General Manager Kiwistar

Posted: 05/11/2025

Closing Date: 19/11/2025

Job Type: Permanent - Full Time

Location: Wellington

Job Category: Executive & Strategic Management,Manufacturing & Industrial

EOS Optical Technologies Ltd (trading as Kiwistar Optics) is part of the EOS Space Systems Division. With a 70-year history, Kiwistar is a manufacturer of high precision optics and optical instrumentation with global clients. Kiwistar is currently in a growth phase with two significant project wins in the second half of 2025 and a number of similar scaled opportunities in the near term. This growth phase presents both a great opportunity and an operational challenge that will be the near-term focus of the General Manager.

We are looking for an experienced leader who can navigate the challenges of growth and scale. Successful candidates will have broad technical, business and project management experience preferably in a manufacturing environment. Familiarity with Optics, Space or Defence sectors will be advantageous but not required. A basic understanding of Systems Engineering as a discipline will also be useful.

Primary Duties

Commercial Focus and Customer Relationships

• Ensure that the KiwiStar organisation has a strong focus on producing goods and services for its customers in a manner which generates growing revenue, profit and cashflow
• Proactively manage Kiwstar's customer relationships through timely and effective communication

Operations Management

• Apply technical and program management knowledge and experience to ensure the Kiwistar organisation meets its contract and internal project requirements including:
• Workplace Health and Safety – ensuring that all aspects of Kiwistar's operations are understaken in a healthy and safety manner and are compliant with workplace health and safety legislation and regulations.
• Delivery of compliant products in accordance with agreed schedules and budgets
• Employing existing or acquiring appropriate resources, facilities, staff and equipment, to enable delivery of compliant products
• Leading or facilitating problem resolution in a timely fashion
• Ensuring contractual compliance in product, documentation and method.

Leadership and General Management

• Fully participate as a senior member of the EOS Space Systems leadership team.
• Provide effective and influential team leadership across the entire KiwiStar workforce to enable:
• Attraction and retention of a high-quality workforce.
• A cohesive, developed, and aligned team to ensure the achievement of business goals.
• Ongoing professional development, to ensure that their skills remain current and new skills, as demanded by customer needs, are acquired as necessary.

• Staff compliance with company policies, procedures and applicable regulations.

• Provide day to day general management of all aspects of Kiwistar Business including budgeting, monitoring and reporting of project financials and Kiwistar financial performance and forecasts.

• Develop and maintain cooperative working relationships with EOS Space Division peers and with EOS corporate services including Legal, Finance, HR and ICT groups.

Business Strategy, Sales, BD and Marketing

• Contribute to the ongoing development and update of EOS Space Division and Kiwistar business strategies.
• Work with the CTO to develop one or more saleable products as a hedge against the booms and busts of project-based revenue, while not compromising revenue projects in-house.
• Actively lead the sales and business development function in conjunction with the Kiwistar BD Manager and CTO.

• Strong and proven commercial acumen, able to understand and manage the financial affairs of the organisation, with the ability to identify the key revenue, cost, profit, and cash drivers in a technical/manufacturing setting.
• Minimum 10 years' supervision experience leading a multi-disciplinary team in a project role.
• Demonstrated ability to drive complex technical programs to successful completion.
• Proven experience mentoring multidisciplinary teams, comprising scientists, technicians, engineers, and sales professionals.
• Must have a "hands-on" approach to designing, building, testing, packaging, and delivery of technical solutions.
• Strong experience in the delivery of significant projects.
• Experience within the optics sector or advanced manufacturing businesses is preferred