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Palo Alto, California, United States
Onsite
About Mind:
Mind Robotics is building Physical AI for real-world industrial deployment, starting with the factory floor. We believe the hardest problems in AI are solved when researchers and engineers are hands-on with the physical world every day - and we're looking for people who are passionate about robotics, value ownership, and are excited to tackle difficult problems. Join us if you want to move beyond digital intelligence and put intelligence into motion.
About the team and the role:
We're building robots for industrial deployment that push the limits of what hardware can do - and the electronics inside them have to survive the real world, at scale, from suppliers who've never built anything quite like this before. We need someone who has industrialized components in the trenches: walked the SMT lines, run the PPAPs, and carried a design from first prototype to a ramp that didn't fall over.
You'll help build our supplier industrialization function from scratch - the process, the supplier base - while staying hands-on with the parts. You'll own PCBA, electronics, and tactile sensing to start, embedded with our engineering team from the first schematic review. As we scale, so does the scope: this role can grow into leading the SIE organization, or into a senior technical authority on manufacturability for someone who wants to stay deep. We're open to both.
Responsibilities:
Build the supplier industrialization function from the ground up: define the SI playbook, stage-gate requirements, supplier readiness criteria, and the full PPAP/qualification process (control plans, pFMEA, MSA/Gage R&R, capability studies, first-article inspection, run-at-rate) appropriate for a company moving from prototype builds to volume production
Own industrialization end-to-end for PCBAs, electronic assemblies, and tactile sensing components, from supplier selection through process development, qualification, launch, and ramp
Engage with electrical, mechanical, and firmware engineering from the design phase: drive DFM/DFA/DFT reviews, influence component selection, stack-ups, panelization, and test strategy early enough to actually change the design, not just react to it
Identify, assess, and select suppliers: lead technical audits of manufacturing capability, quality systems, process maturity, and capacity; make clear-eyed calls on who can scale with us and who can't
Travel to supplier sites (CMs/CEMs, PCB fabs, sensor manufacturers) to develop processes, validate lines, resolve issues, and verify manufacturing readiness firsthand
Lead new product introduction at supplier sites: process development and validation, SMT line bring-up, test correlation, yield improvement, and launch readiness for each build stage (EVT/DVT/PVT to production)
Develop and execute the supply chain readiness plan to scale electronics from tens of prototype units to hundreds and thousands of production units, including tooling, test fixtures, and capacity planning
Establish supplier quality management: incoming quality criteria, SPC deployment, root-cause/corrective action (8D/RCCA) on process and field failures, and ongoing supplier performance reviews
Work hand-in-hand with our sourcing/GSM function on supplier strategy, should-cost input, make-vs-buy decisions, and risk mitigation (dual-sourcing, alternate qualification)
Set the foundation for the SI team: define hiring needs by commodity as we grow, and build the systems and documentation that let the function scale beyond one person
Requirements:
You've built or significantly shaped an SI, SQE, or NPI function before. You know what it means to operate without a playbook because you've written one, not just followed it
7+ years in supplier industrialization, supplier quality, NPI, or manufacturing engineering in hardware-intensive industries such as robotics, consumer electronics, automotive, or aerospace
Working knowledge of IPC standards and PCB fabrication processes; experience with flex and rigid-flex circuits or sensor integration (tactile, force, capacitive, camera modules) is a strong plus
Fluent in the industrialization toolkit: PPAP, APQP, pFMEA, control plans, SPC, MSA/Gage R&R, DOE, capability analysis (Cpk), 8D/RCCA
Hands-on experience taking products through the prototype-to-production transition, including EVT/DVT/PVT builds, tooling and test fixture qualification, run-at-rate, and ramp
Engineering degree (Electrical, Mechanical, or similar) and the ability to read schematics, layouts, and drawings well enough to hold your own in design reviews with the engineers who made them
Experience auditing and developing suppliers directly, including CMs/CEMs and component manufacturers worldover
Comfortable operating as both architect and operator: setting up systems one day, debugging a PCBA failure at a supplier the next
You thrive in ambiguity, default to urgency, and have the drive to build - not just maintain
Experience with tactile sensing or other high-mix sensor manufacturing (is a plus)
Experience in humanoid or mobile robotics, or other high-complexity electromechanical systems (is a plus)
Six Sigma / Lean certification, ASQ CQE, or equivalent (is a plus)
Experience hiring and leading the SIE or SQE function (is a plus)
