Manager, Engineering

The first Turtlebox was born out of necessity. After breaking every “loud” product on the market through routine outdoor use, the idea of the Turtlebox was born in our garage, not as a business but just for personal use. Nothing else could get the job done.

Most portable speakers aren’t actually meant for the outdoors and can’t withstand the elements, the ones that can aren’t loud enough to be heard. When you’re at the beach or on an ATV, you need sound to carry in order to hear it over the wind, waves, and boat engines, you need a Turtlebox.

We soon realized that there was a huge need for the Turtlebox among likeminded adventurers and our journey began to set out to make the world’s loudest most rugged outdoor portable speaker.

The engineering team at Turtlebox is responsible for everything that makes the product work — the mechanical architecture, the electronics, the audio performance, and the validation that proves it will survive the conditions our customers put it through. It's a small team right now, and the work is hands‑on. That's not changing as we grow — we're adding depth, not layers.

We're looking for a Manager of Engineering to lead and develop this team. You'll own the technical direction for product development across mechanical, electrical, and validation — setting the standard for how we design, test, and ship products. You'll report to the Product Director and work closely with Industrial Design, Product Management, Quality, and our manufacturing partners.

This role is for someone who is genuinely a strong engineer — not someone who moved into management because they hit a technical ceiling, but someone who chose to lead because they know how to make a team better than the sum of its parts. You'll be doing real engineering work alongside managing, particularly in the early stages. That's not a transitional phase — it's how this team operates.

• Manage and develop Turtlebox's engineering team — mechanical, electrical, audio, validation, and technician roles
• Set the technical standard for product development: design quality, documentation, test rigor, and manufacturing readiness
• Build an engineering culture that moves fast, owns its decisions, and doesn't repeat the same mistakes
• Hire and onboard engineering talent as the team grows to meet the product roadmap

• Lead engineering on priority development programs from concept through mass production
• Make the tough technical tradeoffs — performance vs. cost, schedule vs. quality — and own the outcomes
• Ensure designs are manufacturable, testable, and built to survive real-world outdoor use — from plastic part geometry through SMT layout and firmware integration
• Drive design reviews, DFM reviews, and engineering gate decisions across all active programs

• Work directly with contract manufacturers and component suppliers to translate designs into manufactured product
• Drive tooling approvals, first-article inspections, and production validation — including plastic mold qualification and SMT line setup
• Identify and resolve engineering issues at the factory — you travel when the work requires it
• Build an engineering relationship with manufacturing partners that goes beyond PO management

• Develop and maintain engineering documentation standards — drawings, specs, BOMs, and change control
• Own the technical side of Turtlebox's product data management — structured, current, and usable
• Build a test and validation infrastructure that catches problems before production, not after

• 10–15 years of engineering experience in consumer electronics, with a track record of managing complex, cross-disciplinary teams
• Proven ability to lead engineering organizations through full product development cycles — concept through mass production — on multiple simultaneous programs
• Deep expertise in plastic injection molding: tool design, DFM, first-article qualification, and production validation
• Strong working knowledge of PCB and SMT processes — layout constraints, manufacturing yield, and supplier qualification
• Hands‑on…