Head of Manufacturing Engineering

Foundry Robotics•Emeryville, CA

7d•Onsite

About The Position

Foundry Robotics is building an AI-native robotics manufacturing company focused on advanced assembly and production for robotics companies and national-security-critical hardware. The Head of Manufacturing Engineering will set the technical manufacturing automation roadmap and build the teams responsible for executing it. Reporting to the Chief Manufacturing Officer, this leader will establish and lead Manufacturing Engineering and Process Engineering groups. Manufacturing Engineering owns customer DFM/DFA, line and cell design, tooling, automation, and new product launches. Process Engineering owns process optimization, standard work, yield, and cycle time across programs. The role leads the development of a flexible factory that can accommodate different customer products and volumes without requiring a rebuild for each program. This includes shared-station assembly lines, foundation-model-driven automation, autonomous material movement, and an integrated factory layout. The position determines what capabilities to build, in what order, and why, and remains closely involved in implementation on the factory floor. This is a 100% in-person role at Foundry Robotics’ Emeryville, California office.

Requirements

12+ years of manufacturing engineering experience with complex electromechanical hardware in automotive, aerospace, robotics, or consumer electronics at scale.
5+ years leading engineers.
Launched at least one high-volume or high-mix assembly line end to end, including layout, stations, tooling, conveyance, line balance, and ramp.
Built an automation program and can assess where robots, fixtures, or people are appropriate, based on practical experience.
Hands-on DFM/DFA experience, including working with customers or design teams to modify parts for manufacturability.
Strong process-engineering fundamentals, including PFMEA, control plans, capability studies, standard work, takt, and OEE; able to lead Kaizen activities and capex reviews.
Experience hiring and growing an engineering team from a handful of people to dozens.
Able to work effectively both at a desk and on the shop floor in a company that is still building its factory.
Bias toward action, scrappy problem solving, and moving quickly without sacrificing rigor.
Must be a U.S. person (U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, or protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3)) because of ITAR and export control requirements.

Nice To Haves

Experience applying ML-based robotics, such as learned grasping, vision-guided assembly, or foundation-model policies, in production, or close partnership with a team deploying AMR/AGV or autonomous intralogistics.
Experience in a multi-product or contract-manufacturing environment where changeover and flexibility were constraints.
AS9100 or ITAR-controlled production exposure.
Electromechanical assembly experience with robots, drones, or defense hardware.

Responsibilities

Own and defend the multi-year manufacturing automation roadmap, including automation priorities, sequencing, technology choices, takt, capital expenditure, and risk.
Design and launch a flexible assembly line that runs multiple customer products on shared stations, fixtures, and conveyance, with changeovers measured in hours rather than weeks.
Partner with software and robotics teams to deploy foundation-model-driven automation for assembly, inspection, kitting, and material handling, and determine when learned automation is appropriate versus fixed automation.
Specify and deploy autonomous material movement, including AMR/AGV fleets, kitting, and line-side replenishment.
Own the Emeryville facility layout as a living design, covering flow, cell boundaries, material routes, utilities, and ITAR-segregated areas, in partnership with Facilities on the physical build-out.
Build the DFM/DFA practice to turn customer prototypes into products that can be built at rate and yield; involve engineers in customer discovery and quoting to identify cost and quality issues before purchase orders.
Build the Process Engineering team responsible for standard work, cycle time, line balance, yield, PFMEA, control plans, tooling and fixtures, and continuous improvement.
Own new product introduction from customer handoff through stable production, including pilot builds, PFMEA, control plans, work instructions, capability studies, and ramp.
Hire, develop, and lead manufacturing and process engineers, and establish the engineering culture on the factory floor.