Airbus added two new management-level job postings for its Mobile assembly operation, continuing a hiring push as the aircraft maker prepares to open its first U.S. production line at Brookley later this year.
Among the newest openings is a process improvement manager, a role responsible for building out lean manufacturing methods and tools to support the final assembly line once production begins. Candidates for that position need at least a bachelor’s degree and three years of relevant experience, along with a willingness to complete roughly three months of training outside the country before starting work in Mobile.
The company also posted a supply chain and logistics manager position for the assembly line, a role that will coordinate closely with Airbus’s logistics service provider to keep materials and parts flowing efficiently through the plant. That job calls for at least a decade of experience in supply chain or logistics work, a bachelor’s degree in a related field such as industrial engineering or business administration, and about six months of overseas training ahead of the Mobile assignment.
Neither posting included published salary figures, a common practice for the specialized aerospace roles Airbus has been filling as it builds out its Mobile workforce.
The positions are part of a broader hiring wave tied to Airbus’s roughly $600 million A320 final assembly line at Mobile Aeroplex, the company’s first commercial aircraft production facility in the United States. The plant is expected to begin production in the summer of 2015, deliver its first Mobile-built aircraft the following year, and eventually employ about 1,000 workers once it reaches full production of 40 to 50 aircraft annually by 2018.
Hiring and pre-employment training for the assembly line is coordinated through the Alabama Industrial Development Training program, which manages job postings tied to the Airbus project and works with the company to prepare local workers for the specialized aerospace roles.
The Mobile facility has been closely watched as a major economic development win for the region, bringing high-skill manufacturing jobs and drawing continued interest from residents hoping to break into the aerospace industry. As the assembly line’s opening approaches, Airbus and AIDT have continued to post new openings across engineering, logistics, quality control and shop-floor production roles.