Manufacturing Director

  • Rivan
  • Aug 24, 2026
Full time Executive

Job Description

Rivan Industries () is a synthetic fuel company designed to decarbonise heavy industry. We aim to make synthetic fuel cheaper than fossil fuels and sustain life on earth by keeping the CO 2 locked underground.

We design and manufacture modular synthetic fuel plants consisting of a DAC system, an Alkaline Electrolyser, and a Sabatier Reactor, whilst vertically integrating with off-grid DC solar and the European gas-grid. Here's our entire business plan. We've recently deployed the UK's largest synthetic fuel plant and are planning to 1000x this scale in the next 2 years.

Distilled down, the Rivan system is a large amount of stainless steel with a crazy amount of entropy. We need to wrestle that entropy into formation with sheet metal & pipe bending, laser cutting, welding and injection moulding. Rivan's manufacturing set-up is unlike automotive or complex battery manufacturing, where we will operate between systems per year (low-volume) with simpler material processing and assembly steps. This drives us to set-up production facilities quickly, cheaply, and efficiently.

We're looking for a Manufacturing Director to help us design our first manufacturing facility producing up to 50 of our 1MW systems / yr in South Bermondsey. The ideal person for this role is deeply technical, has a great aptitude to understand and remove production bottlenecks, and thinks in systems - understanding the roles finance, recruitment, engineering, supply chain, Q&A, distribution and logistics play in a complex manufacturing set-up.

The role
  • Manufacturing P&L ownership
    • Capex (all equipment and purchases) & Opex
  • Manufacturing Recruitment
    • Every role required, across technicals, QA, fabrication, contractors, specialists will report to this role.
  • Manufacturing Operations
    • QA & NCR process
    • Risk Management
    • Establish quality check process throughout production line until product shipping
    • Establishment and management of ERP system
    • Introduction of Quality Management System (QMS)
    • OEE Ownership
  • Manufacturing Supply Chain
    • Including raw materials and all suppliers
    • Supplier selection and auditing
  • Design and architecture to scale operation
    • Designing the factory to scale from 50 to >1000 systems/yr
      • Design & Set-up (personnel, equipment, process)
      • Layouts
      • Location
Core skills

8-10+ year professional experience in production and manufacturing.

Bachelor's or Masters in engineering (Mech/Aero/other)

Experience owning, designing and operating various similar manufacturing plants

Has been an IC building great products with complex engineering before

Elite communication, mathematical/analytical, and organisation skills

Specifics
  • £150-200k Salary depending on experience
  • Share options as part of the early team
  • In-person work at our factory in South-Bermondsey, London - flexibility considered based on personal circumstances
  • Private health insurance
  • Unlimited time-off

We encourage exceptional applicants from all backgrounds to apply for this role, even if they do not meet all the requirements listed.