Operations Manager - Philippines (Blueprint Processing)

Compensation: Depending on experience and at client's discretion

Location: Remote (Philippines-based)

Shift / Schedule: Full-Time (US EST Time-Zone Overlap)

Employment Type: Independent Contractor

About The Company

Our client is a fast-growing AI-powered construction tech startup based in North Carolina. They've developed proprietary AI technology that reads architectural blueprints and converts them into structured design outputs sold directly to lumber yards, general contractors, and framing contractors in the residential construction space.

Think of them less like a traditional tech company and more like a highly technical service factory — every blueprint that comes in is unique, processed, quality-checked, and delivered back to the customer. They currently process approximately 200 jobs per month and are scaling aggressively toward 10,000 jobs per month by end of next year. They have the customer base to support that growth. Now they need the operational backbone to execute it.

Their processing team of 30 civil and structural engineers is based entirely in the Philippines. The tech is proven. The customers are ready. What they need now is someone to build the operational discipline to match.

They don't want a feelings manager. They want someone who runs the floor.

About The Role

This is a Philippines-based Operations Manager role, sitting directly above the day-to-day engineering processing team and reporting into the US-based Head of Operations.

You are the person who ensures that jobs are moving, errors are caught, targets are hit, and nothing slips through the cracks. You're data-first, performance-driven, and comfortable holding a team accountable — even when that's uncomfortable. You will be building the systems, trackers, and reporting structures that allow this company to scale its processing operation 50x without losing quality or speed.

This role requires someone who fundamentally goes against the people-pleasing tendency common in many offshore environments. You're not here to make friends. You're here to build a high-performing operation.

Responsibilities

Own daily operational output tracking across the Philippines engineering team — who's on time, who's behind, and why
Identify processing bottlenecks and surface root causes with data, not guesswork
Implement and manage KPIs across the team: on-time delivery rate, error rate, rework percentage, throughput per engineer
Lead performance management — recognize top performers, address underperformance directly and promptly
Build and continuously improve operational systems, SOPs, and training processes to reduce ad hoc decision-making and repeated errors
Report trends, patterns, and operational insights directly to the US Head of Operations on a regular cadence
Act as the cultural bridge between the Philippines engineering team and US leadership — translating strategy into daily execution
Proactively identify workflow inefficiencies and recommend or implement solutions without waiting to be asked

Requirements

Based in the Philippines — this is non-negotiable, as you are directly supervising a Filipino engineering team
Demonstrated experience in an operations management, production management, or manufacturing management role — manufacturing or production environment experience is required
Strong people management track record, including performance management, coaching, and accountability conversations
Highly data-driven — you build dashboards, track KPIs, and make decisions based on numbers, not feelings
Experience building or improving operational systems, SOPs, or process documentation in a scaling environment
Clear, direct communicator — both with your team and with senior leadership
Comfortable holding people accountable in a structured, professional, and firm manner
Civil engineering, structural engineering, or construction industry background is a strong plus
Fluent English — written and verbal

Assessment Process

Finalists will be required to complete an intelligence/problem-solving assessment as part of the screening process, prior to client interviews.

In Your First 90 Days, Success Looks Like

A visible reduction in late job deliveries, because you've identified where the slowdowns are happening and have started fixing them
KPI dashboards are live and being actively used to drive team accountability
Performance conversations are happening consistently — the team knows what's expected and what happens when it's not met
The US Head of Operations has a reliable, data-backed reporting structure they can depend on weekly
SOPs exist for the most common processing errors and rework scenarios, reducing repeat mistakes

Engineering Operations Manager (Manufacturing)