What are the responsibilities and job description for the Arms, Ammunition, and Explosives Manager position at X-Bow Systems?
- Serve as the company's highest-level technical authority on energetic safety.
- Establish the enterprise technical strategy and governance for energetic safety across all business units and programs.
- Develop, approve, and maintain enterprise standards governing the manufacture, processing, handling, transportation, storage, integration, shipment, and disposal of energetic materials.
- Provide technical oversight for operations involving:
- Serve as the enterprise technical authority for the design, expansion, modernization, and commissioning of facilities supporting energetic manufacturing and operations.
- Establish explosive safety design criteria for new facilities, production lines, magazines, storage areas, and integration facilities.
- Review and approve facility layouts, equipment installations, process modifications, and capital projects to ensure compliance with explosive safety and process safety requirements.
- Ensure facility and manufacturing process designs incorporate inherently safer design principles, risk reduction methodologies, and operational resilience.
- Lead or provide technical oversight for Process Hazard Analyses (PHA), Process Hazard Reviews (PHR), Explosive Safety Site Plans (ESSP), Hazard Classification, Quantity-Distance (Q-D) analyses, and other explosive and process safety assessments.
- Establish enterprise requirements for explosive operating limits, magazine operations, facility siting, lightning protection, fire protection, blast mitigation, and personnel protection.
- Review and approve explosive operating procedures, safety documentation, and risk acceptance packages.
- Lead investigations of energetic incidents, near misses, and process anomalies, identifying root causes and ensuring effective corrective and preventive actions.
- Partner with Engineering, Manufacturing, Operations, Quality, Supply Chain, Facilities Engineering, Environmental Health & Safety (EHS), Strategic Real Estate, and the Lethality organization to integrate energetic safety into products, processes, and facilities.
- Monitor emerging technologies, evolving regulations, and industry best practices, incorporating them into company standards.
- Mentor engineers, Chief Engineers, Fellows, and technical leaders while developing the next generation of energetic safety experts.
- Represent the company during customer reviews, government audits, regulatory inspections, DDESB reviews, and industry technical working groups.
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Materials Science, Safety Engineering, Explosives Engineering, or a related technical discipline..
- Minimum of 20 years of progressively responsible experience involving energetic materials, rocket propulsion, missile systems, explosive manufacturing, or defense production operations.
- Recognized industry expert in energetic safety with demonstrated enterprise-level technical leadership across complex aerospace or defense programs.
- Extensive experience with:
- Solid rocket motors
- Composite and double-base propellants
- Energetic material manufacturing
- Missile production and all-up-round (AUR) integration
- Explosive safety analysis and risk management
- Facility design for energetic manufacturing and storage operations
- Demonstrated experience leading the explosive safety and process safety aspects of new facility design, facility expansion, or major modernization projects involving energetic materials
- Expert knowledge of:
- DoD 4145.26, DoD Ammunition and Explosives Safety Standards
- Department of Defense Explosives Safety Board (DDESB) requirements and applicable Technical Papers (including Quantity-Distance criteria and facility design guidance)
- OSHA Process Safety Management (29 CFR 1910.119)
- Department of Transportation hazardous materials regulations
- OSHA, NFPA, ATF, EPA, and other federal, state, and local regulations governing energetic materials and explosive operations.
- Demonstrated ability to establish enterprise technical standards, influence executive decision-making, and guide capital investment strategies.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including experience presenting to executive leadership, customers, regulatory agencies, and government organizations
- Active or obtainable DoD Secret Clearance.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
- High energy individual who craves the opportunity to build a system vs just manage one.
- Natural tendency towards challenging the status quo to find new and novel ways to improve EHS management systems.
- A person who leans into challenges instead of saying 'no' and walking away.
- Willingness to travel (50%)