Sr. Manufacturing Engineer

Ironsite AI•San Francisco, CA

3d•$225,000 - $250,000•Onsite

About The Position

Ironsite is building the intelligence layer for the physical world. We design our own wearable hardware, deploy it alongside craft workers, and transform a shift's footage into a next-morning report. Our internal team and purpose-built models label the data overnight and deliver actionable insights to superintendents by 5 AM. We are accelerating the speed, efficiency, and predictability of construction, especially for complex, mission-critical infrastructure projects, including data centers, LNG facilities, sports stadiums, hospitals, and other large-scale developments, by training AI models on egocentric construction footage and labor productivity data. We are built with a pro-worker philosophy at our core: we believe technology should empower the workforce, not replace it. We're working to give craft workers and project leaders better visibility into what's happening on-site, while creating a system where the reality of construction and the chaos of each day is finally available to the people running the project. Ironsite is deployed across several of the largest active construction projects in the country. To date, we've captured more than 100,000 hours of construction footage across seven states, now process thousands of hours of site activity every day, and maintain a worker opt-out rate below two percent. This is enabled by a workforce-first architecture that anonymizes devices, captures no audio, and never releases raw video. Ironsite is backed by leading investors (8VC, South Park Commons, Saga Ventures) and prominent operators across technology and construction, including Eric Schmidt, Jeff Dean, Jeff Rothschild, Mark Leslie, Scott Wu, Eric Glyman, Karim Atiyeh, Russell Kaplan, and others, alongside over a dozen construction industry operators who have joined us as partners in building this. Longer term, we believe Ironsite is the foundation for what construction becomes in the next decade. We think the systems we're building are the operating system for how the physical world gets built, and will unlock a fundamentally different way of respect for our workforce. One where craft workers are more valued, more visible, and better paid for the skill they bring, and where the industry finally has the intelligence layer that makes autonomous construction possible. Both futures start with the same foundation. We're hiring a Senior Manufacturing Engineer to own manufacturing process development and production readiness for Ironsite's hardware, from DFM through production ramp. You'll serve as the primary technical interface between Ironsite and our contract manufacturer, and you'll drive the processes, documentation, and quality systems that scale our hardware from NPI to volume production. This role works in tight partnership with hardware and firmware engineering to ensure test fixtures, programming stations, and functional test procedures stay tightly integrated with firmware release milestones. This is a founding-era manufacturing role in a company that is already deploying at scale. What you build becomes the foundation the rest of the manufacturing organization runs on. If you've spent your career shipping hardware at volume and you want to do it again in a company that's earning the right to scale into millions of units, this is the seat.

Requirements

10+ years of manufacturing engineering experience on hardware products, ideally at a company that scaled from NPI through volume production.
Strong background in high-volume electromechanical assembly, PCBA, injection molding, casting, and system-level integration.
Experience developing and owning manufacturing test strategies, including ICT, functional test, and firmware programming and validation. This includes the design and coordination of test fixtures.
Demonstrated experience working cross-functionally with firmware and software engineering on test fixture requirements and programming station design.
Hands-on contract manufacturing management experience, including overseas CMs.
Experience with DFM and DFT reviews and driving design changes to improve manufacturability and testability.
Proficiency reading and working with electrical schematics, PCB layouts, BOMs, and mechanical drawings.
Experience leading builds from prototype through production ramp.
Strong quality engineering background, including PFMEA, control plans, SPC, 8D and root cause analysis, and IPC standards.

Nice To Haves

Experience with wearables, consumer electronics, or ruggedized hardware programs.
Familiarity with contract manufacturers in Taiwan, mainland China, or Southeast Asia.
Ability to generate clear and concise updates to all levels of internal and external stakeholders, including at the executive level.
Detail-oriented, self-motivated, and able to respond quickly to a fast-moving and ever-changing environment.
Proficiency with ERP systems for BOM management and manufacturing order tracking.
Proficiency with PLM systems (Arena, Propel, or similar).
Experience with battery pack and optical subassemblies.
Prior experience as an early manufacturing hire at a hardware startup that scaled from early volumes to full production. You've been through the zero-to-scale journey and know what breaks first.
Mandarin or Vietnamese language proficiency.
Experience shipping products with meaningful firmware complexity, where hardware and firmware release cycles had to stay in tight lockstep.

Responsibilities

Define, develop, and document manufacturing processes for electromechanical hardware assemblies and products from NPI through volume production.
Own the DFM (Design for Manufacturability) and DFT (Design for Test) review process, partnering with hardware and firmware teams to ensure designs are production-ready before each build phase.
Oversee tooling and drive tooling qualifications with the CM and suppliers.
Create and maintain manufacturing documentation, including BOMs, work instructions, traveler documents, test specifications, and process control plans.
Lead process qualification activities. Ensure manufacturing processes are documented, repeatable, and in control before production transitions.
Support cost reduction through process optimization, cycle time reduction, and make-versus-buy analysis.
Work closely with firmware engineers to align manufacturing test fixtures, programming stations, and functional test procedures with firmware release schedules.
Flag integration risks between firmware milestones and build readiness. Drive resolution across engineering and operations before they become production issues.
Develop and maintain end-of-line test and functional test procedures, including ICT, functional verification, and firmware flashing and validation steps.
Manage the technical manufacturing relationship with our CM. Serve as the primary manufacturing engineering interface for process questions, quality issues, and build readiness reviews.
Own the manufacturing impact assessment and implementation of ECRs (Engineering Change Requests) and ECOs (Engineering Change Orders), working across the CM, supply chain partners, and Engineering.
Participate in and own manufacturing metrics and improvement strategies within QBRs.
Drive yield improvement initiatives. Investigate production failures through structured root cause analysis and work with suppliers, Engineering, and Quality to implement corrective actions.
Establish and track manufacturing KPIs, including first-pass yield, cycle time, scrap rate, and test escape rate.
Build the quality and yield feedback loop that gets sharper with every build.