Jon Richardson, 37
Director, Materials Manufacturing
Markforged Inc.
Billerica, MA, United States
What Makes Jon an Engineering Leader
As director of materials manufacturing at Markforged, Jon is an operations leader passionate about manufacturing and transforming factories into reliable, profitable strategic assets. He stands out for his autonomy and crisis leadership, guiding a lean team as a unifying force through volatile supply shortages, operational recovery and major corporate transitions.
Jon’s strategic focus on process optimization successfully stabilized a lean workforce during periods of significant organizational change. By reshaping operations to be more agile, he significantly improved plant flexibility and responsiveness in a critical business environment.
Leadership & Industry Contributions
When critical components faced severe global supply chain disruptions triggered by defense priorities, geopolitical conflicts, tariffs and shipping chokepoints such as the Strait of Hormuz, Jon demonstrated exceptional strategic leadership. Navigating complex constraints, he decoupled the production facility from rigid sourcing vulnerabilities, transitioning his team toward an agile inventory position and a proactive resupply mindset.
Jon built a flexible workforce capable of pivoting quickly to counter sudden spikes in demand or supply disruptions. He spearheaded rapid material-development initiatives, accelerating an alternative product configuration to market in just eight weeks to meet customer demand. Simultaneously, he engineered an aggressive inventory-recovery program, coordinating cross-functional communications and managing weekend recovery shifts to churn inventory swiftly and eliminate downstream bottlenecks. His decisive intervention stabilized operations, transformed team responsiveness and insulated global delivery targets from volatile international supply shocks.
As an ASQ Senior Member holding Certified Quality Engineer and Certified Reliability Engineer credentials, Jon actively contributes to advancing professional engineering frameworks and industry best practices. He has championed internal mentoring and apprenticeship programs designed to bridge regional technical skill gaps and develop engineering talent. Jon has also sponsored and led community education events teaching 3D printing and computer-aided design to third through fifth graders in Stow, Massachusetts.
Why Jon Chose This Career
Jon chose engineering because he wanted to solve hard problems, and he chose manufacturing because he wanted to see the tangible impact his solutions had on the world.
Reflecting on his career path, Jon notes that every day feels like an episode of How It’s Made, surrounded by colleagues who share that excitement. He is energized by optimization, efficiency, complex systems and, above all, the people who bring manufacturing to life.
