Head of Manufacturing

Gatik; Santa Clara (CA); On-site; USD 200,000 - 270,000; Full time

Job summary

Gatik, the leader in autonomous middle-mile logistics, seeks a Head of Manufacturing in Santa Clara, CA to scale production of our autonomous freight vehicles. You will own end-to-end manufacturing operations, ramp, quality systems, and supplier management to ensure safety and reliability across the fleet.

You’ll build a high-performing team, collaborate with contract manufacturers, and implement repeatable, cost-efficient processes for a safety-critical platform already deployed in active

Qualifications

• 10+ years of progressive manufacturing leadership for vehicle or hardware scaling.
• Experience with contract manufacturing networks and multi-vendor ecosystems.
• Proven ability to scale production, ensure quality, and meet safety standards.
• Hands-on background with vehicle electronics integration and harnessing.
• Experience leading quality teams and implementing robust quality management systems.

Responsibilities

• Lead production ramp and high-volume execution for Gatik’s autonomous freight fleet.
• Oversee contract manufacturers, optimize cost, quality, and schedules.
• Plan factory floor layouts and production processes for efficiency.
• Develop long-term manufacturing and quality strategies.
• Lead retrofit programs and support service escalations.
• Define build documents and manufacturing procedures per industry best practices.
• Collaborate with Autonomy, Hardware, Programs, Fleet Ops, Supply Chain, and Safety.
• Drive improvements in cost, yield, cycle time, reliability, and field performance.

Skills

Manufacturing leadership

Contract manufacturing

Vehicle electronics

Quality systems

Cost optimization

NPI ramp

Project leadership

Cross-functional collaboration

Hands-on execution

Education

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Engineering/Manufacturing

Job description

Gatik, the leader in autonomous middle-mile logistics, is revolutionizing the B2B supply chain with its autonomous transportation-as-a-service (ATaaS) solution and prioritizing safe, consistent deliveries while streamlining freight movement by reducing congestion. The company focuses on short-haul, B2B logistics for Fortune 500 retailers and in 2021 launched the world’s first fully driverless commercial transportation service with Walmart. Gatik's Class 3-7 autonomous trucks are commercially deployed across major markets, including Texas, Arkansas, and Ontario, Canada, driving innovation in freight transportation.

The company's proprietary Level 4 autonomous technology, Gatik Carrier™, is custom-built to transport freight safely and efficiently between pick-up and drop-off locations on the middle mile. With robust capabilities in both highway and urban environments, Gatik Carrier™ serves as an all-encompassing solution that integrates advanced software and hardware powering the fleet, facilitating effortless integration into customers' logistics operations.

About the role

As Head of Manufacturing at Gatik, you will lead the strategy and execution for scaling production of our fully autonomous freight vehicles into high-volume manufacturing. This role owns end-to-end vehicle manufacturing operations — including production ramp and optimization, quality systems, supply chain execution, and field retrofit programs — ensuring world-class reliability, safety, and operational performance across our commercial fleet.

You will build and lead a high-performing team of engineers and technicians while partnering closely with internal hardware and fleet operations teams, as well as external contract manufacturing partners, to implement repeatable, cost-efficient, and scalable production processes for a safety-critical platform already deployed in active commercial operations.

The ideal candidate brings deep experience in automotive manufacturing, hardware production scaling, quality systems, and contract manufacturing operations within complex vehicle or robotics platforms.

This role requires working onsite five days a week from our Santa Clara, CA headquarters.

What you’ll do

• Lead vehicle manufacturing operations across production ramp and high-volume execution for Gatik’s autonomous freight fleet.
• Own relationships with external contract manufacturing partners, driving quality, throughput, cost optimization, and schedule performance.
• Own factory floor planning, line layout, and production process optimization to ensure efficient throughput, space utilization, and overall manufacturing flow.
• Develop and execute long-term manufacturing and quality strategies, establishing scalable production systems aligned with regulatory and safety standards.
• Lead field retrofit and upgrade programs for vehicles already in operation, coordinating service, engineering, and manufacturing teams.
• Support critical service & maintenance escalations, ensuring rapid response for complex hardware repairs or recalls.
• Define and enforce build documentation, manufacturing procedures, and quality processes using automotive industry best practices.
• Establish best-in-class standards for the installation, integration, and verification of automotive electronics, harnessing, compute platforms, sensors, and electrical subsystems.
• Partner cross-functionally with Autonomy Engineering, Hardware Engineering, Programs, Fleet Operations, Supply Chain, and Safety to bring vehicles from design into reliable production.
• Drive continuous improvement across cost, yield, cycle time, reliability, and field performance metrics.

