Production Manager

About the Company

Our client is a New Zealand technology business that designs and manufactures its own hardware products, sold into markets around the world. The business is growing quickly, backed by a leadership team that is ambitious, energetic, and genuinely good to work for. This is a place where people work hard, enjoy the ride, and get to see the direct result of what they build.

The Role

You will own the day-to-day relationship with the company’s third-party manufacturing partner and the end-to-end production of devices to the quality, volume, and schedule the business needs. You sit at the junction between engineering and manufacturing, making sure that what the Product Development Team designs and validates is produced reliably, compliantly, and at scale.

This is a hands-on role in a business that is still building its infrastructure, which means there is real scope to shape it and make it your own. You will define how production, quality, and compliance are run rather than inherit someone else’s playbook. As volumes grow and new markets open up, the role will grow with the business, and there is a genuine pathway here for someone who delivers.

Key Responsibilities

• Manage the day-to-day relationship with the third-party manufacturing partner, including schedules, purchase orders, and delivery commitments
• Plan and run production to meet volume, quality, and on-time delivery requirements
• Own the QA process end-to-end, from incoming inspection criteria through to final acceptance and dispatch
• Run the ECO and CAPA process, driving root cause analysis and corrective action with the manufacturer
• Ensure devices meet regulatory and certification requirements in every market they are sold into, including EMC and product safety
• Specify, maintain, and version-control the Bill of Materials, and manage the approved vendor list
• Monitor component availability, lead times, and supply risk across the BOM, managing shortages and obsolescence before they bite
• Report on production KPIs including on-time delivery, defect rate, and cost per unit

Key Skills & Experience Required

• Demonstrated experience in production, manufacturing operations, or supplier management, ideally in a hardware or electronics environment
• Proven track record managing a third-party or contract manufacturing relationship, including scheduling, quality oversight, and issue resolution
• Solid QA capability across inspection criteria, non-conformance management, and corrective action
• Working knowledge of BOM management, component sourcing, and approved vendor processes
• Experience navigating product compliance and certification requirements across multiple markets
• Able to read and interpret engineering documentation, including schematics, assembly drawings, and specifications
• Experience in a structured product lifecycle or stage-gate environment
• ISO 9001 or similar quality management system experience desirable, as is exposure to offshore contract manufacturing across Asia-Pacific

About You

You are organised, process-driven, and precise, without needing a large structure around you to be effective. You are comfortable in a small, resource-constrained business where you will be hands-on one minute and holding a manufacturing partner to account the next. You communicate directly, you know when to escalate and when to solve it yourself, and you stay calm when schedules and priorities collide. Most of all, you want to build something rather than maintain it.

What’s In It For You

The salary range for this role is $120,000 to $170,000, reflecting the breadth of the remit and the experience you bring. The leadership and team are ambitious, energetic, and invest in the people around them, with the autonomy to shape production, quality, and compliance your way. As the business scales into new markets, your scope grows with it. Expect hard work, real ownership, and a lot of fun along the way.

Benefits

• Salary of $120,000 to $160,000 depending on experience
• Have genuine influence on the business
• Real scope to shape and build the production function as the business grows
• Christchurch-based role with a close-knit, high-energy team

To be considered for this position, please submit your CV via the link below. For a confidential discussion, contact Wayne Fry on 021 656 502 or Sign in to view email.