Job Description Job Description
The job
A technician should be able to walk up to a car and start productive work without waiting on parts, information, approvals, a vehicle being moved, or a decision nobody made. Making that true every day, across about thirty active projects, is the job.
You decide what comes next and whether it is ready. The Shop Foreman decides who does it and how. You and the Foreman are peers, and both of you report to the General Manager. You have no direct reports. You get results through readiness, follow through and clear calls, not through authority over the technicians.
What you own
- Job readiness. Every technician has approved, unblocked, prepared work in front of them, and a next task if the current one stalls.
- Project flow. Active projects move every week. Where one is not moving, you know it and you know why.
- Early warning. Slippage, parts risk and scope drift get surfaced by you before anyone else finds them.
- Phase readiness. Each phase is scoped, planned, parts identified and the technician briefed before it starts. You make the green, yellow or red call, and you can hold a job that is not ready.
- The estimating and change order process. You build the package, draft the estimate off the Foreman's technical build, and keep it moving through review. After a ramp, you sell change orders to clients.
- Client updates during active builds. Status, approvals, scope changes and delays reach the client before they have to ask.
- Weekly operations reporting to the General Manager: labor efficiency, unbilled and warranty hours, throughput, parts and vendor accuracy.
A normal week
- Walk the floor daily on a route. Ask every technician what they are working on, what is next, and what will block them.
- Run the afternoon readiness pass so tomorrow is actually ready, not probably fine.
- Confirm parts are on hand and correct before a job is assigned. Open the box and check it.
- Schedule and follow up on sublet vendors: machine work, powder coat, upholstery, paint and body.
- Close flagged issues inside 24 hours, 72 where an estimate is needed.
- Sit with the Foreman every Thursday to set the following week.
- Join new build and design meetings with clients alongside the Foreman.
- Run the monthly all staff meeting.
What it takes
Required
- Three or more years running production, projects or service operations where work moves through stages and depends on parts, people and approvals arriving in the right order.
- A track record of closing loops. Tasks get finished, issues do not sit, and the people around you do not have to chase you.
- Comfort working in shop management or project software. We run Shop-Ware and ClickUp.
- Clear, accurate written communication with clients, including bad news.
- A valid California driver's license and the ability to be added to our insurance policy.
Strongly preferred
- Hands on automotive, fabrication or restoration experience, ideally time spent doing the work our technicians do. Strong project management comes first. The candidate we want has both.
- Experience coordinating sublet and specialty vendors.
- Experience working with technicians who bill hourly.
- Consultative sales experience. We run Sandler and will train you in it.
Who does well here
The people who do well in this seat do not wait to be told what to check. They open the box and verify the part before it reaches the technician. They send the client update before the client texts. They walk the floor at the end of the day and ask whether tomorrow is ready, not whether it seems fine.
If your instinct is to assume things are probably fine until proven otherwise, this role will frustrate you. If your instinct is to assume something might be wrong until you have confirmed it, you will do well here.
How to apply
Send a resume and a short note, a paragraph or two, about a time you caught a problem before it became someone else's emergency. We care more about how you think and operate than about a polished list of titles.
FFR Fabrication & Repair is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local law.
Company Description
FFR Fabrication & Repair is a premium classic-car restoration and fabrication shop in San Jose, California. We build and restore high-end vehicles for owners making a serious investment - cars they've chased for years, inherited, or want brought back better than new. Work like that only happens with people who take real pride in their craft and own the outcome of what they touch.
We're a small, tight crew, not a volume shop. Everyone here is close to the work and close to the standard - there's nowhere to hide, and no interest in hiding. We'd rather do fewer builds at a level we're proud of than turn cars for the sake of turning them. If you do your trade at a high level, sweat the details, and want your work to actually matter, you'll fit how we operate.
Company Description FFR Fabrication & Repair is a premium classic-car restoration and fabrication shop in San Jose, California. We build and restore high-end vehicles for owners making a serious investment - cars they've chased for years, inherited, or want brought back better than new. Work like that only happens with people who take real pride in their craft and own the outcome of what they touch. We're a small, tight crew, not a volume shop. Everyone here is close to the work and close to the standard - there's nowhere to hide, and no interest in hiding. We'd rather do fewer builds at a level we're proud of than turn cars for the sake of turning them. If you do your trade at a high level, sweat the details, and want your work to actually matter, you'll fit how we operate.