What we’re looking for

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Engineering, Manufacturing, Mechanical, Electrical, Robotics, or a closely related discipline.
• 10+ years of progressive manufacturing experience, with demonstrated leadership in scaling vehicle or complex hardware production environments.
• Proven leadership experience building and running manufacturing organizations within automotive, EV, AV, robotics, or complex hardware platforms.
• Demonstrated success developing and executing manufacturing and quality strategies that enable scale and operational reliability.
• Deep experience managing contract manufacturing partners and multi-vendor production networks.
• Hands-on background with vehicle electronics integration, harnessing, sensor mounting, and subsystem verification.
• Strong track record leading Quality teams and establishing robust quality management systems.
• Ability to drive cost improvement, efficiency gains, and production scalability.
• Solid project leadership experience managing builds, retrofits, NPI efforts, and manufacturing ramp programs.
• Experience operating at a senior strategic level while remaining hands-on in execution.
• Strong technical understanding of:Automotive manufacturing processes
• Electrical/compute hardware integration
• Vehicle assembly and verification procedures

Salary Range - $200,000- $270,000

More about Gatik

Founded in 2017 by experts in autonomous vehicle technology, Gatik has rapidly expanded its presence to Mountain View, Dallas-Fort Worth, Arkansas, and Toronto. As the first and only company to achieve fully driverless middle-mile commercial deliveries, Gatik holds a unique and defensible position in the AV industry, with a clear trajectory toward sustainable growth and profitability.

We have delivered complete, proprietary AV technology - an integration of software and hardware - to enable earlier successes for our clients in constrained Level 4 autonomy. By choosing the middle mile – with defined point-to-point delivery, we have simplified some of the more complex AV challenges, enabling us to achieve full autonomy ahead of competitors. Given extensive knowledge of Gatik’s well-defined, fixed route ODDs and hybrid architecture, we are able to hyper-optimize our models with exponentially less data, establish gate-keeping mechanisms to maintain explainability, and ensure continued safety of the system for unmanned operations.

Visit us at Gatik for more company information and Careers at Gatik for more open roles.

Notable News

• Forbes: Forget robotaxis. Upstart Gatik sees middle-mile deliveries as the path to profitable AVs
• Tech Brew: Gatik AI exec unpacks the regulations that could shape the AV industry
• Business Wire: Gatik Paves the Way for Safe Driverless Operations (‘Freight-Only’) at Scale with Industry-First Third-Party Safety Assessment Framework
• Auto Futures: Autonomous Trucking Group Gatik Secures Investment From NIPPON EXPRESS HOLDINGS
• Automotive News: Gatik foresees hundreds of self-driving trucks on road soon, and that's just the beginning
• Bloomberg: Autonomous Vehicle Startup Takes Off by Picking Off Easier Routes
• Reuters: Driverless vehicles on limited routes bump along despite US robotaxi scrutiny

Taking care of our team

At Gatik, we connect people of extraordinary talent and experience to an opportunity to create a more resilient supply chain and contribute to our environment’s sustainability. We are diverse in our backgrounds and perspectives yet united by a bold vision and shared commitment to our values. Our culture emphasizes the importance of collaboration, respect and agility.

We at Gatik strive to create a diverse and inclusive environment where everyone feels they have opportunities to succeed and grow because we know that together we can do great things. We are committed to an inclusive and diverse team. We do not discriminate based on race, color, ethnicity, ancestry, national origin, religion, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, disability, veteran status, genetic information, marital status or any legally protected status.