# Ji Kim > New Product Introduction, Manufacturing, Quality, Project Management Leader, Advisor I Microsoft alum I Apple alum Location: Dublin, California, United States Profile: https://flows.cv/jikim Experienced Head of Program Management, NPI, and Quality with a demonstrated history of working in the mechanical or industrial engineering industry. Skilled in Negotiation, Supply Chain Management, Failure/Root Cause Analysis, Continuous Improvement, and Manufacturing Engineering. Strong program and project management professional with a background in mechanical engineering. ## Work Experience ### Program Management, NPI Operations @ Google Jan 2025 – Present | United States ### Advisory Board Member @ WaiHome LLC Jan 2023 – Present | Honolulu, Hawaii, United States Advisory board member https://waihome.com ### Senior Director, NPI @ FreeWire Technologies Jan 2023 – Jan 2024 ### Director of NPI Engineering and Program Management @ ARRIS Jan 2021 – Jan 2022 | Berkeley, California, United States ### Head of New Product Introduction (NPI) Engineering @ Tonal Jan 2019 – Jan 2021 | San Francisco Bay Area ### Vice President of NPI, Project Management, Business Development @ SDK New Materials Inc. Jan 2017 – Jan 2019 | Santa Clara, CA • Held leadership roles in Business development, NPI, MFG, and Program management • Developed NPI organization to build a clear objective strategy of owning each project from inception to Mass production by coordinating with both internal cross functional team members and external customers by directing the NPI team in achieving a successful solution for our clientele’s product design and application requirements throughout the life cycle of the product • Owned and directed the project management, production process development, process capabilities and optimization, product validation, production yields, lead times, capacity plans • Managed and oversaw the Quality systems – quality plans, MSOP, REL, IQC/IPQC/OQC, FACA, yields while working in unison with the cross functional teams • Implemented and developed structure within the project management and NPI team which included the following: display clear communication, promote problem solving, foster collaboration and teamwork, to be efficiently results driven, and to display leadership within the project team. ### Lead Senior NPI Engineer @ Microsoft Jan 2015 – Jan 2017 | Mountain View • Mechanical lead for developing advanced process technologies and manufacturing processes to attain the ID design intent, cost, quality, and schedule goals of the Hololens device. • Developed and evaluated the manufacturing process for new geometries, materials, and processing methods by collaborating with a cross functional team consisting of product development, tooling engineering, industrial design, and sourcing managers. • Developed NUDD analysis , process controls, PMP, PQP, SOP, DOE’s, line qualification, yield studies, process improvements and optimization, failure analysis, metrology, develop fixture design, and qualified an end to end process to enable the manufacturing process of the HoloLens device from concept to mass production • Reviewed, assessed, and developed DFM’s with ODM/OEM partners. • Processes: Injection molding, CNC machining, coatings (PVD, HC), painting, , gluing application, PSA application, assembly ### Engineering Program Manager, Software & Hardware @ Lyve Minds, Inc. (Acquired by Seagate) Jan 2014 – Jan 2015 • Lead cross functional hardware & firmware development teams. • Developed and drove day to day activities to meet overall project objectives while creating and monitoring an efficient, streamlined process. Collaborate and facilitate communication across engineering, operations, marketing teams and OEM partners to meet aggressive cost, schedule and quality goals. • Management and tracking of development schedules: Identified and prioritized project tasks and risks. • Project lead for Lyve Home and Lyve Camera device ### Manager, Operations & Product Quality @ Lyve Minds, Inc. (Acquired by Seagate) Jan 2014 – Jan 2014 • Developed and implemented quality plans within the Lyve supply chain. • Developed Lyve’s supply chain partners to maintain product supply and help introduce new pew products from development to production. This encompassed reviewing and validating manufacturing processes, test plans, and quality procedures at our supply chain partners to ensure outgoing products were of the highest quality. • Managed a small team of supplier quality engineers • Oversaw the suppliers to bridge the yields to minimize losses from manufacturing process and handling defects. • Drove EFFA and assessed all RMA's for Lyve. Worked with the purchasing and logistics team to establish quality requirements and as well as driving the supply plans within our supply chain partners. • Developed and participated in design reviews and DFM's with the product design and industrial design team for the products at Lyve. Reviewed COGS based on RFQ's, MOQ's, and bottoms up cost assessments. ### Manufacturing Design- Mechanical Enclosures, Lead Supplier Quality Engineer @ Apple Jan 2007 – Jan 2014 As a lead supplier quality engineer in the enclosures Mac/iPod/iPhone division, I’ve played an integral role in leading our team to produce products while working with a vast network of factories worldwide. I lead several Mac programs from development to production – which includes, but not limited to: iMac, iPhone,Mac Pro, Xserve, Time Capsule, MacBook Air, cinema displays, connectors and accessories. On a daily basis, I work with our product design, industrial design, and OPS team to develop the products from prototype to production. I lead a team that helps develop measurement techniques & gauges, product quality plans, manufacturing methods, review DFM’s, DOE’s, GD&T, statistical analysis, and SPC methodologies to ensure our products comply both dimensionally and cosmetically to our design intent. The window for development is always small and the schedules are always aggressive at Apple, so in order to achieve our company’s goals I make sure that my team focuses to be results driven in a team environment. ### Production Manufacturing Engineer @ Ditech Networks (Acquired by Nuance) Jan 2004 – Jan 2007 As Manufacturing Engineer at a growing telecom corporation my responsibilities were to review manufacturing processes for efficiency and completeness against applicable standards, participate in supplier qualification evaluations / surveys as needed, lead / coordinate failure analysis investigations for products and/or components, recommend and implement corrective actions as required to address quality issues, recommend and implement process improvements to meet corporate goals, support Engineering Development and New Product Introduction, serve as primary contact for contract manufacturers regarding product / process issues, participate in Design for Test / Manufacturing reviews through development cycle, and represent the company to suppliers and auditors in matters of product / process quality. Lead engineer for ROHS compliance with EU and China. ### Mechanical Engineer/ Technical Procurement @ MDI Engineering Jan 2003 – Jan 2004 As Mechanical Engineer and Technical Buyer my responsibilities are to look over project needs of our clients overseas in Asia dealing with mechanical and HVAC equipment. My duties are to go over the specifications of the guidelines and drawings of the equipment schedule to purchase the correct units for the specified items in the Bill of materials. My position requires me to interact with vendors daily, request for quotes, issue purchase orders, input data, and provide submittals and final pricing to our clients. ### Manufacturing Engineer @ Sanmina-SCI Jan 2001 – Jan 2003 As a Manufacturing Engineer at a leading EMS company I took on the role of supporting my team in the production process of manufacturing backplanes. I was given the responsibility to create and update the MPI’s, update Bill of Materials, create and update CAD drawings, create ECO’s, update SOP’s as well as writing up DFM’s for the customers to improve the design of their product. I maintained the routings and labor costs of the current and future assemblies of backplanes for our customers. ## Education ### Bachelor's in Mechanical Engineering UC San Diego ## Contact & Social - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/kimji --- Source: https://flows.cv/jikim JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/jikim/resume.json Last updated: 2026-04-08