Manufacturing & Productisation Leader, Sensor Platform

Mode Labs Ltd; Oxford; On-site; GBP 85,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Mode Labs Ltd is seeking a senior, hands-on engineering leader to own the productisation and industrialisation of its first commercial sensor platform for remote environmental monitoring. You will translate MVP into a robust, compliant, manufacturable product, coordinating across engineering, design, quality, operations and supply chain.

The role begins as a senior individual-contributor and technical lead, evolving into building and leading a manufacturing team to deliver the vision, with a

Responsibilities

• Own the industrialisation roadmap, development stages, release gates and production-readiness criteria.
• Lead DFM, DFA, design-for-test, service and reliability activities across optical, mechanical, electronic, fluidic and sensing-chemistry interfaces.
• Establish a controlled product definition covering bills of materials, drawings, specifications, software dependencies and manufacturing data.
• Lead pilot and pre-production builds, converting results into prioritised design and process improvements.
• Determine the applicable regulatory and certification routes for the product's intended markets and use.
• Own the verification and validation strategy, including requirements traceability, test methods, acceptance criteria and treatment of failures.
• Coordinate pre-compliance and formal testing with specialist advisers and accredited laboratories.
• Build the evidence required for applicable UKCA or CE conformity, technical files, declarations and product labelling.
• Define appropriate environmental and reliability testing for remote deployment, including ingress, temperature, humidity, corrosion, shock, vibration and accelerated life testing.
• Develop and release repeatable assembly, inspection, calibration and end-of-line test processes.
• Specify the tooling, fixtures, reference standards and test infrastructure required for production.
• Establish proportionate process controls, PFMEAs, control plans, traceability, change control and non-conformance processes within the QMS.
• Define production metrics covering yield, quality, cycle time, capacity and unit cost.
• Select and develop key suppliers and manufacturing partners, managing qualification, transfer and supply-chain risks.
• Ensure service, repair, calibration and field-return requirements are reflected in the product and manufacturing design.
• Mentor colleagues and help establish the manufacturing practices and capabilities needed as the company grows.
• Built a detailed understanding of the MVP, intended use, architecture, current prototype build process and principal technical risks, transferring knowledge from the existing engineering team.
• Completed a productisation gap assessment covering design maturity, reliability, compliance, manufacturing, supply chain and serviceability.
• Agreed an integrated industrialisation roadmap with clear stages, owners, budget, schedule and readiness criteria.
• Defined the verification, compliance and certification strategy, including external test requirements.
• Led or supported a representative build and test cycle, turning the findings into a prioritised action plan.
• Identified the critical suppliers, long-lead, single-source and make-versus-buy decisions.
• Scoped and recruited an appropriately scaled manufacturing team, including a roadmap for future expansion.
• Delivered an agreed production baseline achieving the required performance, reliability, compliance, cost and manufacturability targets.
• Completed the planned engineering, design and production validation stages, with remaining risks formally understood and owned.
• Achieved the applicable conformity, certification and market-access milestones.
• Released repeatable assembly, calibration and test processes with suitable tooling, controls and traceability.
• Demonstrated agreed production performance through pilot or pre-production builds.
• Qualified the critical supply chain and established a scalable NPI and manufacturing operating system.

Job description

Mode Labs Ltd is seeking a senior, hands-on engineering leader to own the productisation and industrialisation of its first commercial sensor platform for remote environmental monitoring. You will translate MVP into a robust, compliant, manufacturable product, coordinating across engineering, design, quality, operations and supply chain.

The role begins as a senior individual-contributor and technical lead, evolving into building and leading a manufacturing team to deliver the vision, with a