About the role
Posted
Title: Production Manager
Location: Leipzig, Germany
COMPANY OVERVIEW
Covenant is a global defense company headquartered in Washington, D.C., building long-range precision strike weapons for the United States and its allies. Its flagship munition, Anthem, combines heavy payload and long range at a fraction of the cost of comparable legacy systems, with production volumes designed to meet the demands of prolonged conflict. Designed as an end-to-end weapon system that is simple to store, transport, and field, Anthem is produced in the United States, Germany, and Israel. For more information, visit covenant.com
THE ROLE
The Production Manager will own and lead production operations for our European manufacturing site, with responsibility extending well beyond day-to-day factory management. This is a senior leadership position responsible for building a world-class manufacturing organization while shaping the company's global production strategy alongside executive leadership.
Based in Leipzig, you will establish and scale our European manufacturing operation from the ground up, building the people, processes, and systems required to support high-rate production of advanced defense systems. You will partner closely with Engineering, Supply Chain, Quality, Program Management, and Operations to ensure products transition seamlessly from development into efficient, repeatable manufacturing. As the senior manufacturing leader in Europe, you will also represent the company with key industrial partners, customers, and government stakeholders.
WHAT YOU'LL DO
- Stand up and scale European production lines capable of supporting sustained high-volume manufacturing.
- Build, lead, and develop the European Production organization, including hiring, coaching, and managing manufacturing leadership and production personnel.
- Ensure compliance with German employment law, labor regulations, and works council (Betriebsrat) requirements.
- Partner with executive leadership to define and execute the company's global manufacturing strategy.
- Establish scalable manufacturing processes optimized for throughput, efficiency, quality, and cost.
- Own production planning, capacity planning, labor utilization, and factory execution to meet aggressive production schedules.
- Ensure production targets are consistently achieved while maintaining world-class standards for quality, safety, and regulatory compliance.
- Develop operational KPIs and manufacturing dashboards while driving a culture of accountability and continuous improvement.
- Lead factory layout planning, production line design, equipment selection, automation strategy, and manufacturing tooling decisions.
- Partner closely with Engineering to ensure products are designed for manufacturability (DFM), assembly (DFA), and production scalability.
- Collaborate with the Head of Supply Chain to ensure material availability, supplier readiness, and inventory strategies support production ramp.
- Partner with Quality to establish robust manufacturing controls, inspection processes, and production quality standards.
- Lead Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, and operational excellence initiatives across the facility.
- Support new product introductions (NPI) and transition products from prototype through full-rate production.
- Represent the company with customers, government stakeholders, suppliers, and strategic manufacturing partners throughout Germany and Europe.
- Build a high-performance manufacturing culture centered on ownership, safety, execution, and continuous improvement.
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Manufacturing, Operations, or a related technical discipline. Advanced degree preferred.
- 7+ years of manufacturing leadership experience, including leading high-volume production operations.
- Experience building, scaling, or leading manufacturing organizations within the defense, aerospace, automotive, robotics, or other complex manufacturing industries.
- Demonstrated success launching new manufacturing facilities, production lines, or greenfield operations.
- Strong understanding of Lean Manufacturing, continuous improvement, production planning, and operational excellence principles.
- Experience leading cross-functional organizations including Production, Manufacturing Engineering, Quality, Supply Chain, and Operations.
- Strong understanding of manufacturing systems, automation, industrial engineering, and factory operations.
- Proven ability to develop manufacturing organizations capable of supporting rapid growth.
- Experience establishing KPIs and operational metrics that drive accountability and performance.
- Strong understanding of workplace safety, regulatory compliance, and manufacturing best practices.
- Excellent leadership, communication, and organizational skills.
- Professional proficiency in English; German language skills are strongly preferred.
- Willingness to travel internationally as required.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Experience supporting defense manufacturing programs subject to NATO or European defense requirements.
- Experience with high-rate production of electromechanical assemblies, autonomous systems, aerospace products, or advanced hardware.
- Knowledge of German manufacturing regulations, industrial relations, and works council (Betriebsrat) environments.
- Experience implementing Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, Theory of Constraints, or Toyota Production System methodologies.
- Experience designing highly automated production lines and advanced manufacturing systems.
- Familiarity with ERP/MRP systems, MES platforms, and production planning software.
- Experience working within a high-growth startup or rapidly scaling manufacturing organization.
- Prior responsibility for global manufacturing strategy across multiple production sites.
WHAT MAKES YOU SUCCESSFUL
- You are an exceptional manufacturing leader who can build a factory, develop teams, and scale production without compromising quality or safety.
- You think strategically while remaining deeply engaged in operational execution.
- You foster a culture of accountability, ownership, and continuous improvement across every level of the organization.
- You build strong partnerships across Engineering, Supply Chain, Quality, and Operations to solve complex manufacturing challenges.
- You are passionate about building world-class manufacturing capabilities that deliver mission-critical defense technologies at scale.