SG
Director NPI & Industrialization
Contract type
Ongoing
Work mode
Remote
Experience
Lead / principal · 10+ years
Job description
Director of NPI & Industrialization at a robotics company, owning the hardware product from architecture to a frozen, documented design that contract manufacturers can build to spec. The role reports to the CEO and CTO and works closely with the Director of Supply Chain & Hardware Operations.
At a glance
- Work mode
- Remote
- Languages
- English – fluent
What you'll do
- 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 the adaptive force-controlled gripper and end-effectors
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
What we're looking for
- 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
- 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
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
Your team
Hardware and mechatronics engineering
Apply
Direct apply at Sereact GmbH
Opens the job posting at Sereact GmbH
About Sereact GmbH
We build the intelligence that lets robots sense, reason, and act in the real world
Sereact builds AI-driven pick-and-place and returns-handling cells that combine robot arms, adaptive force-controlled grippers, AI vision and a safety cabinet, all driven by Cortex, a vision-language-action model. The cells run in live warehouse operations across the EU and US.
Mission
We are on a mission to redefine how physical work gets done
Key facts
- Robotics
- AI-driven pick-and-place and returns-handling cells
- Cortex vision-language-action model
- Cells run in live warehouse operations across the EU and US
- Series B company
- Scaling from around 50 units a year to several hundred, built by external contract manufacturers
What they value
- Curious
- Bold
- Collaborative
- High-ownership