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Director of Manufacturing

Custom Signage Manufacturing | Dothan, AL

Location: Dothan, AL (Onsite). Relocation assistance is available.

Compensation: $165,000 to $180,000 base, plus 10% annual bonus

Reports to: President, Signage Division

Team: Top leader on site for a 115,000-square-foot custom manufacturing facility with approximately 125 employees across welding, metal fabrication, CNC, thermoforming, electrical, and assembly

Required

• 7+ years of hands-on manufacturing leadership experience with direct responsibility for plant-level performance, whether as a Director of Manufacturing, Plant Manager, Operations Manager, or similar role
• Experience leading a labor-intensive, high-mix, low-volume operation such as a job shop, fabrication, or build-to-order environment. Broad manufacturing judgment matters more than deep expertise in any single process
• A track record of improving throughput, labor efficiency, quality, and on-time delivery through steady, practical improvements while keeping production running
• Working knowledge of manufacturing cost, including labor standards, earned hours or standard costing, and how floor performance shows up in a plant P&L
• Strong floor presence and the ability to earn trust with a long-tenured workforce, build real buy-in, and hold people accountable when the reasons for falling short do not add up
• Experience building repeatable systems and a leadership structure that keep a plant running dependably without relying on any one person
• Resourcefulness and comfort delivering results in a lean environment without large corporate engineering or support teams behind you
• Clear, professional communication with executive and finance leadership, including regular reporting on plant performance
• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, operations, business, or a related field preferred; equivalent hands-on manufacturing experience will be considered
• Genuine comfort relocating to and leading in a small Southern community

Nice to Have

• Background in signage, architectural metals, store fixtures, displays, electrical enclosures, or other custom fabricated products
• Industrial engineering training or a similarly technical, process-focused background
• Experience in a private equity-backed or recently acquired manufacturing business
• Lean, Six Sigma, or similar continuous improvement experience applied in a practical, hands-on way
• Experience scaling production capacity, including adding shifts or growing output in a constrained labor market

The Opportunity

Our client is a private equity-backed national leader in signage, brand implementation, and facility services, serving some of the most recognizable multi-site brands in North America. Their Dothan, Alabama facility is the production hub for the signage division, building roughly $40 million in custom interior and exterior signage each year. It is a highly custom, small-lot operation where the same day might include a 2×2 sign and a 15×40-foot sign, built by skilled men and women working with aluminum and steel.

Over the past five years, the plant has made real progress, with lower costs, better quality, and more dependable delivery. Leadership is now looking for a strong, hands-on leader to build on that foundation and take the factory to the next level. This is not a crisis turnaround, and it is not a caretaker role. It is a long-term opportunity to grow throughput, keep driving costs down, and build a factory the business can depend on day in and day out.

What You’ll Do

• Own plant performance: Lead every aspect of the facility, including safety, quality, throughput, delivery, and cost, with accountability for the plant P&L.
• Lead from the floor: Spend a good part of every day in production, getting to know the people, understanding what drives them, and building the trust that makes change stick.
• Find early wins: In the first 90 days, learn how the factory runs, stabilize performance, and identify practical process changes that make work easier for the people on the floor.
• Drive throughput and cost: Partner with the division President and finance leadership on a multi-year plan to increase output and reduce manufacturing cost, then deliver against it.
• Build repeatable systems: Put processes, metrics, and a leadership structure in place that let the plant run reliably without intensive oversight or dependence on any single person.
• Develop the team: Coach and grow the existing leadership group, including long-tenured leaders who know the product inside and out, and shape the structure the plant needs going forward.
• Hold the line on accountability: Understand the work well enough to see past excuses, set clear expectations, and follow through consistently.

Why This Role Is Different

This is the top leadership seat on site. The division President is based in another state, so this person will have real ownership and autonomy over how the plant runs, along with a leadership team that is invested in their success and has done this job before.

You will not be starting from scratch. The plant has a solid foundation, a clear direction, and the backing of a growing national platform and patient, long-term ownership. The opportunity is to take what has been built and make it better, with room to put your own mark on the operation.

The Culture

The plant has a loyal, tenured workforce that wants to do good work and takes pride in what it builds. The right person brings both process discipline and genuine people skills, someone who can hold the team to a high standard while building the relationships that earn real buy-in. Leadership is not looking for someone to shut things down and start over. They want a steady, visible leader who can find improvements while the work keeps moving, and who will feel at home in a close-knit, small-town Southern community.