Staff Product Design Engineer

About the role:

We’re looking for a Staff Product Design Engineer to join our team. In this role, you will be responsible for driving the industrial design, architecture, and engineering of one or more Samsara products from initial concept through to mass production. You will motivate your product design process using both data-driven insights gleaned from our telemetry data cloud, and deep hands-on understanding of our customers earned crawling around their sites and equipment alongside them.   

In bringing products to market, you will work collaboratively with Product Management, EE, FW, EPM, and Hardware leadership to make tradeoffs and decisions that balance functionality, cost, installation, usability, and aesthetics. Samsara’s Hardware Product Design teams collaborate closely with Samsara’s Operations and Supply Chain teams, outside laboratories, JDM design resources, and a growing supply base worldwide. Together, you will bring exceptional products to market on time and within budget, and ensure that Samsara leads the industry in our product design.

This role is open to candidates residing in the US. This is a hybrid position requiring 3 days per week in our San Francisco office and 2 days working remotely.

You should apply if:

• You want to impact the industries that run our world: Your efforts will result in real-world impact—helping to keep the lights on, get food into grocery stores, reduce emissions, and most importantly, ensure workers return home safely.
• You are the architect of your own career: If you put in the work, this role won’t be your last at Samsara. We set up our employees for success and have built a culture that encourages rapid career development, and countless opportunities to experiment and master your craft in a hyper-growth environment.
• You’re energized by our opportunity: The vision we have to digitize large sectors of the global economy requires your full focus and best efforts to bring forth creative, ambitious ideas for our customers.
• You want to be with the best: At Samsara, we win together, celebrate together and support each other. You will be surrounded by a high-caliber team that will encourage you to do your best. 

In this role, you will: 

• Define and drive the multi-year technical vision and cross-functional hardware strategy that scales the Samsara Platform and solves the industry’s most complex physical-to-digital challenges.
• Establish architectures and design solutions that set the bar and addresses the toughest challenges of Samsara Hardware in rugged environments for the Samsara Product Design team 
• Drives system features trade-offs and defines product specifications with product management, engineering teams, and executive leadership mapping technical decision making to business priorities.
• Design, build, and ship impactful products that address customer needs and expand the scope and capability of the Samsara Platform
• Drive the development process through all phases including engineering feasibility, proof of concept prototyping, detailed design, validation, mass production, and go-to-market
• Validate products against both internal and external metrics through engineering evaluation, rigorous product quality testing, customer field testing, and return analysis
• Own the full customer hardware experience including the industrial design, packaging, and installation of our products
• Leverage our JDM manufacturing partners to achieve performance, cost, and schedule goals
• Champion, role model, and embed Samsara’s cultural principles (Focus on Customer Success, Build for the Long Term, Adopt a Growth Mindset, Be Inclusive, Win as a Team) as we scale globally and across new offices

Minimum requirements for the role:

• 12+ years of experience shipping hardware programs at scale in partnership with partners overseas
• Proven record navigating tradeoffs between design, manufacturability, schedule, and cost in a cross-functional environment
• Experience developing and launching electromechanical components or products in mass production 
• Demonstrated experience designing for automotive, outdoor, industrial, or consumer products
• Proficiency in plastic/metal part design, CAD modeling, and drafting, preferably using NX
• BS degree in mechanical engineering or related field
• Ability to travel up to 10% (domestic and international) when necessary
• Hybrid (Tuesday-Thursday) presence onsite in our San Francisco Headquarters

An ideal candidate also has:

• 15+ years of experience shipping high-volume hardware programs at scale
• MS degree in mechanical engineering or related field
• Experience shipping products with JDM partner teams in a leveraged development model
• Experience with ruggedized product design, including IP sealing, vibration, and harsh environments
• Experience integrating camera and antenna technologies in smart product, vehicle, or equipment applications
• Significant hands-on experience working with customer feedback to make better product decisions