Business Unit General Manager in Colorado Springs, Colorado at OPTICAL ENGINES INC

Job Description: Business General Manager

Position: General Manager / Business Unit President
Reports To: Chief Executive Officer / President
Location: Colorado Springs, Colorado

POSITION SUMMARY

Optical Engines Inc. (OEI) is seeking an experienced, results-oriented General Manager to lead an assigned business unit within a highly technical, engineering-driven organization. The General Manager will be responsible for developing and executing business strategy, driving revenue growth, improving profitability, and establishing the operational capabilities necessary to support sustained growth.

This position carries full business unit responsibility, including profit and loss (P&L), business development, customer relationships, technical program execution, product commercialization, and operational performance. The General Manager must effectively translate advanced engineering capabilities, proprietary technologies, and complex customer requirements into commercially successful products, programs, and scalable manufacturing opportunities.

The successful candidate will combine strong business and financial acumen with an understanding of complex technical products, engineering development, manufacturing processes, and customer-driven program execution. This individual must be capable of leading multidisciplinary teams, balancing customized engineering and development activities with repeatable production, and building an organization positioned for long-term growth.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES

1. Business Leadership & Financial Performance

• Assume full P&L responsibility for business unit revenue, bookings, gross margin, operating profit, and backlog.
• Develop and execute annual operating plans, budgets, forecasts, and three-to-five-year business growth strategies.
• Establish measurable financial, commercial, and operational objectives and maintain accountability for results.
• Identify opportunities to improve profitability, productivity, resource utilization, and operating efficiency.
• Evaluate capital investments, engineering resources, manufacturing capacity, and business development opportunities.
• Provide regular financial and operational performance reports to executive leadership.

2. Business Development & Strategic Customer Relationships

• Drive revenue growth, market expansion, customer diversification, and new business opportunities.
• Develop and maintain strategic relationships with key customers, industry partners, suppliers, and other stakeholders.
• Lead major customer pursuits, technical proposals, commercial negotiations, and contract development.
• Work with engineering and sales teams to understand customer requirements and develop competitive technical and commercial solutions.
• Establish strategic account plans, qualified sales pipelines, and long-term customer growth strategies.
• Ensure customer commitments involving technical performance, cost, schedule, quality, and delivery are achieved.

3. Technology Commercialization & Product Development

• Identify opportunities to commercialize proprietary technologies, engineering capabilities, intellectual property, and technical expertise.
• Work closely with engineering leadership to align technology development and product roadmaps with market opportunities and business objectives.
• Evaluate new products, technologies, markets, and customer applications based on commercial potential and expected financial return.
• Lead the transition of advanced engineering projects, prototypes, and development programs into qualified, repeatable production.
• Balance highly customized customer engineering programs with standardized products, repeatable processes, and scalable revenue opportunities.
• Ensure development investments support long-term competitive positioning, manufacturability, and profitability.

4. Technical Program Execution & Operational Excellence

• Provide executive oversight of major engineering and customer programs, ensuring technical requirements, cost, schedule, quality, and contractual commitments are achieved.
• Establish clear program ownership, milestones, deliverables, resource requirements, and performance accountability.
• Coordinate engineering, systems integration, manufacturing, quality, supply chain, and customer-facing resources.
• Partner with technical and manufacturing leadership to improve production readiness, manufacturing capacity, process capability, yield, and scalability.
• Drive improvements in production planning, scheduling, inventory management, supplier performance, and on-time delivery.
• Ensure effective engineering change management, configuration control, documentation, and production transfer processes.
• Identify and resolve technical, commercial, schedule, and resource-related risks.

5. Organizational Leadership & Development

• Build, lead, and develop a high-performing business unit management team.
• Establish clear organizational responsibilities, reporting relationships, performance expectations, and accountability.
• Recruit, develop, and retain engineering, manufacturing, commercial, and operational talent.
• Foster collaboration across engineering, sales, program management, manufacturing, quality, and support functions.
• Promote a culture of technical excellence, customer responsiveness, ownership, execution, and continuous improvement.
• Develop management systems and organizational processes capable of supporting increased business volume and production requirements.

KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS (KPIs)

Performance will be evaluated against measurable objectives, including:

• Revenue growth, new business bookings, and backlog.
• Gross margin, operating profit, and expense management.
• Customer acquisition, retention, and satisfaction.
• Sales pipeline development and strategic account growth.
• Program execution against technical, cost, and schedule commitments.
• Product development and commercialization milestones.
• Production readiness, manufacturing productivity, capacity, quality, and yield.
• On-time delivery and customer acceptance.
• Engineering resource utilization and operational efficiency.
• Employee development and organizational performance.

FIRST 90-DAY OBJECTIVES

Days 1–30 – Assess

• Evaluate business unit financial performance, customers, backlog, programs, and growth opportunities.
• Assess engineering capabilities, manufacturing resources, organizational structure, and personnel.
• Review major customer commitments, technical programs, production constraints, and operational challenges.
• Identify immediate business risks and improvement opportunities.

Days 31–60 – Prioritize

• Establish financial, commercial, technical, and operational priorities.
• Identify revenue growth, margin improvement, and production scalability opportunities.
• Evaluate organizational, engineering, manufacturing, and capital resource requirements.
• Establish measurable objectives and management accountability.

Days 61–90 – Execute

• Present a comprehensive business unit operating plan, financial forecast, and three-year growth strategy.
• Implement monthly financial, commercial, program, and operational performance reviews.
• Establish KPI reporting and clear organizational accountability.
• Launch priority business development, customer growth, and operational improvement initiatives.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE

• 15+ years of progressive business, commercial, technical, or operational leadership experience.
• Demonstrated success managing a business unit or comparable operating organization with direct P&L responsibility.
• Proven track record of revenue growth, profitability improvement, and successful business development.
• Experience leading complex engineering programs, advanced technical products, and/or high-technology manufacturing operations.
• Demonstrated ability to transition engineered products and development programs into repeatable production.
• Strong understanding of engineering-driven organizations, technical customer requirements, and product commercialization.
• Experience with financial management, budgeting, forecasting, and strategic business planning.
• Demonstrated ability to build and lead multidisciplinary management teams.
• Excellent leadership, communication, negotiation, decision-making, and problem-solving skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Business, Operations Management, or a related discipline.
• MBA or advanced technical or management degree.
• Experience in aerospace, defense, photonics, lasers, optics, electronics, advanced manufacturing, or other highly technical industries.
• Experience with commercial and government customers, complex technical contracts, and regulated or demanding quality environments.
• Experience scaling entrepreneurial, privately held, or engineering-intensive technology businesses.

LEADERSHIP EXPECTATIONS & ORGANIZATIONAL RELATIONSHIPS

This is a hands-on executive leadership position requiring strategic vision, commercial judgment, technical understanding, and disciplined execution. The General Manager must be capable of understanding complex technical business opportunities, developing customer relationships, managing financial performance, and building the organizational infrastructure required for sustained growth.

Reporting directly to the CEO / President, the General Manager will lead the assigned business unit and work closely with:

• CTO / Engineering: Technology strategy, engineering resources, product development, technical performance, and commercialization.
• Operations / Manufacturing: Production planning, manufacturing capacity, quality, supply chain, and operational performance.
• Program Management: Customer commitments, technical milestones, program budgets, schedules, and execution.
• Sales & Business Development: Strategic accounts, customer acquisition, proposals, contracts, and revenue growth.
• Finance: Financial planning, budgeting, forecasting, cost control, and profitability.

OVERALL ACCOUNTABILITY

The General Manager is accountable for developing and leading a technically capable, commercially successful, and financially profitable business unit. Success requires converting advanced technical capabilities into sustainable revenue, maintaining strong customer relationships, executing complex engineering and production programs, improving operational performance, and developing a scalable organization capable of supporting significant long-term growth.