Operations Manager

About Frinks.AI

Frinks.AI builds AI-powered visual inspection systems that automate quality control on manufacturing production lines. We serve customers across automotive, electronics, medical devices, and consumer packaged goods (CPG) in India, the U.S. Midwest, Mexico, and Australia. We provide end-to-end solutions, from optical feasibility studies and proof-of-concept development to hardware installation, AI commissioning, and long-term support. Our no-code platform helps reduce deployment timelines from months to weeks, enabling manufacturers to scale visual inspection more efficiently.

The Role

As an Operations Manager, you will be responsible for coordinating and driving activities after a purchase order is received, including project management, engineering design documentation, field installation, commissioning, customer handover, and post-handover support. You will work across multiple concurrent projects in India and international markets and coordinate closely with the Project Management Office (PMO), engineering design teams covering mechanical and PLC requirements, regional field operations teams in India and the U.S., partner technicians in Mexico and Australia, and the customer support/Annual Maintenance Contract (AMC) team. You will also contribute to building a consistent and scalable delivery model through clear processes, standardized documentation, playbooks, pre-calibrated kits, and structured delivery gates.

Key Responsibilities

1. Drive end-to-end project delivery -Coordinate projects from purchase order acceptance through installation, commissioning, customer acceptance, and signed handover, ensuring timelines, scope, quality, and project commitments are met.
2. Manage project delivery gates -At Gate B, work with the assigned Project Manager to ensure the project scope, responsibilities, timelines, baseline margin, and acceptance criteria are clearly documented and agreed upon. At Gate C, ensure system performance is validated on the live production line and formal customer sign-off is completed.
3. Track project health and delivery performance -Participate in weekly delivery reviews by tracking Red-Amber-Green (RAG) status, project timelines, dependencies, risks, and margin variance. Highlight concerns early and drive timely corrective actions.
4. Coordinate cross-functional delivery teams -Work closely with Project Managers, design engineers, PLC engineers, field engineers, and support teams to ensure smooth project execution, installation quality, proper documentation, and adherence to site-safety standards.
5. Support customer operations after deployment - Coordinate uptime SLA requirements, AMC activities, preventive maintenance, customer support requirements, and post-installation issues to ensure a strong customer experience.
6. Manage project and customer escalations -Drive timely resolution of cross-functional issues, technical challenges, schedule delays, and project risks. Production line-down situations and other customer-critical issues should be prioritized and addressed immediately.
7. Improve delivery productivity and standardization -Support improvements in installation and commissioning productivity through better adoption of playbooks, standardized processes, pre-calibrated kits, checklists, documentation, and remote-first commissioning wherever practical.
8. Coordinate with internal stakeholders -Work closely with Solutions Engineering on project intake, Supply Chain on procurement and material readiness, and Platform and AI teams on commissioning, integration, and model acceptance requirements.
9. Support project commercials -Track project costs, budget movement, schedule impact, and margin variance. Work with relevant stakeholders to ensure projects are delivered efficiently without unnecessary cost overruns.
10. Drive continuous improvement - Identify gaps in project execution, installation, commissioning, or customer support processes and help improve SOPs, checklists, workflows, and delivery practices

What You Bring

1. 3–4 years of experience in industrial automation, machine vision, robotics, special-purpose machinery, or a related industrial engineering environment.
2. Hands-on experience in customer-facing project delivery, installation, commissioning, project coordination, or field operations.
3. Experience managing or coordinating multiple concurrent customer-site projects involving internal engineering teams, field engineers, vendors, and customers.
4. Strong plant-floor exposure in automotive, electronics, manufacturing, or similar industrial environments, including installations, line trials, commissioning, troubleshooting, shutdown-window activities, and customer acceptance testing.
5. Working knowledge of industrial automation systems such as PLC, HMI, sensors, servo drives, motion control, robotics, machine vision systems, or related controls technologies.
6. Understanding of project commercials, including project costing, budget tracking, schedule adherence, resource planning, and margin awareness.
7. Experience working with or creating SOPs, checklists, project documentation, installation procedures, commissioning documents, or delivery playbooks.
8. Strong coordination and problem-solving skills, with the ability to work across engineering, supply chain, field operations, software, AI, and customer teams.
9. Good communication and stakeholder-management skills, with the ability to interact confidently with customers, vendors, technicians, and internal teams.
10. An engineering degree in Mechanical, Electrical, Electronics, Instrumentation, Mechatronics, Automation, or a related discipline.
11. Exposure to machine vision, PLC/controls, robotics, industrial automation, or international customer sites will be an added advantage.
12. Comfortable working in a fast-paced, scale-up environment, with the ability to manage multiple priorities, create structure where needed, and remain practical and adaptable during execution.