Director, Hardware Engineering & Operations

ACV•Buffalo, NY

6d•Hybrid

About The Position

Who we are looking for: This is a rare opportunity to define the hardware strategy for a market leader transforming the automotive industry. As the Director, Hardware Engineering & Operations, you will lead ACV's effort to build at scale advanced technology products enabling AI-based solutions to further automate vehicle data acquisition and to grow the value we bring to our customers. We are looking for a hands-on individual to oversee the engineering, production, and lifecycle management of our proprietary vehicle scanning and inspection hardware used by franchise car dealerships in the US and the specialized tools used internally by ACV’s team of 800+ vehicle inspectors. You will act as the connective tissue between R&D innovation and commercial reality, ensuring that ACV's scanning and inspection products are effective, user-friendly, reliable, and affordable. What you will do: Strategic Leadership & Team Building Organizational Design: Develop and lead both internal and external resources to scale a hardware product solution for ACV with a product lifecycle management focus. Financial Management: Ownership of the hardware cost structure, including partnerships, CapEx and OpEx planning. System Architecture: Own the system-level hardware architecture, ensuring seamless integration with firmware, software, and ACV’s broader cloud ecosystem. Design Engineering: Lead mechanical, electrical, and quality engineering functions required for the ongoing design and launch of hardware based ACV products. Engineering Partnership Development: Create the right team to support the product design, launch, and manufacturing ownership of ACV hardware products. New Product Introduction: Develop ACV processes for effective phase-gate product development and the project management of hardware programs. Quality Management System: Develop rigorous reliability and test engineering/ validation processes to ensure production-ready robust hardware certified to meet applicable safety and regulatory standards. Supply Chain & Manufacturing Operations Vendor Evaluation & Strategy: Lead an evaluation of our current hardware development and supply-chain process and strategy to support scalable, high-quality products on time and under budget. The scope will include engineering, tooling, manufacturing, supply chain, and field support services. This role will own the management of ACV hardware strategy to End-of-Life. Asset Management: Create and lead the end-to-end asset management function for the deployment and distribution for all ACV hardware products and components used by customers and ACV ensuring high availability, tracking utilization, and minimizing shrinkage/loss. Quality, Support & Documentation, Training Root Cause Analysis (RCA): Lead RCA investigations for critical field issues, implementing systemic corrective actions to improve hardware reliability. Technical Documentation: Oversee the creation of technical documentation, user manuals, and troubleshooting guides to empower our Customer Support and Sales Engineering teams and ensure a consistent customer experience. Reverse Logistics (RMA): Design and manage the support lifecycle, including RMA processes to optimize the hardware support lifecycle, reducing downtime and maintaining operational continuity. Perform additional duties as assigned.

Requirements

Education: BSEE, BSME, or equivalent Engineering , or a related technical field is required. MBA is a plus.
Experience: 10+ years of experience in hardware engineering and operations, with a strong mix of technical individual contribution and department-level leadership. Must have hardware design engineering experience with a strong knowledge of CAD solid modeling, and electro-mechanical systems engineering.
B2B Commercialization: A proven track record of taking hardware products from concept to mass production in a collaborative environment with internal business units, supply partners, and customers.
Supply Chain Expertise: Demonstrated success in the strategic oversight of the end-to-end supply chain, including contract manufacturer evaluation, vendor partnerships, and operational execution, to drive cost efficiency, quality, and timely delivery.
Strategic & Hands-On: Ability to balance high-level strategic planning with hands-on execution and problem-solving.
Tools and Process: Proficiency in PLM (Product Lifecycle Management), ERP, and manufacturing software tools.
Ability to read, write, speak and understand English.

Nice To Haves

Technical Knowledge: Experience with video-based imaging systems and connected IoT devices is highly preferred.

Responsibilities

Organizational Design: Develop and lead both internal and external resources to scale a hardware product solution for ACV with a product lifecycle management focus.
Financial Management: Ownership of the hardware cost structure, including partnerships, CapEx and OpEx planning.
System Architecture: Own the system-level hardware architecture, ensuring seamless integration with firmware, software, and ACV’s broader cloud ecosystem.
Design Engineering: Lead mechanical, electrical, and quality engineering functions required for the ongoing design and launch of hardware based ACV products.
Engineering Partnership Development: Create the right team to support the product design, launch, and manufacturing ownership of ACV hardware products.
New Product Introduction: Develop ACV processes for effective phase-gate product development and the project management of hardware programs.
Quality Management System: Develop rigorous reliability and test engineering/ validation processes to ensure production-ready robust hardware certified to meet applicable safety and regulatory standards.
Vendor Evaluation & Strategy: Lead an evaluation of our current hardware development and supply-chain process and strategy to support scalable, high-quality products on time and under budget. The scope will include engineering, tooling, manufacturing, supply chain, and field support services. This role will own the management of ACV hardware strategy to End-of-Life.
Asset Management: Create and lead the end-to-end asset management function for the deployment and distribution for all ACV hardware products and components used by customers and ACV ensuring high availability, tracking utilization, and minimizing shrinkage/loss.
Root Cause Analysis (RCA): Lead RCA investigations for critical field issues, implementing systemic corrective actions to improve hardware reliability.
Technical Documentation: Oversee the creation of technical documentation, user manuals, and troubleshooting guides to empower our Customer Support and Sales Engineering teams and ensure a consistent customer experience.
Reverse Logistics (RMA): Design and manage the support lifecycle, including RMA processes to optimize the hardware support lifecycle, reducing downtime and maintaining operational continuity.
Perform additional duties as assigned.