Founding Production Engineer

Clema, Inc.; Austin, Northern (TX, KY); Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Clema, Inc. is seeking a hands-on hardware leader in Austin to drive production readiness from architecture through ramp.

You will own the transition from prototype to scalable manufacturing, coordinating with CTOs and founders to define acceptance criteria and build robust processes. You will partner with wearable/industrial teams, evaluate subcomponents, and guide supplier transfers while maintaining production standards and safety.

Qualifications

• 7+ years in production, NPI, manufacturing or hardware engineering.
• Ownership of a complex electromechanical product through prototype to ramp.
• Strong mechanical fundamentals; CAD, drawings, tolerances, BOMs, revision control.
• Systems judgment across mechanical, electrical, thermal and human factors.
• Experience with suppliers or contract manufacturers and production troubleshooting.

Responsibilities

• Own the production architecture and make it manufacturable.
• Make rigorous component decisions balancing safety, performance, cost, and supply risk.
• Create production-ready designs with CAD, drawings, BOMs, and acceptance criteria.
• Establish design-freeze criteria and change control.
• Ramp readiness and continuous improvement with yield and costs.

Skills

Production ownership

Electromechanical product

CAD and drawings

DFM/DFX

Supplier collaboration

Test methods & QA

Hardware troubleshooting

Thermal management

Tools

CAD software

BOM management tools

Job description

Turn breakthrough cooling hardware into the product that defines a category.

Clema is building the personal cooling platform for the people who keep critical infrastructure running in extreme heat. Our solid-state system integrates thermoelectric cooling, power electronics, mechanical assemblies, and soft goods into a wearable that works under existing protective equipment for a full industrial shift.

The core technology works in the field. We have built and tested nine product generations, deployed nearly 100 units across three pilots, and won paying industrial customers. We recently closed an oversubscribed pre-seed round. Now we are turning a pilot-stage product into the production platform that can serve energy, data center, logistics, construction, and industrial teams at scale.

You will own that transition. Working directly with our CTO and founders, you will be the technical authority for production readiness from architecture and component decisions through design release, supplier transfer, pilot builds, and ramp. This is a hands‑on founding role with unusual authority over what ships, how it is built, and what engineering standards Clema carries forward.

What you will own

• Own the production architecture. Turn field needs and experimental prototypes into a coherent, manufacturable system. Resolve the interfaces among thermoelectric modules, heat‑transfer surfaces, power, batteries, wiring, connectors, ducts, rigid structures, foam, and soft goods.
• Make rigorous component decisions. Evaluate batteries and power sources, cooling modules, materials, connectors, and other critical subcomponents against safety, thermal performance, weight, durability, availability, serviceability, cost, and supply risk. Know when proven components beat a novel solution and how to validate the difference.
• Create production‑ready designs. Produce controlled CAD, drawings, tolerance stacks, material specifications, bills of materials, assembly requirements, and objective acceptance criteria. Translate every important design intent into something a supplier can build and Clema can inspect.
• Freeze and control the right design. Establish design‑freeze criteria, revision tracking, and engineering change control. Preserve fast experimentation while ensuring the factory always knows exactly which configuration is approved for production.
• Engineer for a full shift on a real body. Work with our wearable designer to make cooling contact, load distribution, fit, routing, and component retention effective across movement, different body sizes, PPE, heat, sweat, dust, flexing, abrasion, and repeated daily use.
• Supplier and factory execution. Work directly with contract manufacturers and component suppliers on design‑for‑manufacturing reviews, first articles, sample approval, tooling, fixtures, work instructions, and pilot builds. Close issues at the bench and on the factory floor.
• Build the quality system around the product. Define repeatable incoming, in‑process, and end‑of‑line tests. Own product and process risk reviews, reliability plans, failure analysis, and corrective actions. Bring in specialist safety or compliance support where required.
• Ramp readiness and continuous improvement. Track build yield, defects, rework, assembly time, unit cost, and field failures. Find root causes, verify corrective actions, and turn each build into a more reliable next one.

What you bring

• Typically 7+ years of relevant experience in production, NPI, manufacturing, product engineering, supplier industrialization, or a closely related hardware discipline. We care more about the depth of your ownership than the calendar.
• Personal ownership of at least one complex electromechanical product or substantial subsystem from prototype through pilot builds, production release, and ramp. You can explain what you owned, what failed, how you fixed it, and what ultimately shipped.
• Strong mechanical engineering fundamentals and hands‑on fluency with CAD, engineering drawings, tolerance analysis, DFM/DFA, BOMs, and revision control.
• Systems judgment across mechanical, electrical, thermal, and human factors. You do not need to be the deepest specialist in every discipline, but you can identify the critical question, choose the right test, and bring the right expert into the decision.
• Practical familiarity with battery‑powered hardware, power and thermal tradeoffs, component qualification, and the failure modes created where rigid hardware meets a body‑worn structure.
• Direct experience working with suppliers or contract manufacturers, including production troubleshooting, sample acceptance, and technical handoffs.
• Practical experience with test methods, fixtures, quality controls, and structured failure analysis. You know how to make a requirement measurable and a process repeatable.
• The judgment to bring the right amount of rigor to a small team: clear documentation, fast decisions, and a willingness to build, inspect, measure, and troubleshoot yourself.
• Clear communication across engineering disciplines and manufacturing partners. An engineering degree or equivalent demonstrated technical depth is welcome.

Experience that maps well

Wearable or consumer electronics, rugged portable equipment, medical devices, robotics, power tools, automotive subsystems, aerospace hardware, and contract manufacturing can all be relevant. Experience integrating rigid components with soft goods, qualifying battery‑powered products, managing thermal assemblies, or working with international factories is particularly useful.

We value the products you helped ship and the decisions you personally made. Experience at a world‑class hardware organization can map well; so can taking a difficult product from prototype to production on a small, resource‑constrained team. Brand names are useful evidence only when paired with real ownership.

What success looks like

Your early priorities will be to map the current product and production risks, agree a release plan with the CTO, establish a controlled build package, and run a pilot build with clear acceptance criteria. From there, you will own closing the gaps that stand between a promising prototype and repeatable production. Build data and field feedback will guide the work.

You will collaborate with specialists in garment design, electronics, and thermal performance. Your central responsibility is making those contributions come together in a manufacturable, validated product.

Location and compensation

This role is based in Austin, Texas, with hands‑on work alongside the team and travel to manufacturing partners, including Sri Lanka. Some documentation and supplier coordination can happen remotely; the role also requires access to physical hardware and factory builds. We will discuss the initial working arrangement and travel expectations during the interview process as the team builds its Austin presence.

The annual base salary range is $140,000–$170,000, depending on relevant experience and demonstrated scope of ownership, plus meaningful equity. You will work directly with the founders and help establish Clema's engineering and production standards from the ground up.