Associate Director, Systems Engineering

Associate Director of Systems Engineering

We're looking for an Associate Director of Systems Engineering to lead the development of our next-generation automated beverage platform. This role requires a principal architect who can bridge high-level product strategy with technical execution across the entire development lifecycle.

You will have ultimate authority and accountability for the product, driving a complex, multi-disciplinary program from a blank slate to a fully realized, high-performance system. You will operate at the intersection of hardware, software, and controls to ensure we deliver a world-class solution that meets Wonder's high standards for quality and scale.

The Impact You Will Make

• Own the Product
  
  Roadmap:
  
  Act as the ultimate accountable person for the success of the automated beverage system, defining the product requirements and driving the technical vision.
• Architect Complex Systems:
  Lead the high-level architecture across mechanical, electrical, and software domains, making the "big-picture" decisions that balance performance, reliability, and timeline.
• Drive 0-to-1 Development:
  Navigate the full product lifecycle, from initial concepts and prototyping, to a high fidelity prototype to real world pilots.
• Lead Cross-Functional Teams:
  Guide a diverse team of hardware and software engineers, fostering a culture of high performance, rapid iteration, and technical excellence.
• Manage Timelines & Risk:
  Build and maintain aggressive but achievable development timelines, proactively identifying and mitigating technical and operational risks.
• Cross-Departmental
  
  Collaboration:
  
  Work closely with our culinary platform team to ensure the product we build matches our culinary and business ambitions.
• Drive "Buy vs. Build" Strategy:
  Lead the evaluation and selection of key technology partners and sub-components deciding when to outsource or leverage off-the-shelf parts versus developing proprietary solutions in-house
• Identify, onboard, and cultivate strategic third-party vendor relationships in the beverage equipment industry, ensuring partners are deeply aligned with and invested in our product vision.

What You Bring to the Table

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical, Electrical, or Mechatronics Engineering or a related technical field.
• Proven Leadership: 12+ years of experience in engineering, with a significant track record of leading large-scale, complex hardware/software projects from scratch ideally in the robotics or industrial automation industry.
• Technical Breadth:
  Deep expertise in systems integration, robotics, or industrial automation. You should be equally comfortable discussing controls architecture, mechanical design and software.
• The "Architect" Mindset:
  Demonstrated ability to synthesize competing requirements into a cohesive, elegant system architecture. You are comfortable with ambiguity and making difficult architectural, technical and product decisions.
• Execution Focus: A "builder" mentality with the grit to manage through the challenges of hardware development and the leadership to keep a large team aligned and motivated.
• Communication Excellence:
  Ability to distill complex technical concepts for executive leadership while providing granular technical guidance to individual contributors.
• Strategic Precision:
  Exceptional organizational skills and a mastery of modern project management tools (Jira, Confluence, Miro, etc.), with the ability to architect these tools for a matrixed team.
• Product and Business focused mindset: you have experience owning product requirements and becoming deeply embedded in business priorities and user needs.
• Experience and know-how in the Beverage industry building beverage products and established relationships with beverage equipment vendors is strongly preferred.

This role requires a minimum of 4 days a week in the office, with additional days as needed based on project demands.

This role is based in our Boston office in Charlestown, MA

Base Salary Range: $229,000-$255,000 per year

Wonder uses geographic-specific salary structures, which means the salary offered may vary depending on where the job is located. The final salary offer will take into account various…