Corporate Lab Manager

About the Role: 

Wing is seeking an experienced and highly organized Corporate Lab Manager to oversee its hardware laboratories, which are crucial for drone system development, validation, and reliability testing. This Onsite role in Palo Alto, CA, requires a candidate who can establish lab operational excellence, ensure safety, maintain equipment readiness, and optimize scheduling to facilitate rapid development and testing cycles for drone platforms. The ideal candidate is a proactive problem-solver who thrives in dynamic environments, can implement processes and structure, and enjoys enabling technical teams to do their best work.

Key Responsibilities

• Drive continuous improvement by implementing and sustaining 5S and lean lab practices to enhance lab organization and efficiency.
• Manage and maintain laboratory processes and infrastructure, including equipment calibration, readiness, and upkeep.
• Collaborate with Facilities and Real Estate & Workplace Services (REWS) teams to coordinate lab expansion, space allocation, and facility optimization. 
• Oversee day to day engineering and manufacturing lab operations, ensuring efficient scheduling, equipment availability, safety compliance, and support for development, validation, and failure analysis activities.
• Manage and coordinate a centralized pool of lab technicians supporting cross-functional teams across the company, prioritizing workloads and ensuring timely support for engineering, validation, and manufacturing needs
• Lead and supervise technician activities supporting EE and ME validation and debug, ensuring proper execution of test plans, troubleshooting efforts, and documentation of results to support engineering development and root cause investigations.
• Develops annual budget and manages department costs, capital equipment and resources to adhere to budget.
• Manage vendor relations and capital budget tracking to ensure equipment purchases align with evolving engineering and validation needs.
• Act as the point of contact for lab audits, ensuring all documentation and safety training are up to date.
• Mentors and supports direct reports, lab managers, technicians, equipment schedule coordinators in their responsibilities and functions, ensuring they receive training in supervisory skill development. Identifies and implements training programs as necessary, 

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Operations, Industrial Technology, or related field (or equivalent experience).
• 8+ years of experience managing technical labs or facilities in a hardware engineering, aerospace, automotive, or consumer electronics environment.
• Experienced in facility, operations, and maintenance management, including space and equipment administration, particularly within research or dynamic start-up environments.
• Proven track record of implementing processes, safety systems, and 5S/lean methodologies.
• Strong organizational and communication skills, with the ability to partner across engineering, reliability, and operations teams.
• Experience managing capital equipment, maintenance schedules, and vendor relations.