Prolific Machines - Head Of/Director, Hardware Engineering
Requirements
• BS, MS, or PhD in Mechanical, Electrical, Optical, Systems, or Biomedical Engineering, or a related field; equivalent experience considered • 10+ years of relevant industry experience, including 3+ years leading a multidisciplinary hardware engineering team or department as a people manager (e.g. senior manager or director) • Demonstrated experience taking at least one hardware product from R&D prototype through to production and field deployment, with concrete examples of what you'd do differently next time • A track record of setting multi-year technical or functional strategy and translating it into execution plans, budgets, and resourcing • Hands-on experience bringing hardware into a regulated environment: GMP, FDA design controls, or equivalent, and leading products through electrical safety certification (UL, CE, or similar) • Deep technical expertise in at least one core discipline (mechanical, electrical, or optical) and enough breadth to make sound architecture calls across the others • A strong track record of mentoring engineers and growing individual contributors into leads • Experience managing external development partners, contract manufacturers, or suppliers against defined scopes and milestones • Excellent written and verbal communication, including explaining complex technical tradeoffs in scope, quality, time, and (human) resources to executives, partners, and non-engineers • Strong systems engineering judgment: enough depth in the discipline to decide whether we need a dedicated systems engineer and to lead that work until we do, whether or not it's your formal background. A track record of architecting modular, scalable hardware platforms is a strong signal here • Familiarity with life science hardware: bioprocessing equipment, lab instrumentation, or medical devices (biology expertise is available within the organization) • Experience with optical systems, LED or laser illumination, or thermal management of high-power electronics • Experience with equipment used in pharmaceutical manufacturing, including qualification (IQ/OQ/PQ) and GAMP-style validation • Experience scaling a fleet of deployed systems from a handful of units to dozens or more • Experience at an early-stage company, ideally through a period of rapid team growth • Working knowledge of firmware, embedded systems, and connected devices, enough to partner effectively with firmware and software leads
Responsibilities
• Get to know the team and take over day-to-day leadership in a way that preserves what already works well, while setting a clear operating rhythm for planning, design reviews, and delivery • Own the roadmap for our next-generation illuminator platform, including oversight of external development partners • Define the path to GMP readiness for systems used in partner manufacturing environments • Set strong standards for documentation, communication and other good engineering practices • Shape the team's growth: identify the gaps, write the hiring plan, and make the first hires • Hardware operations and project management have dedicated owners on the team. You'll work closely with them, but you won't be running the shop by yourself. • This role is based on-site in Emeryville, CA, with the flexibility to work remotely on occasion. • Strategy and functional leadership • Translate company strategy into a multi-year hardware strategy and roadmap, and turn it into concrete functional plans, milestones, and success measures • Partner with the CTO to define Prolific's technical roadmap, engineering standards, and decision-making frameworks • Contribute to company business planning as the hardware function's representative, including budgets, headcount, capital equipment, and partner program commitments • Make most operational and technical decisions for the hardware function independently, escalating where strategic alignment is needed • Build strong partnerships with peer leaders in bioprocess engineering, biology, software, data, and business development so hardware plans integrate with company-wide priorities • Represent Prolific externally with partners, suppliers, and the broader engineering community, and bring outside expertise and industry connections into the company • Model commitment to company decisions, aligning the hardware team behind agreed outcomes even when they differ from your own recommendation • Leadership and team development • Conserve and strengthen the hardware team's culture of collaboration, candor, and craftsmanship as the team grows • Lead, mentor, and develop a strong multidisciplinary team, elevating already capable engineers to the next level and growing senior individual contributors into technical and people leads • Coach the team in balancing speed and rigor: when to prototype quickly, when to slow down and do it properly, and how to make that call with confidence • Own the structure and operations of the hardware function: team design, roles, resourcing, and a predictable operating rhythm (planning, design reviews, retrospectives) that adds clarity without adding bureaucracy • Own hardware team growth: identify capability gaps (e.g. systems, testing, quality), write the hiring plan, and hire people who strengthen the culture • Manage up and down effectively, communicating clearly about tradeoffs in scope, quality, time, and people • Hardware development • Bring a systems engineering approach to the platform: define subsystem boundaries and interfaces, requirements flow-down, and modular designs that enable rapid scaling, independent testing, and component reuse, without over-engineering early • Take on the hardest, least precedented technical problems in scaling light delivery to industrial bioprocessing, and develop solutions that hold up long term • Oversee the full development lifecycle, from technical scoping and concept through prototyping, verification and validation, and transfer to production • Lead the transition from R&D prototypes to reliable, serviceable, manufacturable products (design for manufacturing, design for service, design controls) • Drive make-vs-buy and insource-vs-outsource decisions, and manage external development partners and contract manufacturers against clear scopes and milestones • Support business development with technical scoping and realistic estimates for partner programs • Quality, compliance, and productization • Define and execute the path to GMP readiness for hardware used in partner manufacturing environments • Lead electrical safety and regulatory certification efforts with test labs and consultants • Establish the right-sized quality practices for each stage: documentation, change control, verification records, and supplier qualification • Work with hardware operations to make sure what the team designs can be built, deployed, and supported at scale
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