Head of Engineering

Charge Robotics•San Leandro, CA

1d•$180,000 - $300,000•Hybrid

About The Position

Charge Robotics is a Series A startup building robots that build solar farms. Demand for new solar projects is booming, but today’s construction companies can’t keep up due to limited labor resources. Charge Robotics has developed robots to directly address this bottleneck and speed up the world’s transition to renewables. The company has shipped its first commercial system and is in the process of scaling up operations to meet massive demand. Charge is a fast-moving company, offering constant opportunities for learning and growth, with a large impact on the company’s direction and product, reflected in significant equity compensation. The role involves working on interesting technical problems with direct climate impact. Charge is MIT-founded and backed by top Silicon Valley investors including Founders Fund, Energy Impact Partners, Lux Capital, and YC (S21). This role will lead the engineering team through the next stage of growth: transitioning from first commercial deployments to repeatable builds and performance at scale. The Head of Engineering will lead a 15+ person, cross-disciplinary team and stay hands-on where needed to keep execution fast and technical quality high.

Requirements

5+ years of experience in an engineering leadership role
Have overseen multiple development cycles end-to-end and shipped complex electromechanical systems
Can roll up your sleeves to dive into a problem when needed, but maintain context of broader organizational goals and perspective
Strongly opinionated but know how and when to compromise effectively
Versed in walking the careful balance between shipping quickly and shipping quality
Operate effectively in the fast-paced environment of a rapidly growing startup
A Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Robotics, Computer Science, Physics, or a related field
Based in or can relocate to the SF Bay Area, and able to work 4-5 days/week from our San Leandro HQ
Open to ~10% travel to field (solar construction sites) to work directly with our product in its deployment environment

Nice To Haves

Extensive experience developing automation and robotics systems
Experience working with solar power generation technologies
Experience working directly in multiple different engineering disciplines

Responsibilities

Lead, mentor, and grow an all-star, multi-disciplinary engineering team, reporting directly to the CEO.
Collaborate closely with company leadership to align the strategic direction of engineering initiatives with company goals and roadmap.
Drive the design of our product while architecting the team structure and engineering processes required to bring it to deployed reality.
Scale engineering operations from R&D through manufacturing, leading the transition from prototype development to full production.
Internally and externally represent the engineering function of the organization to key stakeholders including employees, customers, executives, and investors.
Establish and continuously improve engineering management processes, including performance reviews, planning, and organizational design.
Set the bar for excellence across engineering activity, including implementing best practices for development, testing, and documentation.
Continuously learn new industry best practices and emerging technologies.
Shape the core technical team, expand the existing culture of engineering excellence, create effective processes, and help ship a transformative product.
Engage with internal and external teams to help ensure success in creating a better way to build solar power.