Head of Hardware Manufacturing

Atoms•San Francisco, CA

16h•$182,000 - $214,000•Onsite

About The Position

Atoms is building the machines that power the next era of progress. Over the last decade, software has transformed the digital world. But the physical world, where food is made, minerals are mined, goods are moved, and industries are run, remains far less intelligent, far less efficient, and far more constrained. We’re changing that. Atoms builds Physical AI— real-world robots for the industries that move civilization forward, starting with food, mining, and transport. Our systems are designed to understand, predict, and control the real world with precision, turning complex physical operations into something more reliable, more scalable, and more productive. This work requires more than robotics. It requires deep integration across hardware, software, AI, operations, manufacturing, and manufacturing. We don’t just build machines in a lab. We deploy them into real environments, operate them, learn from them, and improve them until they work at scale. We are roboticists, engineers, operators, and builders. We believe the next great technology companies will not only transform information, but the physical systems that shape everyday life. If you want to work on hard problems with real-world impact, join us.

Requirements

Track record taking a hardware production operation from zero or near-zero to meaningful volume, where you personally designed the line rather than inherited it
Experience in a larger, mature manufacturing organization, so you know what good looks like at scale and can build toward it rather than reinventing it
Demonstrated multi-site experience: standing up new production locations while existing sites keep producing
Deep capability in technician hiring and training: you have built ramp programs, certification criteria, and trainer structures, and you understand that trained labor is the real constraint on throughput
Strong manufacturing engineering foundation: time studies, line balancing, takt and cycle analysis, station and tooling design, work instructions, lean and continuous improvement
Quality leadership: you have run an independent quality gate and held it under schedule pressure
Proven people leadership at scale: hired and led managers, engineers, and technician leads
Comfortable being hands-on on the floor and rigorous in the data
10-plus years in manufacturing operations, including leadership of a multi-shift production organization

Responsibilities

End-to-end retrofit and box build operations: process, technicians, tooling, throughput, and the release gates that let a vehicle out the door
Standing up production at two new locations while an existing one continues to run, including layout, material flow, and station design
The technician organization: hiring pace, training program, certification and sign-off criteria, trainer capacity, and shift structure as the operation moves toward extended and weekend coverage
Building the leadership layer beneath you
A quality function that gates production independently of build, with first-pass yield, defect capture, and closed-loop feedback to engineering
Partnership with Supply Chain so no vehicle enters the line without a complete kit, and with hardware and NPI engineering as new designs transfer into production