Manager, Hardware Operations

Who we are.

Spot AI turns cameras into coworkers.

We are building the category of AI coworkers for the physical world. Our platform enables businesses to understand, automate, and act across their environments in real time.

Spot AI is relied on at over 10,000 locations by more than 1,000 customers across manufacturing, construction, logistics, and retail.

Backed by over $110 million from investors including Scale, Redpoint, Qualcomm Ventures, Step Stone, and Bessemer, we are building the system that brings AI out of the digital world and into the real one.

We move fast, take ownership, and focus on outcomes. We are building a company for people who want to solve real problems and have a direct impact on how businesses operate.

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Every AI coworker Spot ships runs on hardware we put in the field. Our edge compute platform runs vision-language models on‑site, in real operating conditions, where networks are unreliable and uptime is not optional. It is the layer that makes AI actually work in the physical world.

As Spot scales to more locations and the models running at the edge get more capable, the hardware has to scale and improve with them: better, cheaper, and more reliable with every generation. This role owns that. You bring together supply chain and NPI plus quality into a single seat, and you own the full path from spec to delivered, qualified unit.

We run production through third‑party contract manufacturers that operate as our hardware supplier pass‑through. That model lets a small, sharp team move fast and scale without owning factories. You own it end to end, from component sourcing to the line to the unit that lands on a customer site.

You do not need to be an EE who lays out boards. But you need real engineering chops: enough to reason about benchmarks and specs, own a DFM review, write a manufacturing SOP, debug a yield problem on the line, and hold a contract manufacturer and our own engineers accountable to a spec instead of taking anyone’s word for it.

Scope and spec the hardware

• Partner with engineering on the design, scoping, and benchmarking of the edge compute platform as it evolves, across x86, GPU, thermal, power, and I/O.
• Turn benchmark and workload data into hardware specs across deployment tiers, balancing performance, cost, and manufacturability.

Run NPI and manufacturing through our contract manufacturers

• Own new product introduction end to end: prototype, validation testing, and the ramp to volume.
• Run the contract manufacturers that operate as our hardware supplier pass‑through: build readiness, line setup, first article inspection, and the ramp to production.
• Author and maintain the manufacturing SOPs, work instructions, and test procedures that make every unit come off the line the same way.

Own quality and the manufacturing process

• Define the quality plan: incoming inspection, in‑line and functional test and outgoing AQL.
• Drive yield and first‑pass test rate. Own the failure analysis loop, root cause, and corrective action for failures on the line and in the field.
• Run the RMA and field‑return process so we learn from every unit that comes back.

Own supply chain, components, and fulfillment

• Own component management, sourcing, and supplier qualification, with special attention to long‑lead and allocation‑constrained parts.
• Secure component supply through forecasting, allocation, buffer strategy, and second‑source qualification so a single shortage does not stop the line.
• Drive landed cost down release over release. Own cost models, RFQs, and the negotiation that protects margin.
• Own inventory, lead times, logistics, fulfillment, and the operational systems (Netsuite) that run the flow from component to delivered unit.

You may come from hardware operations, supply chain, NPI, manufacturing engineering, or quality leadership. This role combines scopes that are often held by two people, so you are comfortable owning both halves.

You are a strong fit if you:

• Have taken a hardware product from design and NPI through to volume production through…