Supervisor, Manufacturing

The MOCVD Manufacturing Supervisor provides immediate, hands-on supervision and operational support for night-shift operators and maintenance technicians supporting the GaN MOCVD R&D; facility in Goleta, California.  The supervisor assigns work, monitors execution at frequent intervals, maintains shift schedules and workflow, and ensures adherence to established safety, quality, production, and equipment procedures. Working within defined operating plans and management guidance, this role responds to routine shift issues, escalates higher-risk or technically complex problems, and delivers team targets against daily and weekly production plans.  The supervisor routinely works alongside operators and technicians to remove barriers, address production issues, and maintain continuous execution throughout the shift. 

Key Responsibilities 

• Hands-on Manufacturing Support: Actively participate in production activities to maintain WIP flow.  Perform or assist with reactor loading, unloading, wafer movement, material handling, process verification and production documentation, as required. 

• Shift leadership: Direct daily activities of night-shift operators and maintenance technicians; assign tasks, set priorities, balance staffing, and monitor work at frequent intervals to maintain safe and efficient workflow. 

• Safety and compliance: Enforce EHS requirements, chemical and gas safety controls, lockout/tagout, PPE, cleanroom protocols, permit requirements, and emergency response procedures. Stop work when an unsafe condition exists and ensure timely notification and escalation. 

• Manufacturing Execution: Coordinate reactor loading, recipe execution, material movement, in-process checks, documentation, and shift handoff activities to meet daily and weekly output, cycle-time, and delivery targets. 

• Equipment availability: Coordinate planned and corrective maintenance, troubleshooting, and return-to-service activities. Confirm technicians follow approved maintenance procedures and document work accurately. 

• Quality: Ensure compliance with work instructions, process specifications, control plans, SPC requirements, and material traceability standards. Contain nonconforming material, initiate required documentation, and escalate deviations promptly. 

• Problem response: Address routine production, staffing, quality, and equipment issues using established procedures. Engage engineering, equipment, facilities, EHS, or management when issues exceed defined authority or technical capability. 

• Communication: Lead shift start-up meetings and provide clear written and verbal handoffs covering safety concerns, reactor status, production progress, material disposition, maintenance work, and open actions. 

• People supervision: Provide day-to-day direction, coaching, training reinforcement, and factual performance feedback. Monitor attendance, qualification status, work quality, and adherence to company policies; elevate formal employee-relations matters to management and HR. 

• Training and qualification: Maintain adequate shift coverage by tracking operator and technician qualifications, assigning trainers, and verifying completion of required training before independent work. 

• Continuous improvement: Support 5S, standard-work, waste-reduction, uptime, yield, and cycle-time improvements. Provide practical shift-level input while following approved change-control processes. 

• Cost awareness: Help control overtime, consumables, spare-parts usage, scrap, and rework; provide input to unit-level cost management. 

• Inventory Management: Ensure new parts are properly received, inspected, stored and cataloged.  Ensure material removed from stock are properly recorded.  

• Shipping: Lead night shift finished goods shipping activity including wafer preparation, documentation and packaging.

Measures of Success 

• Safe shift execution and timely escalation of hazards, incidents, and near misses. 

• Achievement of daily and weekly output, schedule, cycle-time, and staffing objectives. 

• Reactor availability, preventive-maintenance completion, and effective response to unplanned downtime. 

• Adherence to process specifications, documentation requirements, and material traceability controls. 

• Shift-team attendance, qualification coverage, training completion, and work quality. 

• Complete, accurate, and timely shift handoffs, records, and action closure. 

• Control of overtime, scrap, rework, consumables, and spare-parts usage within assigned scope.

Function: Manufacturing
Experience Level: Mid-Senior Level