Operations Department Head

The Operations Department Head oversees all aspects of the assigned production area and end-to-end manufacturing operations at the Phoenix plant. This role leads and develops a large, multi-shift production team, ensuring employees have the tools, resources, training, and guidance needed to perform safely and effectively. The position owns production planning and execution, drives a strong safety and quality culture, and establishes, monitors, and improves key performance indicators across the production floor. Through data-driven decision-making, Lean leadership, and continuous improvement, the role optimizes efficiency, cost, quality, yield, uptime, labor effectiveness, and throughput to achieve business, service, and profitability objectives.

Key Responsibilities

• Own execution of production plans and schedules to meet customer demand, maximize throughput, and achieve cost, quality, delivery, inventory, safety, service, and growth targets.
• Lead, coach, and develop manufacturing leaders and hourly production teams across a multi-shift operation; ensure staffing, training, performance management, and employee engagement support safe and reliable operations.
• Establish, track, communicate, and drive improvement of production KPIs, including safety, quality, yield, uptime, scrap, labor efficiency, output, schedule adherence, and asset effectiveness.
• Provide daily direction to production leaders on operating priorities, established procedures, escalation needs, and performance expectations.
• Champion process control, change management, and root cause problem solving to improve process capability, reduce variation, and strengthen operational stability.
• Maintain quality standards for assigned products and processes, ensuring adherence to specifications, quality systems, customer expectations, and manufacturing best practices.
• Lead Lean, Six Sigma, and continuous improvement initiatives that reduce waste, improve flow, increase equipment reliability, and deliver measurable cost and productivity improvements.
• Manage budgets, resource plans, labor utilization, and production costs to optimize manufacturing performance and minimize waste while supporting business priorities.
• Own safety performance for the production area and ensure compliance with regulatory requirements, internal standards, training requirements, and safe work practices.
• Collaborate closely with Quality, Engineering, Supply Chain, Maintenance, Logistics, and other support departments to align priorities, remove production barriers, support customer commitments, and drive cross-functional accountability for operational results.
• Apply current manufacturing best practices, production data, automation concepts, and emerging technologies to improve performance, reliability, and decision-making.
• Deploy Corning’s talent management programs within the department to attract, develop, and retain manufacturing talent; ensure salaried employees have meaningful training and development plans.

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Operations, Business, or a related field required; advanced degree preferred.
• 5+ years high-volume manufacturing, production, or plant operations environment
• 3+ years of progressive leadership experience in a high-volume manufacturing, production, or plant operations environment, including responsibility for multi-shift teams, production execution, KPI performance, and continuous improvement.
• Demonstrated ability to lead large, multi-shift manufacturing teams, including salaried leaders and hourly production employees.
• Successful and proven supervisory, team leader, section supervisor, or department leadership experience in a manufacturing plant environment.
• Proven ability to use production data and KPIs to drive operational decisions, improve performance, and communicate results across plant and business leadership.
• Knowledge of quality control procedures, manufacturing standards, customer requirements, and disciplined problem solving.
• Understanding of manufacturing processes, equipment reliability, maintenance coordination, and production support systems.
• Familiarity with safety regulations, compliance requirements, incident prevention, and safety management systems.
• Proven capability to manage, coach, direct, develop, and hold accountable salaried exempt, non-exempt, and hourly employees.
• Excellent communication, collaboration, and interpersonal skills with the ability to work effectively across production, engineering, maintenance, quality, supply chain, logistics, commercial, and plant leadership teams.

Experiences/Education - Desired

Your well-being is our priority. Our compensation and benefits package supports your health and wellness, financial aspirations, and career from day one.

• Company-wide bonuses and long-term incentives align with key business results and ensure you are rewarded when the company performs well. When Corning wins, we all win.
• As part of our commitment to your financial well-being, we provide a 100% company-paid pension benefit with fixed contributions that grow throughout your career. Combined with matching contributions to your 401(k) savings plan, Corning’s total contributions to your retirement accounts can reach between 7% and 12% of your pay, depending on your age and years of service.
• Our health and well-being benefits include medical, dental, vision, paid parental leave, family building support, fitness, company-paid life insurance, disability, disease management programs, paid time off, and an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) to support you and your family.  
• Getting paid for our work is important, but feeling appreciated and recognized for those contributions motivates us much more. That’s why Corning offers a recognition program to celebrate successes and reward colleagues who make exceptional contributions.