Director of Hardware Engineering at Opentrons Labworks Inc.

About the Role

The Director of Hardware Engineering plays a critical leadership role in developing and scaling Opentrons’ next-generation robotic platforms and modules. This role blends hands-on technical leadership with people management, program execution, and global manufacturing coordination. You will guide mechanical & electrical design efforts from early R&D through mass production, ensuring designs are robust, manufacturable, and aligned with business goals.

Projects will involve complex mechanisms, precision linear motion, thermal management, and fluid dynamics. This role reports to the VP of Engineering and works closely with cross-functional leaders across Product, Software, Quality, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, and Field Applications, supporting both new product development and sustaining engineering efforts, including collaboration on service solutions and customer-site execution.

This position requires close collaboration with Opentrons’ manufacturing partners and engineering teams in Shenzhen, including up to 10% travel and regular coordination across time zones. Fluency in Mandarin is a requirement to be successful in this role. The ideal candidate is comfortable operating at both a strategic and executional level in a fast-paced, global hardware organization.

What You Would Do

Technical & Program Leadership

• Provide technical leadership for the mechanical development of Opentrons robots and modules from concept through mass production.
• Own mechanical engineering execution across multiple programs, balancing technical depth, timelines, and resourcing.
• Guide teams through NPI (New Product Introduction), including close coordination with Supply Chain, Manufacturing, and Quality.
• Drive design-for-manufacturability (DFM), design-for-assembly (DFA), and cost-reduction initiatives in partnership with the Shenzhen manufacturing team.

People & Team Leadership

• Lead, mentor, and develop a team of mechanical and test engineers, supporting career growth, performance, and technical excellence.
• Establish clear expectations, development plans, and feedback mechanisms for team members.
• Recruit and hire key mechanical engineering talent to support team and company growth.

Process & Operational Excellence

• Establish and continuously improve mechanical engineering processes, including design reviews, prototyping, testing, documentation, and release practices.
• Implement lean but effective project management methodologies, including phase-gated milestones, risk tracking, and clear communication of status and tradeoffs.
• Ensure mechanical designs meet reliability, quality, regulatory, and manufacturing requirements.

Cross-Functional & Global Collaboration

• Collaborate closely with Electrical, Software, Product, Design, Quality, and Test teams to deliver integrated systems.
• Partner with the Field Application team to develop solution SOPs, service procedures, and replacement kits to support effective execution at customer sites
• Work cross-functionally with the internal Legal team to support intellectual property development,
• Coordinate manufacturing activities with Shenzhen-based team members and partners, including regular off-hours meetings aligned to China time zones.
• Travel to Shenzhen (up to 10%) to support builds, manufacturing ramp, issue resolution, and relationship-building with local teams.
• Work cross-functionally with the internal Legal team to support intellectual property development,

Who We're Looking For

Education:

• Bachelor's degree required or equivalent experience

Experience:

• Minimum of 10 years experience in managing hardware product development including transfer to manufacturing
• Minimum of 6 years in people management / leadership

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Fluency in Mandarin is preferred.
• Proven product development skills, having directly led and developed dozens of relevant complex electromechanical products from concept to market.
• Extensive proven leadership experience with relevant technical challenges and team members.
• Able to handle a large variety of projects simultaneously while maintaining effective prioritization and status communication.
• Demonstrated ability to manage a departmental budget and deliver within operational constraints.
• Strong experience with injection molding, die casting, sheet metal forming, CNC, and similar manufacturing processes.
• Having directly designed, troubleshooted and brought hundreds of parts to mass manufacturing.
• Strong experience and intuition with linear motion, thermodynamics, fluid dynamics, electric motors and similar relevant domains.
• Strong experience working directly with manufacturers or contract manufacturers.
• Strong experience with DFMA, ECN processes, test reports, manufacturing/quality reports and similar.
• Strong proficiency with CAD and drafting (Solidworks preferred).
• Strong proficiency with ERP & lean document management systems.
• Familiarity with python, PCBA development, and debugging tools.

Bonus Qualifications

• Experience in life sciences or medical devices
• Design experience with CNC machines, 3D printers, pick-and-place machines or similar motion-dependent devices
• Experience with calculating or modeling stress-strain, fluid flow, and/or thermal systems

Working Conditions and Physical Effort

• Work is performed in a typical interior/office work environment
• Limited physical effort required