Product Line Director – Castings

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in California.

📋 Description

• Act as the entrepreneurial leader of the castings sector, overseeing die, investment, and sand casting, while being accountable for vision, strategy, growth, and outcomes.

• Proactively analyze market trends, customer requirements, competitive data, and internal insights to shape strategy, pinpoint opportunities and risks, and drive decisive actions.

• Develop and refine product line strategy, pricing, and market positioning across die, investment, and sand casting to achieve profitable growth, strong margins, and enhanced customer value.

• Shape Fictiv’s castings capability roadmap by defining necessary processes, alloys, tolerance classes, part sizes, certifications, and secondary operations; identify capability gaps within the manufacturing partner network; and establish qualification and onboarding standards in collaboration with Solution Engineering, Program Management, and regional General Managers.

• Influence and align cross-functional partners, including sales, marketing, solution engineering, program management, and customer success, to implement strategy and achieve results.

• Act as Fictiv’s internal expert on castings, covering Design for Casting (DFC), alloy and process selection, tooling considerations, gating and solidification principles, defect modes, tolerance realities, and secondary operations, thereby enabling quoting accuracy, sales engagement, customer-facing technical discussions, and informed evaluation of manufacturing partner inputs and capabilities.

• Establish and monitor key performance indicators for growth, margin, quote-to-order conversion, on-time delivery, first-article approval, and customer satisfaction; effectively communicate progress and insights to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

• Promote accountability by driving continuous improvement, challenging assumptions, and ensuring alignment with business objectives.

⛳️ Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering (Mechanical, Materials, Metallurgical, or Manufacturing), Operations Management, or a related field; a Master’s degree is preferred.

• Over 10 years of direct experience in metal castings, including die casting, investment casting, and/or sand casting, with hands-on experience in foundry, engineering, or process ownership; plus at least 5 years in a leadership capacity responsible for growth, operations, or business development.

• Extensive expertise in casting processes and technologies, such as high-pressure die casting (HPDC), low-pressure die casting, investment (lost wax) casting, and sand casting.

• Strong understanding of alloy selection (aluminum, zinc, magnesium, stainless and carbon steels, ferrous alloys), gating and solidification, tooling and die/pattern design and longevity, defect mechanisms and controls (porosity, shrinkage, cold shuts, inclusions, misruns), and secondary operations (heat treatment, machining, NDT, surface finishing).

• Knowledge of ISO 9001, IATF 16949, AS9100, NADCA, ASTM, and environmental standards.

• Proven track record of driving business growth, commercial strategy, and customer satisfaction in a multi-process, tooling-intensive environment.

• Ability to operate effectively through a distributed manufacturing partner network is essential.

• Strong commercial insight and entrepreneurial spirit, with experience in shaping strategy and influencing outcomes across cross-functional teams.

• Exceptional leadership, communication, and collaboration abilities, with the capacity to align and motivate diverse stakeholders.

• Proficient in problem-solving and continuous improvement, with knowledge of Lean, Six Sigma, or similar methodologies being advantageous.

• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple priorities, execute tasks efficiently, and adapt in a dynamic environment.

• Willingness to travel as necessary to support customers, foundry partners, and global operational initiatives.

🏝️ Benefits

• Comprehensive medical and dental coverage

• 401(k) plan

• Generous PTO and leave programs