What are the responsibilities and job description for the Sr. Director of Operations position at Velo3D?
Position Overview:
The Sr. Director of Operations provides enterprise leadership across manufacturing, supply chain, quality, and facilities to enable scalable, disciplined, and high-performing operations in a dynamic additive manufacturing environment. This role is accountable for translating business strategy into operational execution, building the systems, processes, and organizational capabilities required to support growth, improve performance, and consistently deliver high-quality products to customers. Serving as a strategic partner to the executive team, the Sr. Director drives operational excellence, organizational alignment, and execution rigor across the end-to-end value chain.
\nOperations & Manufacturing Leadership
- Provide strategic leadership for manufacturing operations, including additive manufacturing production, post-processing, quality, and facilities, to ensure operational readiness, scalability, and execution excellence.
- Shape and execute an operations strategy that expands capacity, strengthens process discipline, and improves cost efficiency while maintaining high standards of quality and reliability.
- Establish and institutionalize operating standards, production controls, and management systems appropriate for customer-critical and regulated applications.
- Lead enterprise-level continuous improvement initiatives to enhance throughput, yield, cycle time, and overall operational performance.
Additive Manufacturing Process & Technology
- Provide leadership over additive manufacturing processes, materials, and workflows, ensuring strong alignment across R&D, engineering, and production.
- Partner cross-functionally to transition new technologies and products from development into stable, scalable production with clear operational ownership.
- Set the strategy for equipment reliability, preventive maintenance, and capital planning to support operational continuity and long-term growth.
- Advance the adoption of automation, digital manufacturing capabilities, and data-driven monitoring to strengthen visibility, control, and decision-making.
Supply Chain & Vendor Management
- Lead supply chain strategy across sourcing, materials planning, inventory management, and supplier qualification to ensure resilience, continuity, and operational agility.
- Mitigate supply chain risk through supplier diversification, strategic negotiations, and inventory optimization aligned to business priorities.
- Ensure dependable availability of critical materials, consumables, and components while balancing cost, quality, and service performance.
Quality, Compliance & Risk Management
- Provide executive oversight of quality systems, certifications, and compliance requirements relevant to additive manufacturing and target end markets.
- Ensure robust product quality, traceability, and documentation practices that support customer confidence, audit readiness, and regulatory compliance.
- Partner with finance and legal stakeholders to align operational controls with governance expectations, risk management priorities, and public company standards.
Financial & Operational Performance
- Own operational performance against key business metrics, including cost of goods sold, gross margin, on-time delivery, scrap, capacity utilization, and service levels.
- Partner with finance leadership on budgeting, capital allocation, and cost transformation initiatives that improve operating leverage and business performance.
- Guide forecasting and production planning processes to align operational execution with revenue objectives, demand signals, and growth priorities.
Leadership & Organizational Development
- Build and lead a high-performing operations organization across manufacturing, quality, supply chain, and facilities, with a strong focus on capability building and accountability.
- Establish clear operating rhythms, performance expectations, and succession strategies to strengthen organizational effectiveness and leadership depth.
- Champion a culture of safety, continuous improvement, collaboration, and disciplined execution.
Cross-Functional & Public Company Engagement
- Partner closely with commercial, engineering, and product leaders to align operations with customer commitments, product roadmaps, and strategic growth plans.
- Contribute to Board and investor narratives by clearly communicating operational performance, scalability, execution priorities, and business risks.
- Participate in strategic planning and earnings preparation activities related to operations, capacity expansion, and execution readiness.
Key Competencies
- Strategic and execution-oriented leader with strong operational rigor and business acumen
- Deep understanding of additive manufacturing operations, scalability challenges, and production systems
- Data-driven decision-maker with strong command of KPIs, performance management, and operational analytics
- Ability to balance growth, quality, speed, and cost in a complex, high-accountability environment
- Executive presence and the ability to influence effectively across leadership, employees, customers, and investors
- High integrity, sound judgment, and a strong sense of enterprise ownership
- Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Manufacturing, Operations, or a related field; advanced degree preferred.
- 10–15 years of progressive operations leadership experience, including senior-level responsibility across manufacturing and supply chain functions.
- Direct experience in additive manufacturing, advanced manufacturing, or industrial technology environments strongly preferred.
- Experience supporting customers or operations within Defense, Space, and Oil & Gas environments is highly valued.
- Experience operating in a public company or public-company-ready environment, with strong process discipline, controls, and governance expectations.
- Demonstrated success scaling operations, improving gross margin performance, and driving sustainable operational efficiency.
About the Company:
Velo, Velo3D, Sapphire and Intelligent Fusion are registered trademarks of Velo3D, Inc. Without Compromise, Flow, Flow Developer, and Assure are trademarks of Velo3D, Inc.
With the only SupportFree laser powder bed fusion capability, we enable on-demand manufacturing of production quality Titanium, Inconel, and Aluminum parts with an unprecedented degree of design freedom and quality control. The VELO3D award-winning solution includes an integrated offering of hardware and software: Sapphire® metal AM production printer, Flow™ print preparation software, Assure™ quality assurance and control system, and an integrated manufacturing process that runs throughout the printing operation.
Our team enjoys excellent benefits including healthcare coverage and 401(K) employer contributions. We believe in transparency and recognizing exceptional efforts through our monthly all-hands meetings and team member appreciation awards.
Our job titles may span more than one career level. The starting base salary for this full-time position is between $220,000 and $270,000. This salary range reflects the minimum and maximum target for this position in the U.S. The actual base pay is dependent upon many factors, such as work experience, job-related skills, related education, work location, and market demands. The base pay range is subject to change and may be modified in the future. In addition to a competitive base salary and a comprehensive benefits package, this position may be eligible for other forms of compensation such as participation in a bonus and equity program, as applicable.
Velo3D provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to, and prohibits discrimination and harassment based on, race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability, medical condition, genetic information, military or veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.
This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training.