VP of Operations

Vice President of Operations

Pittsburg, CA | Manufacturing • Supply Chain • Engineering • Solutions Delivery

Build the Operation. Help Shape the Future.

Bishop-Wisecarver (BW) is looking for a hands-on, strategic VP of Operations to lead Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Engineering, and the operational delivery of increasingly complex engineered solutions.

This is not a traditional plant leadership role. We need an operations leader who understands the physical-product world, can improve today's execution, and can build the systems and capabilities BW needs for its next stage of growth.

For the right leader, this role offers significant growth potential, including possible succession into a future COO or CEO role based on performance, leadership capability, and the needs of the business.

What You'll Be Here to Accomplish

• Drive Operational Excellence – Improve productivity, flow, quality, cost, and OTD through disciplined Lean practices and clear operating accountability.
• Own Operational Performance – Lead Manufacturing, Supply Chain, and Operations cost-center performance, driving product-line cost reduction, cost accuracy, and BOM/routing integrity.
• Automate the Factory – Implement practical automation with clear CapEx ROI and payback expectations to improve efficiency, capacity, consistency, and scalability.
• Improve How We Build Products – Drive manufacturability and value engineering by tightly connecting Engineering and Manufacturing.
• Strengthen Supply Chain & Working Capital – Reduce single-source risk, improve supplier performance, increase inventory turns, and reduce WIP and cash conversion cycle in partnership with Finance.
• Develop Our People – Build stronger leaders, develop existing talent, establish accountability, and increase organizational depth.
• Build for Growth – Improve the systems, processes, and operating discipline BW needs to scale profitably.

Engineered Solutions & Industrialization

A critical part of this role is building the operating discipline that turns complex engineered opportunities into repeatable, profitable business.

• Own the operating process from concept and quote through engineering, first build, FAT, industrialization, and repeat production.
• Establish stage gates for technical feasibility, commercial viability, engineering readiness, and manufacturability.
• Ensure first builds capture the learning, documentation, actual costs, and process improvements needed to make future builds increasingly efficient and profitable.
• Establish disciplined project economics around NRE, engineering hours, scope/change management, assembly labor, capacity, and lifecycle margin.
• Partner with Sales to ensure BW pursues opportunities we can successfully engineer, manufacture, deliver, and scale.

Think Like a Business Leader

You'll be expected to understand more than operational KPIs.

You'll know your numbers and understand the connection between engineering decisions, labor, capacity, project execution, gross margin, working capital, customers, and growth.

You'll help answer the questions that matter: Did we estimate the engineering hours correctly? Did the project deliver the margin we expected? What did the first build teach us? What needs to change before we build the next one?

You'll also contribute to company strategy and work across functions to turn strategy into measurable execution.

Who We're Looking For

You are an experienced operations leader from an engineered-product environment with meaningful exposure to manufacturing and physical products.

Your background could include capital equipment, automation, robotics, semiconductor equipment, packaging machinery, medical equipment, industrial systems, mechatronics, or another engineered-product business.

Company size matters less to us than the breadth of your experience and what you've accomplished. You understand how Engineering, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, customers, people, and financial performance connect.

You bring:

• Hands-on Lean and continuous-improvement leadership
• Leadership experience across Manufacturing, Engineering, Supply Chain, or related functions
• Strong manufacturability and value-engineering experience
• Understanding of factory automation and scalable production
• Strong project and financial discipline, including quoted vs. actual engineering hours, NRE, project P&Ls, change orders, labor absorption, gross margin, capacity planning, and first-build vs. repeat-build economics
• Demonstrated ability to develop leaders and strengthen teams
• Strong business judgment and the ability to think strategy over tasks
• A firm but fair leadership style with clear expectations and accountability

Industry experience in automation, motion control, robotics, mechatronics, or engineered products is helpful, but the specific industry matters less than your experience delivering tangible products.

This Probably Isn't You If...

You're looking to manage primarily through reports and meetings.

We're not looking for a career plant manager who simply wants a larger operation to run. We're looking for someone who can move comfortably between the factory floor, engineering review, customer opportunity, project P&L, and executive strategy discussion.

Someone who has grown—or is ready to grow—from running operations to helping run a business.

Why This Role Is Different

BW is building its leadership team with the future in mind.

We need someone willing to roll up their sleeves today while developing the strategic, financial, commercial, and people leadership capabilities required to take on significantly broader responsibility tomorrow.

For a leader who delivers results and demonstrates the ability to lead across the enterprise, this position offers the potential to develop into a future COO or CEO succession candidate.

If you want to build something, improve something, and have the opportunity to ultimately lead something bigger, we'd like to talk.