Hardware Engineering Manager

Coram-Ai; Sunnyvale (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Coram AI is seeking a hardware leadership role for production mechanical or electrical engineering. You will own the current access-control line and drive two new product lines from concept to mass production, coordinating with contract manufacturers across time zones.

You will build a small local design team while scaling manufacturing partnerships to meet aggressive product milestones. You will own design transfer, certification readiness, supplier qualification, and quality systems, while

Qualifications

• At least five years in production mechanical or electrical engineering with a spike in one area.
• Experience shipping a product through an external contract manufacturer at volume, with a direct ownership of the partner.
• Owned the factory relationship yourself, not delegated to a TPM or manufacturing engineer at transfer.
• Presented a full design transfer package: CAD, BOM, assembly instructions, test procedures, quality criteria, drawings.
• Experience taking products through certification (FCC at minimum; CE/UL as applicable).
• Demonstrated ability to ship fast under constraint and discuss trade-offs and timeline slips.
• Built enduring processes: stage gates, change control, supplier qualification, and quality systems.
• Experience growing engineers and tracking their progression to higher roles.

Responsibilities

• Own the shipping access-control line quality, field performance, and ongoing cost control.
• Lead two new hardware product lines end-to-end from concept to mass production.
• Manage the contract manufacturer relationship including design transfer packages.
• Engage in hands-on engineering with CAD drawings, schematics, or board bring-up as needed.
• Implement and maintain stage gates, quality systems, and supplier qualification protocols.
• Grow and mentor future hardware engineers in the team.

Skills

Production engineering

Contract manufacturer management

Design transfer

Certification processes

Quality systems

Team mentoring

Education

Bachelor's degree in engineering

Tools

CAD software

BOM management

PCB bring-up

Job description

At Coram AI, we’re reimagining video security for the modern world. Our cloud-native platform uses computer vision and AI to help businesses stay safe, make smarter decisions, and move faster; from real-time alerts to seamless clip sharing and multi-site visibility.

You’ll be joining an ambitious, fast-moving team that values clarity, craftsmanship, and impact. Every person here has a voice, ships meaningful work, and helps shape how AI can make the world safer and more connected.

The role

Coram builds physical security hardware: cameras, door-access controllers, intercoms. Real boxes that get screwed to walls in schools and offices, with electronics and AI inside them.

The access-control line is already shipping and installed at customer sites. You inherit it, keep it healthy, and then build the next two product lines from concept to mass production: edge-enabled cameras and intercoms. We want both inside a year. The industry norm for a single hardware cycle is 9 to 12 months, so that target is deliberately aggressive.

You are the first dedicated hardware leader at the company. The engineer who built the access-control line has moved up to lead Product, so the function is yours to own and to build.

How we build

Design happens in Sunnyvale. Manufacturing sits with specialist contract manufacturing partners, who build, test and certify the finished product to our design.

That makes this job mostly engineering and part partnership management, across a long distance and several time zones. You will have a small design team here and a much larger group on the manufacturing side. Getting excellent product out of that arrangement is a craft, and it is the part of the role that matters most.

What you'll own

• The shipping access-control line: quality, field performance, change control, ongoing cost.

• Two new product lines end to end. Concept, design, EVT through PVT, certification, ramp, mass production.

• The contract manufacturer relationship. You own it directly, including the design transfer package and everything in it.

• Hands-on engineering. CAD and drawings, or schematics and board bring-up, depending on where you spike.

• The processes the function runs on: stage gates, quality systems, supplier qualification, test protocols.

• Two hardware engineering hires this year, and a team after that.

What we're looking for

• At least five years in production mechanical or electrical engineering. Spike in one of them. We have no preference which.

• You have personally shipped a product through an external contract manufacturer at volume. Not worked at a company that did it. You did it, and you can talk in detail about the partner, the product and the numbers involved.

• You owned that factory relationship yourself, rather than handing your design to a TPM or a manufacturing engineer at the transfer point.

• You have owned a full design transfer package: CAD, BOM, assembly instructions, test procedures, quality criteria, drawings.

• You have taken products through certification. FCC at minimum. CE and UL are relevant to what we build.

• You have shipped fast under constraint, and can talk about what you chose to cut to hit a date, and about a timeline that slipped and what you changed afterwards.

• You have built a process that outlived you. A quality system, a stage gate, change control, supplier qualification. Ideally because you saw a gap and nobody asked you to.

• You have grown engineers, and can point at specific people and where they are now.

Bonus points

• Low-voltage connected devices: drones, wearables, body cameras, security cameras, smart home. Anything where a partner delivered you a finished, boxed unit rather than parts you assembled in-house.

• At a large company, ownership of a whole product rather than one component. Platform design engineering, or the equivalent.

• Edge compute, imaging sensors or DSP experience.

We're on a mission to transform a $50B+ legacy industry by bringing the power of cutting-edge multimodal LLMs and computer vision to real-world security and operations. From firearm detection to intelligent access control, our AI-native platform turns every camera and sensor into a smart system that enhances safety, efficiency, and awareness.

Founded by Ashesh Jain (ex-Lyft Level 5, PhD Cornell) and Peter Ondruska (ex-Lyft, PhD Oxford), Coram AI is backed by Ansa Capital, Battery Ventures, Mosaic, 8VC and Up Partners, have raised over $65M, and were named to the CB Insights AI 100 as one of the most promising AI companies in the world. If you're excited to work on mission-critical AI that makes an impact in the real world, we’d love to meet you.