Team Leader

GKN Aerospace

• $85K — $107K *
Aerospace & Defense
5 - 7 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • High school diploma or GED equivalent.
  • Five years of experience in a manufacturing environment.
  • Capability to organize daily work and communicate effectively with employees.
  • Proficient in using basic business and manufacturing systems.
  • Ability to work on-site in a busy manufacturing setting and adhere to operational schedules.
  • Must meet specific employment eligibility and security requirements.

Responsibilities

  • Lead with a strong focus on safety and ensure understanding of hazards by all team members.
  • Supervise daily operations to achieve quality and production standards.
  • Translate production plans into actionable tasks and prioritize effectively.
  • Monitor performance metrics and take action when deviations occur.
  • Implement daily management practices and structured problem-solving initiatives.
  • Foster engagement within the team and provide necessary resources for success.
  • Collaborate across functions to enhance site performance and ensure compliance with regulations.

Benefits

  • Opportunity for leadership development and training.
  • Engagement in a culture aligned with growth values.
  • Access to continuous improvement initiatives.
  • Participation in cross-functional collaboration for optimized performance.
Full Job Description
Job Summary

Lead assigned manufacturing teams to safely produce conforming aerospace transparencies on time, at the required cost and productivity levels, while building employee capability and engagement.

Execute daily management, leader standard work, performance coaching, and structured problem solving to improve safety, quality, delivery, cost, and people performance in a fast-paced, regulated manufacturing environment.

Serve as the first-line connection between employees and site leadership by setting clear expectations, removing barriers, escalating risk, and sustaining disciplined operating standards.

Job Responsibilities

1. Safety, Environmental and Workplace Control
  • Lead daily work with a safety-first mindset; verify employees understand applicable hazards, controls, personal protective equipment, and site procedures before work begins.
  • Conduct routine floor presence, safety observations, pre-shift communications, and prompt escalation of hazards, injuries, near misses, environmental concerns, and unsafe conditions.
  • Ensure compliance with lockout/tagout, machine guarding, material handling, housekeeping, chemical, ergonomic, emergency, and other requirements applicable to the assigned area.
  • Stop or redirect work when conditions could compromise employee safety, product integrity, equipment, or the environment.


2. Production, Quality and Delivery Execution
  • Supervise daily activities of assigned employees so parts, products, materials, and production records conform to established quality and manufacturing standards.
  • Translate the production plan into clear shift priorities, staffing assignments, work sequencing, and escalation needs; coordinate constraints with support functions and peer Team Leaders.
  • Monitor safety, quality, delivery, cost, productivity, attendance, work-in-process, scrap, rework, and downtime performance; take timely action when results deviate from plan.
  • Ensure required work instructions, process specifications, tooling, materials, training, and resources are available and used as intended.


3. Daily Management and Structured Problem Solving
  • Execute Daily Management and Standardized Work through Leader Standard Work, tiered communication, visible metrics, routine floor reviews, and disciplined action follow-up.
  • Identify abnormalities, contain immediate risks, escalate barriers, and support root-cause analysis and corrective actions with accountable owners.
  • Use practical Lean and continuous-improvement methods to reduce waste, improve flow, simplify work, and strengthen repeatable performance.
  • Verify that improvements are documented, communicated, trained, and sustained without compromising safety, quality, configuration control, or customer requirements.


(Cont...)

4. People Leadership, Engagement and Development
  • Build and lead a highly engaged team; set clear expectations, ensure employees have the resources needed to succeed, and recognize meaningful contributions.
  • Create and sustain a culture aligned with Great Place to Grow values through visible leadership, respectful communication, consistency, and follow-through.
  • Provide timely, candid performance feedback; conduct performance appraisals; coach employees to close gaps and strengthen capability.
  • Identify development opportunities, support cross-training and succession readiness, and help employees leverage their strengths and pursue growth.
  • Drive employee engagement actions and partner with Human Resources on attendance, performance, conduct, labor-relations, and employee-support matters in accordance with company practices.


5. Cross-Functional Coordination and Compliance
  • Collaborate with other Team Leaders and with quality, engineering, planning, maintenance, EH&S, supply chain, Human Resources, and continuous-improvement partners to optimize site performance.
  • Communicate shift status, risks, constraints, priorities, and required decisions accurately and promptly across shifts and leadership levels.
  • Comply with applicable Equal Employment Opportunity, Affirmative Action, Export Control, labor, security, quality, environmental, health, and safety requirements.
  • Perform other related duties consistent with the role and business needs.


Job Qualifications

  • High school diploma or GED equivalent.
  • Five years of experience in a manufacturing environment.
  • Demonstrated ability to organize daily work, communicate expectations, address operating issues, and work effectively with production employees and support functions.
  • Ability to use basic business and manufacturing systems for communication, performance tracking, documentation, and follow-up.
  • Ability to work on-site in an active manufacturing environment and support the schedule required by the assigned operation.
  • Must satisfy all position-specific employment eligibility, export-control, site-access, and security requirements applicable to the work performed, including ITAR/EAR requirements.


Preferred Qualifications
  • Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Operations, Management, Business, or a related field.
  • Experience supervising and leading production personnel in aerospace, defense, aviation, or another regulated manufacturing environment.
  • Experience leading teams in a unionized environment.
  • Demonstrated ability to engage, train, coach, evaluate, and develop direct reports.
  • Experience with Lean manufacturing, daily management, leader standard work, structured problem solving, or continuous improvement.
  • Experience supporting aerospace manufacturing operations or supply-chain commitments.


Compensation Data

Salary Range: $85,898 - $107,372

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