Safety-critical Director (ISO 10218)

Role summary

Our AI-driven pick-and-place and returns-handling cells combine robot arms, adaptive force-controlled grippers, AI vision and a safety cabinet, all driven by Cortex, our vision-language-action model. They already run in live warehouse operations across the EU and US. After our Series B, we are scaling from around 50 units a year to several hundred, built by external contract manufacturers. We're looking for a Director of NPI & Industrialization to own the hardware product from architecture to a frozen, documented design that a contract manufacturer can build to spec and our customers can rely on. You will report to the CEO and CTO and work closely with our Director of Supply Chain & Hardware Operations, who takes your released designs into volume production.

Responsibilities

Product Architecture & Development

• 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 our adaptive force-controlled gripper and end-effectors, which are core IP for the organization
• 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

Industrialization & Design Transfer

• 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

Reliability, Quality & Documentation

• 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 so every revision is documented and reproducible

Roadmap, Cost & Team

• 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

Requirements

Education and Experience

• 10+ years in hardware, mechatronics or electromechanical product engineering, including several years leading engineering teams
• 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

Skills

• 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

Additional Skills / 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