A Day in Your Life at MKS:

As a Manufacturing Supervisor in Optics Fabrication at MKS Instruments, you will lead daily operations within a precision optical manufacturing environment, ensuring safety, quality, delivery, and cost objectives are consistently achieved. You will oversee production teams engaged in grinding, polishing, deterministic finishing, metrology, and related fabrication processes supporting advanced optics used in semiconductor, photonics, laser, and metrology applications. In this role, you will report to the Senior Manufacturing Supervisor.

You Will Make an Impact By:

• Leading and developing fabrication personnel to achieve production, quality, safety, and continuous improvement objectives.
• Developing employee skills through training, coaching, performance feedback, and cross-functional development opportunities.
• Driving accountability for operational excellence while fostering a culture of teamwork, engagement, and continuous learning.
• Driving execution of daily production schedules while balancing customer demand, equipment capacity, material availability, and operational priorities.
• Coordinating workflow across optical fabrication processes including shaping, grinding, polishing, deterministic finishing, cleaning, and metrology.
• Monitoring production performance metrics and implementing corrective actions to improve throughput, yield, cycle time, and on-time delivery.
• Partnering with Engineering, Quality, Planning, Maintenance, and Supply Chain teams to resolve manufacturing issues and support new product introductions.
• Supporting and sustaining lean manufacturing, 5S, visual management, standard work, and continuous improvement initiatives within the fabrication area.
• Ensuring compliance with cleanroom requirements, manufacturing procedures, EHS standards, and quality management systems.

Skills You Bring:

• 3–5 years of manufacturing leadership experience, preferably in optics, photonics, semiconductor, precision machining, coating, aerospace, or other high-precision manufacturing environments.
• Experience directly supervising skilled, non-exempt manufacturing employees in a production setting.
• Strong understanding of manufacturing processes, production scheduling, capacity planning, and operational performance management.
• Demonstrated ability to lead teams in achieving safety, quality, delivery, and productivity goals.
• Experience troubleshooting production issues through data-driven analysis and structured problem-solving techniques.
• Ability to work effectively with cross-functional teams including Manufacturing Engineering, Quality, Planning, and Operations leadership.
• Working knowledge of Lean Manufacturing, Continuous Improvement, 5S, and visual management principles.
• Strong communication and leadership skills with the ability to motivate teams, influence stakeholders, and drive execution.
• Comfortable working in a fast-paced environment supporting both production and new technology implementation.

Preferred Skills:

• The successful candidate will be a hands-on leader who thrives in a precision manufacturing environment, effectively balancing production execution, employee development, operational discipline, and continuous improvement while supporting the growth of Irvine's advanced optics fabrication capabilities.

We are interested in a qualified candidate who is eligible to work in the United States. However, we will not be sponsoring work visas for this position, at this time.

Compensation and Benefits:
Salary Pay Range: $71,025.00 - 118,375.00 USD per year. This range is a good faith estimate of the expected salary range for this position, based on a wide range of factors including qualifications, experience and training, operational and business needs and other considerations permitted by law.   At MKS, it is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the range for the role.

Bonus: This position is eligible for a discretionary annual bonus, in an amount to be determined by MKS [or as applicable]. 

Benefits: MKS offers a comprehensive benefits package, including health insurance coverage (medical, dental and vision), 401(k) with company match, life and disability insurance, 12 paid holidays, sick time, 15 paid vacation days, [6 weeks fully paid] parental leave, adoption assistance and tuition reimbursement [and for participation in any stock programs, signing bonus, etc.]. 

MKS is an equal opportunity employer, including disability, veteran status and all categories protected by law. Please review our EOE statements for additional details.  

MKS will consider qualified applicants with a criminal history pursuant to the California Fair Chance Act and the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers. 

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Globally, our policy is to recruit individuals from wide and diverse backgrounds. However, certain positions require access to controlled goods and technologies subject to the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) or Export Administration Regulations (EAR). Applicants for these positions may need to be “U.S. persons.” “U.S. persons” are generally defined as U.S. citizens, noncitizen nationals, lawful permanent residents (or, green card holders), individuals granted asylum, and individuals admitted as refugees.

MKS Inc. and its affiliates and subsidiaries (“MKS”) is an affirmative action and equal opportunity employer: diverse candidates are encouraged to apply. We win as a team and are committed to recruiting and hiring qualified applicants regardless of race, color, national origin, sex (including pregnancy and pregnancy-related conditions), religion, age, ancestry, physical or mental disability or handicap, marital status, membership in the uniformed services, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, genetic information, or any other category protected by applicable law. Hiring decisions are based on merit, qualifications and business needs. We conduct background checks and drug screens, in accordance with applicable law and company policies.  MKS is generally only hiring candidates who reside in states where we are registered to do business.

MKS is committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation during the application or interview process due to a disability, please contact us at: [email protected] .

If applying for a specific job, please include the requisition number (ex: RXXXX), the title and location of the role