Team Leader Industrial Engineering

About VAT Group

At VAT, we change the world with vacuum solutions. As the world's leading supplier of high-performance vacuum valves, we have been driving innovation for more than 60 years. With over 3,200 employees worldwide, we operate from our headquarters in Haag, Switzerland, with manufacturing sites in Switzerland, Malaysia and Romania, as well as sales and service hubs around the world. We guided by our passions integrity, teamwork, customer centricity, and innovation - always working together as #oneVAT.

Joining us means becoming part of a passionate, international team where your voice is heard, your ideas matter, and your career growth is supported.

Main role and activities

People and functional leadership 

• Lead, develop and coach the central GIEPT machining team with clear priorities, competence development and succession planning. 
• Functionally coordinate local machining counterparts in CH, RO and MY to ensure aligned execution, standards and escalation routines. 

Global machining standards and CAM governance 

• Own, maintain and continuously improve global CAM guidelines, machining standards, tooling, and golden process packages for VAT plants. 
• Ensure CAM systems, post-processors, program libraries and work instructions remain controlled, current, auditable and consistently applied. 

Capacity Release / Machining Optimization Program 

• Lead the global machining optimization portfolio as a governed operating model, not as isolated local improvement activities. 
• Prioritize opportunities based on annual volume, cycle time, bottleneck relevance, feasibility, CE risk, transferability and expected machine-hour release. 
• Drive Non-Change Request Express Track and Change Request Track improvements with clear gate criteria, evidence requirements and documented decision rights for the pipeline of optimization initiatives across RO/CH/MY
• Translate cycle-time reductions into released machine hours, capacity density impact, CAPEX delay or avoidance and DarWin-aligned value where applicable. 

Multi-site execution, technology roadmap and quality release 

• Support CH, RO and MY site leads in test runs, machine windows, trial parts, operator feedback, series handover and stable local KPI realization. 
• Define machining technology standards for machines, tools, automation interfaces and CAM-related infrastructure; support FAT/SAT and machine procurement where required. 
• Ensure no optimization is released to serial production without technical validation evidence, measurement protocols, surface and assembly checks, tool-life assessment and required approvals. 
• Represent VAT machining technology interests toward system providers, machine suppliers, tool suppliers and selected supplier-facing technical optimization activities. 

Competencies

• Strong technical credibility in machining, CAM, tooling, fixtures, equipment standards and shopfloor implementation. 
• Strategic and analytical thinking; able to connect cycle time, released hours, factory density, ramp capacity and CAPEX logic. 
• Structured execution discipline with clear gates, owners, evidence, documentation and escalation routines. 
• Strong people leadership, coaching ability and global collaboration across CH, RO, MY and cross-functional stakeholders. 
• Quality and risk mindset; protects product integrity, customer requirements and CE / Copy-Exact compliance while accelerating improvement.
• Clear communication in English; German is an advantage. Able to translate technical facts into management-ready business impact.