Senior Manager, Digital Manufacturing Systems (MES, AI & Industry 4.0)

Are you looking to power the next leap in the exciting world of advanced electronics? Do you want to help solve problems that drive success in the rapidly evolving technology and connectivity landscape? Then bring your problem-solving, passion, and creativity to help us power the next leap in electronics.

At Qnity, we’re more than a global leader in materials and solutions for advanced electronics and high-tech industries – we’re a tight-knit team that is motivated by new possibilities, and always up for a challenge. All our dedicated teams contribute to making cutting-edge technology possible. We value forward-thinking challengers, boundary-pushers, and diverse perspectives across all our departments, because we know we play a critical role in the world enabling faster progress for all. Learn how you can start or jumpstart your career with us.

Senior Manager, Digital Manufacturing Systems (MES, AI & Industry 4.0)

Function: Integrated Operations & Technology – Digital Technology   |  

Location: [Wilmington, Cheonan, Hsinchu, etc.] / Hybrid (20–30% travel)   |   Scope: Global, multi-site, multi-vendor

Role Summary

Global leader responsible for MES, smart manufacturing, digital factory transformation, and AI-enabled manufacturing operations. Define and execute the enterprise MES strategy across our global manufacturing network. Own the vision, architecture, roadmap, and end-to-end delivery of modern MES capabilities in a deliberately hybrid landscape — where COTS, custom-built, and legacy systems each play a role chosen on the merits of the problem. Champion a fit-for-purpose philosophy: leverage COTS where it accelerates time-to-value, and invest in custom or in-house solutions where differentiated process know-how, speed of iteration, or unique manufacturing physics demand it. Enable manufacturing operations with AI by embedding intelligence into MES workflows, decisions, and the operator experience.

Key Responsibilities

Strategy & Architecture

• Define and evolve the multi-year MES strategy and ISA-95-aligned reference architecture supporting Industry 4.0 and the digital-thread vision.
• Establish a fit-for-purpose sourcing framework guiding COTS-vs-custom-vs-configure decisions case by case — weighing differentiation, TCO, change agility, supplier viability, and the value of internal IP.
• Preserve and modernize strategic in-house assets that encode proprietary process expertise; pursue standardization where it pays (data models, integration contracts, identity, observability, security, DevOps) without forcing convergence onto a single MES product.
• Architect for composable MES: stable cores plus best-fit specialized modules and custom extensions.

Solution Delivery

• Own end-to-end delivery (discovery → hypercare → run & maintain) using DevOps and product-team operating models, with distinct playbooks for COTS, custom builds, and legacy modernization (strangler-fig).
• Manage scope, schedule, budget, risk, and benefits realization across concurrent global rollouts; establish engineering standards, DevOps/CI-CD, and OT-grade change control for both COTS configuration and custom code.

AI Enablement of Manufacturing Operations

• Define and execute the AI-for-Manufacturing roadmap integrated with MES — yield, throughput, quality, maintenance, scheduling, and energy.
• Embed AI/ML and generative-AI directly into MES workflows: intelligent dispatching, anomaly detection, virtual metrology, run-to-run control, recipe optimization, and automated root-cause analysis.
• Enable agentic and copilot experiences for operators, engineers, and supervisors; champion closed-loop AI with explainability and human-in-the-loop controls.
• Establish responsible-AI practices for the shop floor (validation, drift monitoring, change control, traceability) and ensure MES is a first-class producer/consumer of the manufacturing data fabric.

Integration, Data, Team & Stakeholders

• Architect integrations across MES ↔ ERP (SAP S/4HANA), PLM, QMS, LIMS, WMS, SCADA/DCS/PLC, Historians (PI), APC/FDC, and EDA; drive SEMI standards adoption (SECS/GEM, GEM300, EDA, E10/E30/E40/E90/E94/E142).
• Build and lead a globally distributed team (architects, engineers, BAs, product owners) and a multi-vendor ecosystem of MES vendors, SIs, AI/ML partners, and managed-service providers.
• Partner with Manufacturing, Quality, Supply Chain, IT/OT Security, and Data & AI; communicate strategy, progress, and value to executive leadership and lead change management for AI-assisted operations.
• Ensure OT cybersecurity (IEC 62443, NIST CSF, Purdue), AI governance, BCDR, and 24×7 resilience for shop-floor-critical systems.

Qualifications

Required

• 10+ years in manufacturing IT/OT with significant experience delivering MES in semiconductor, electronics, or comparably complex industries; as well as leading globally distributed teams and multi-vendor programs.
• Track record deploying or modernizing MES at multiple sites — combining COTS implementations with custom or in-house engineering, including at least one greenfield and one legacy-modernization effort.
• Hands-on experience with leading MES platforms (e.g., Critical Manufacturing, AVEVA, TrackSys, Rockwell FactoryTalk, GE Proficy, iBASEt, Tulip) and with custom-application (Microsoft Power Automate, Visio, microservices, event-driven, modern web/UX).
• Tangible experience bringing AI/ML or GenAI into manufacturing operations beyond pilots; familiarity with MLOps, agentic workflows, RAG, and human-in-the-loop design.
• ISA-95 / ISA-88 knowledge; SECS/GEM, OPC UA, APC/FDC, R2R, recipe management, dispatching/RTD, and genealogy/traceability; SAP integration patterns; modern cloud (Azure / AWS / GCP), containers, Kafka, MQTT Sparkplug B.
• Proven Agile/SAFe leadership at scale; strong commercial acumen (RFx, contracts, vendor governance, build-vs-buy analysis); excellent executive communication.
• Bachelor's in Computer Science or Engineering discipline required; Master's or MBA preferred.
• Fluent English required.

Preferred

• Direct experience with semiconductor, advanced packaging, or specialty-materials flows; PMP / SAFe / TOGAF / ISA-95 / ISA/IEC 62443 certifications; AI/ML or cloud-AI certifications.
• Operator copilots or agentic-AI assistants in production; digital-thread / digital-twin programs; low-code platforms (Tulip, Mendix); GxP / ISO 9001 / IATF 16949 / AS9100 environments; participation in SEMI, MESA, or OPC Foundation.

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