Head of Hardware

Ultra; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Ultra is seeking a leader to head the team that designs and builds high-performance warehouse robots, taking complex electromechanical systems from blank page through requirements, prototyping, testing, and production.

You will own the end-to-end design, scale manufacturing to hundreds and then thousands, and build an elite hardware organization with mechanical, electrical, and manufacturing disciplines.

Qualifications

• Shipped complete systems from concept to customer at volume.
• Experience with electromechanical robotics.
• Proven ability to hire, develop, and retain engineers.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic influence over R&D priorities and product roadmap.
• Deliver hundreds to thousands of units with high reliability.
• Own end-to-end design process for next-generation products.
• Establish repeatable engineering processes and best practices.
• Set quality standards and change-control processes.
• Collaborate with Software, Autonomy, Product, and Customer Ops.

Skills

Strategic leadership

Hardware leadership

Scale manufacturing

Cross-functional collaboration

Vendor and supplier management

Product lifecycle ownership

Job description

The role

We are looking for someone to lead the team that designs and builds our high-performance warehouse robots. You will be taking complex electromechanical systems from a blank page through requirements, prototyping, lifecycle testing, and production, and shipping them by the thousands. Your mission is to build an elite team of engineers who know how to surprise and delight our customers with reliable, innovative hardware, and to build the engineering engine that lets us scale it. You'll be given real budget, strategic influence, and a seat on the leadership team.

What you'll do

• Strategic ownership. You are a core member of the leadership team, with strategic influence over R&D priorities, product roadmap, capital allocation, and growth planning.
• Scale the current product to hundreds. Deliver hundreds of units on time and at the quality our customers expect, optimizing the design to raise field reliability and manufacturing yield.
• Lead next-gen design to deliver thousands. Own the end-to-end design process for our next-generation products. Invest in R&D that delivers significant improvements for our customers, and lead the team to build it at scale.
• Build a repeatable engine. Put in place the process, tooling, and documentation that let us go from concept to volume production predictably. Each iteration is a preparation for the next.
• Set engineering standards. As the tech lead, you will set expectations for quality, documentation, DFM/DFA, change control, and test coverage.
• Drive build vs. buy. Lead the decisions on what we design in-house vs. outsource, what we assemble ourselves vs. contract out, and where off-the-shelf parts are the right answer.
• Evaluate suppliers. Work with procurement to run a structured process to specify, evaluate, and select components and vendors.
• Build an elite hardware team. Hire a hardware team matched to the depth of design work ahead: mechanical, electrical, and manufacturing.
• Partner cross-functionally. Work closely with Software, Autonomy, Product, and Customer Operations to deliver a product that meets market needs.

Who you are

• Shipped at volume. Track record leading teams that delivered complete systems from concept to customer, at thousands of units.
• 10+ years with similar hardware. Extensive experience developing robotics or comparable electromechanical systems and taking them from prototype to volume production.
• Technical and team leadership. You have both the technical depth and the leadership experience to make the right decisions, make the hard decisions, and deliver on time.
• Full lifecycle ownership. Hands-on experience running an engineering process from requirements → EVT/DVT/PVT builds → scaled production.
• Supplier expertise. Experience with supplier selection and management, including sourcing custom or hard‑to‑find components and evaluating vendor quality with a strict IQC process.
• Team builder. Proven ability to hire, develop, and retain strong engineers. c