Strategic Operations Manager Jobs in Alabama (NOW HIRING)

Hadrian is building autonomous factories to reindustrialize America. By combining AI, advanced software, robotics, and full-stack manufacturing, we help aerospace and defense companies build rockets, satellites, aircraft, ships, and other mission-critical systems up to 10x faster and at significantly lower cost.

Following our $1.37B Series D at a $7.87B valuation, Hadrian is rapidly expanding our manufacturing footprint, launching new capabilities across welding, casting, forging, electronics, additive manufacturing, and more, while scaling our Factory-as-a-Service platform to transform how critical products are built.

Backed by leading investors including JPMorgan Chase, Valor Equity Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, Founders Fund, 137 Ventures, Lux Capital, T. Rowe Price, and Morgan Stanley, we’re building the future of American manufacturing—and looking for exceptional people to help make it happen.

If you’re ready to take on the most challenging and rewarding work of your career while helping create American manufacturing jobs for generations to come, you’re exactly who we’re looking for.

The Role

Hadrian is building the most advanced manufacturing platform in the world, and Workforce Development is the team responsible for ensuring our people can keep pace with it. Workforce Development owns the capability infrastructure that ensures our workforce is trained, certified, and production-ready at every level, from capturing manufacturing knowledge and structuring it into scalable programs, to deploying those programs consistently across a growing network of factories.

We are looking for a Training Operations Manager to lead that execution. This is a role for someone who understands what great operational leadership looks like, can build and maintain a training program that runs consistently across multiple factory locations, and is energized by the challenge of making a bold workforce development strategy real on the floor every day.

You will lead the Training Operations team, a group of Training Leads and Specialists across Hadrian's active factory locations, and own everything from the training curriculum and schedule to certification outcomes and production readiness.

What You'll Do

• Lead the Training Operations Team: Directly manage Training Leads and Training Specialists across multiple factory locations, developing your team's capability, setting a high bar for performance, and building a culture of accountability and continuous improvement.

• Build and Maintain the Training Curriculum and Schedule: Lead the team in developing and owning a comprehensive training schedule covering all stations, new hire ramp, and recertification cycles. Ensure delivery is tracked against the schedule and that gaps or risks are identified and addressed proactively.

• Own Training Operations: Take full ownership of Machining training program delivery and technician certification across all active factory locations, maintaining a consistently high standard of quality and consistency.

• Drive Production Readiness: Partner closely with factory Operations teams to ensure the workforce is trained, certified, and production-ready in alignment with ramp schedules and headcount growth.

• Translate Strategy to Execution: Take the standards, documentation, and systems built by Workforce Development and ensure they are understood, applied correctly, and continuously improved by your team on the floor.

• Maintain the Feedback Loop: Proactively surface gaps in training content, documentation accuracy, and evaluation standards back to Workforce Systems before they become production problems.

• Plan Ahead: Partner with the Director to forecast Training Specialist headcount needs based on factory growth, ensuring the training team is never behind production demand.

• Support Audit Readiness: Ensure training records, certification data, and program execution meet AS9100 standards and are consistently ready for internal and external audits.

What We're Looking For

• People leadership: proven experience managing teams across multiple locations in a fast-paced, hands-on environment. You develop people, hold a high bar, and create accountability without micromanaging.

• Operational execution: you understand what great execution looks like at the floor level. You can take a strategy and break it down into clear processes, schedules, and ownership that a team can actually run.

• Coordination and program management: you can manage multiple workstreams across sites simultaneously, keep stakeholders aligned, and close open loops without dropping them.

• Communication: you communicate clearly up, down, and across the org. You can represent training needs to factory leadership and translate operational realities back to Workforce Development.

• Ownership mentality: you take problems all the way to resolution. You do not wait to be told what to do and you do not leave things half finished.

• Adaptability: Hadrian is growing fast. The tools, capabilities, and expectations will evolve. You are energized by that, not unsettled by it.

What Will Set You Apart

• Multi-site people management experience in a high-volume, coordination-heavy environment

• Background in operations, workforce development, or service management in manufacturing, logistics, hospitality, aviation, or a similar industry

• Experience building or significantly growing a training program rather than just maintaining one

• Familiarity with certification frameworks, skills matrices, or structured competency systems

• Comfort working in an environment where the playbook is still being written

• Military background with a training or standardization specialty

• Up to 50% travel as needed to additional Hadrian locations to support training delivery, program implementation, and global workforce initiatives.

• Medical, dental, vision, and life insurance plans for employees

• 401k

• Relocation support may be provided for certain situations, based on business need.

• Flexible vacation policy

• Equity

To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about the ITAR here.

Hadrian uses AI-assisted tools in our recruiting and hiring processes to help our team work more efficiently. This may include tools that help organize and analyze recruiting data, as well as an AI-powered notetaker that can record and transcribe interviews and help coordinate feedback. These tools support our team and are not used to make hiring decisions. All candidate evaluations and hiring decisions are performed by humans. If an interview will be recorded, you will be notified in advance and may opt out at any time with no impact on your candidacy. Candidate data processed through these tools is subject to the same protections described in our Privacy Policy.

It is the Company’s policy to provide equal employment opportunity for all applicants and employees. The Company does not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of race inclusive of traits historically associated with race (including, but not limited to, hair texture and protective hairstyles, such as braids, locks and twists), color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), gender identity, gender expression, transgender status, national origin (including, in California, possession of a drivers license), ancestry, citizenship, age, physical or mental disability, height or weight, medical condition, family care status, military or veteran status, marital status, domestic partner status, sexual orientation, genetic information, exercise of reproductive rights, any other basis protected by local, state, or federal laws, or any combination of the above characteristics. When necessary, the Company also makes reasonable accommodations for disabled candidates and employees, including for candidates or employees who are disabled by pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions.