Hardware Operations Engineer

Chowbus; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 70,000 - 100,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

401(k)

Short-Term Disability (STD)

Life Insurance

AD&D Insurance

Company holidays

Birthday off

Paid Parental Leave

Flexible PTO

Employee Assistance Program (EAP)

Job summary

Chowbus is expanding its US hardware operations and seeks a seasoned hardware support engineer to bridge field restaurants and our engineering team in China. You will handle complex hardware cases, perform on-site diagnostics, and drive improvements across devices like tablets, printers, and readers.

Based in Chicago, you will collaborate with support and tech teams, run tests in our office/warehouse, and contribute to robust root-cause fixes for real restaurant environments.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of hardware or electronics technical support experience.
• Fluent Mandarin Chinese and English for technical discussions.
• Strong diagnostic skills to isolate device/network/software causes.
• Hands-on RMA and repair experience.
• Network troubleshooting including log analysis and packet capture.

Responsibilities

• Own escalated hardware cases and communicate findings to engineering in China.
• Go on-site for unreproducible issues; capture logs and diagnose in real restaurant environments.
• Build and maintain test environments and run joint debugging with engineers in China.
• Test returned devices, run stability tests, identify failure patterns, drive improvements.
• Manage RMA repair processes from diagnosis to repair or replacement.
• Learn front-of-house hardware and turn field knowledge into documentation for the team.

Skills

Hardware support

Mandarin & English

Diagnostics

RMA experience

On-site visits

Packet capture

Tools

Wireshark

Job description

Chowbus is a leading Asian restaurant technology SaaS platform, with deep roots in the North American market for years. Currently, we stand as a pioneering enterprise in the North American Asian Restaurant SaaS sector. Driven by precise market positioning and efficient product services, our business has achieved doubled growth annually, covering over 30 core states and 100 key cities across the U.S., and partnering with more than 10,000 Asian restaurants. We build tech ecosystems that help restaurants grow, serve with heart, and uplift their communities，our vision is to creat a world where culturally rooted food entrepreneurs thrive everywhere.

As our hardware footprint in restaurants grows, we are building our first US hardware operations function, working closely with our engineering and hardware teams in China to make sure every device performs reliably in real restaurant environments.

You will be the technical bridge between our restaurants in the field and our hardware and engineering teams in China. You won't handle routine installations. Instead, you will take on the hardest hardware cases: reproducing issues, running tests in our office and warehouse, going on site when a problem can only be diagnosed in the real restaurant environment, and bringing clear findings back to the engineering team so we can fix root causes and improve our products.

What You'll Focus On

• Own escalated hardware cases: when devices behave abnormally in restaurants, investigate, diagnose and communicate the issue clearly to our engineering team in China
• Go on site for issues that can't be reproduced remotely, such as printers dropping orders or intermittent network problems; capture logs and network packets and debug in the real customer environment
• Build and maintain test environments in our Chicago office and warehouse, and run joint debugging sessions with engineers in China
• Test devices returned from the field, run stability and stress tests, identify failure patterns and drive product improvements
• Manage RMA repair processes, from software and hardware diagnosis to repair or replacement decisions
• Learn our front-of-house hardware in depth (tablets, printers, card readers, kiosks, KDS, routers) and turn field knowledge into documentation and feedback for the team
• Work closely with our support and tech teams to understand real customer scenarios and make sure field problems get solved at the root

What You Bring

• 5+ years of technical support experience in the hardware or electronics industry (required)
• Fluent Mandarin Chinese and English, comfortable doing technical discussions with engineers in China (required)
• Strong software and hardware diagnostic skills, with the ability to isolate whether a problem is device, network or software related
• Hands-on RMA and repair experience
• Network troubleshooting skills, including log analysis and packet capture (e.g. Wireshark)
• Based in Chicago or willing to relocate; valid driver's license for site visits

Nice to Have

• Restaurant or retail POS hardware experience
• Experience building test environments or running stability and reliability tests
• Basic electronics diagnosis with a multimeter and schematics
• Experience working with hardware suppliers or manufacturers in China

What We Offer

• A fair compensation package
• Medical, dental, and vision insurance
• 401(k)
• 100% employer-paid Short-Term Disability (STD)
• 100% employer-paid Life Insurance and option for additional employee-paid Life Insurance
• 100% employer-paid Accidental Death and Dismemberment (AD&D) Insurance and option for additional employee-paid AD&D Insurance
• Company holidays
• Birthday off
• Paid Parental Leave
• Flexible Paid Time Off (PTO)
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
• Base salary range: $70,000–$100,000 per year, based on experience and skills.