Lead Hardware Engineer

TAR•San Francisco, CA

2d•Hybrid

About The Position

TAR builds fully islanded solar and storage campuses that deliver clean, firm power directly to AI data centers, with no grid connection and no gas. At GW scale the binding constraint is how fast a crew can put steel in the ground, so TAR builds its own racking system and the robots that install it. As Lead Hardware Engineer, you own the mechanical, electrical, and systems design of a core robotics subsystem — from prototype through field-hardened production — and act as the technical lead for a small team of hardware engineers. You report into the Head of Hardware and work hands-on, splitting time between the San Francisco robotics facility and regular field trips to the West Texas site.

Requirements

5-7 years of hardware engineering experience, including some experience informally or formally leading a small team or serving as a technical lead on a project.
Experience taking a hardware component or subsystem from low-volume prototype to higher-volume production, ideally including work with contract manufacturers or suppliers.
Solid grounding in mechatronics, mechanical engineering, motion control, or ruggedized system design for field or industrial environments.
Some experience managing BOMs and driving costs down without sacrificing reliability.
Comfortable reviewing others' technical work and communicating design trade-offs to a manager or cross-functional partners.

Nice To Haves

Experience in energy, industrial automation, or field robotics rather than consumer robotics.
Exposure to regulatory or certification requirements for industrial or field hardware.
Background at a high-growth, venture-backed hardware startup.
Experience on a team that stood up a new subsystem or product line from scratch.

Responsibilities

Own the technical design and execution roadmap for a defined robotics subsystem (e.g., pile-driving, racking placement, or earth-moving mechanisms), translating org-level priorities into concrete engineering plans.
Lead day-to-day technical direction for a small team of mechanical, electrical, and systems engineers, reviewing designs and mentoring less experienced engineers.
Drive your subsystem from low-volume prototype builds toward reliable, higher-volume production, working directly with manufacturing and supply chain partners.
Make system architecture decisions within your subsystem: mechanical, electrical, controls, and sensor integration; that hold up under dust, heat, and vibration in the field.
Manage BOM and supplier relationships for your subsystem, balancing cost reduction with field reliability.
Spend regular time at the West Texas site closing the loop between field failures and design fixes.
Partner with the Head of Hardware on hiring and technical roadmap input, without owning org-wide strategy.