPIs and problem-solving processes, including root cause corrective action.
• Develop a strong culture of problem solving and operational ownership by engaging teams directly in identifying waste, closing gaps, and implementing countermeasures.
• Participate in Plant Leader staff meetings and communicate OE operating priorities, performance, risks, and recovery plans.
• Support internal capacity and growth planning activities to ensure the organization is positioned to meet customer demand.
• Communicate recommendations, priorities, and solutions across the organization and with cross-functional partners.
• Present business updates, operational risks, and recommendations to senior leaders across GE Aerospace.
• Travel approximately 10%

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree from an accredited university or college (or a high school diploma / GED with a minimum of 9 years of experience in manufacturing and/or production).
• Minimum of 5 years of direct people leadership experience in a manufacturing and/or production environment.

Preferred Qualifications

• Demonstrated experience leading frontline manufacturing teams from the shop floor, including regular direct engagement with hourly and salaried employees.
• Proven experience coaching leaders and driving accountability in a fast-paced production environment.
• Aviation electronics manufacturing experience.
• Experience directly leading both hourly and salaried employees in a manufacturing environment.
• Demonstrated ability to lead from the floor through daily presence, real-time coaching, and rapid problem solving.
• Strong track record of developing supervisors and building high-performing frontline teams.
• Experience leading Kaizen events, including pre-work.
• Ability to lead and organize across functional disciplines.
• Ability to strategically identify and champion action plans to achieve growth.
• Experience leading programs and projects.
• Strong interpersonal, coaching, and leadership skills.
• Demonstrated ability to analyze and resolve problems.
• Experience implementing visual management, leader standard work, and daily operating mechanisms in a shop environment.

This role requires access to U.S. export-controlled information. Therefore, employment will be contingent upon the ability to prove that you meet the status of a U.S. Person as one of the following: U.S. lawful permanent resident, U.S. Citizen, have been granted asylee or refugee status (i.e., a protected individual under the Immigration and Naturalization Act, 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3)).

Additional Information

GE Aerospace will only employ those who are legally authorized to work in the United States for this opening. Any offer of employment is conditioned upon the successful completion of a drug screen (as applicable). Employees may also be subject to random and reasonable-suspicion drug and alcohol testing.