About the role
Who We Are:
We build the intelligence that lets robots sense, reason, and act in the real world, moving beyond the lab and into everyday industrial settings like warehouses and factories. Our technology closes the automation gaps that traditional systems can't solve. We are on a mission to redefine how physical work gets done, and we're looking for curious, bold thinkers to help shape the future of robotics with us.
Overview:
Our AI-driven pick-and-place and returns-handling cells combine robot arms, adaptive force-controlled grippers, AI vision and a safety cabinet, all driven by Cortex, our vision-language-action model. They already run in live warehouse operations across the EU and US. After our Series B, we are scaling from around 50 units a year to several hundred, built by external contract manufacturers. We're looking for a Director of NPI & Industrialization to own the hardware product from architecture to a frozen, documented design that a contract manufacturer can build to spec and our customers can rely on. You will report to the CEO and CTO and work closely with our Director of Supply Chain & Hardware Operations, who takes your released designs into volume production.
Your Responsibilities:
Product Architecture & Development
Own the system design of the robotic cell across mechanical, electrical and controls integration, including robot arm integration, vision and sensor integration, cabinet, wiring and machine safety
Lead development of our adaptive force-controlled gripper and end-effectors, which are core IP for Sereact
Take each product from working prototype through DVT and qualification to a frozen, released design
Work with the Cortex software team on hardware and software interfaces and trade-offs
Industrialization & Design Transfer
Build design for manufacture, assembly, service and cost into every product from the start
Set up and run a Design-Transfer Gate with Supply Chain, so every product handed to a contract manufacturer arrives as a complete, buildable package
Design critical parts to be standardized and second-sourceable
Reliability, Quality & Documentation
Install reliability engineering practice, including DVT, HALT, FMEA and tolerance and worst-case analysis
Run a root-cause loop on field failures with Technical Support and drive design-related returns down
Set up PLM, BOMs, drawings, specifications, configuration management and ECN/ECO discipline so every revision is documented and reproducible
Roadmap, Cost & Team
Own the hardware roadmap, including the next-generation cell and the split between bespoke builds and a standardized product line
Run design-to-cost programs and bring BOM cost per unit down over time
Hire and lead the hardware and mechatronics engineering team and set its working cadence and accountability
Qualifications:
Education and Experience
10+ years in hardware, mechatronics or electromechanical product engineering, including several years leading engineering teams
A track record of personally taking a complex electromechanical product from prototype through design freeze into series production at hundreds of units per year
Experience building a hardware engineering or industrialization function from scratch in a scaleup or growth-stage company
Degree in mechanical, electrical or mechatronics engineering or a related field, or equivalent practical experience
Skills
Hands-on depth across mechanical, electrical and controls integration
Strong command of DfX (DfM, DfA, design for service and cost)
Reliability engineering experience with DVT, HALT and FMEA
Experience setting up PLM, configuration management and change control
Direct experience handing a released design to a contract manufacturer or EMS partner and supporting the first builds
Fluent English and willingness to travel to suppliers and customer sites
Additional Skills / Nice to Have
Robotics or manipulation experience, such as grippers, end-effectors, force control, robot arm integration or machine vision
Machine safety experience, including CE marking, the Machinery Directive and functional safety
Experience integrating hardware with an AI or software stack
Experience turning demos and pilots into repeatable production products
German fluency
What We Offer:
Competitive salary and equity in a fast-growing Series B robotics company
Flexible PTO and a collaborative, high-ownership culture
Ownership of the hardware product and the team that builds it as we scale to hundreds of units a year
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