Head of Product - SLS

Formlabs; Somerville (MA); On-site; USD 160,000 - 280,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity program

Comprehensive healthcare coverage

401K matching

Parental Leave

Sabbatical Leave

On-site parking

Unlimited 3D prints

Job summary

Formlabs in Somerville, MA is seeking a senior hardware product leader to own and grow the SLS hardware business, reporting to the CPO. You’ll lead major programs from concept to launch, build a roadmap for an entire product line, and guide cross‑functional teams across engineering, design, manufacturing and commercial functions.

The role demands a track record of shipping hardware, strong commercial instincts, and the ability to make tough trade‑offs.

Qualifications

• You’ve built real hardware — multiple generations or an entire company.
• Led a significant business or founded a hardware venture.
• Routing roadmap strategy, hardware decisions, customer acquisition, and manufacturing operations in harmony.
• Builder's mindset with creativity and hands-on problem solving.
• Delivered results with limited resources and constraints.

Responsibilities

• Own the full hardware product roadmap for the SLS business, across discovery, definition, development, and delivery, supported by customer insights and market analysis.
• Lead multi-disciplinary teams across engineering, design, manufacturing, and commercial functions.
• Make high-stakes decisions on product positioning, hardware architecture tradeoffs, and go-to-market timing.
• Represent the voice of the customer inside the building and the product in front of customers.
• Partner with engineering leadership to test feasibility and find cross-domain solutions when needed.
• Operate with urgency and deliver progress without waiting for permission.

Skills

Hardware leadership

P&L / GTM experience

Cross-functional leadership

Data-driven decisions

Education

Degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Robotics

Job description

About Formlabs:

Do you want to change how the world creates?

At Formlabs, we’re building the tools that make it possible for anyone to bring their ideas to life, from cutting‑edge products to life‑saving medical devices. Our 3D printing technology powers innovation at more than 50,000 industry leaders worldwide, including Apple, Google, Tesla, New Balance, and NASA. Together, we’re helping everyone design, prototype, and manufacture faster than ever before.

We’re a team of hands‑on builders, engineers, and innovators reinventing how the world makes physical things. If you’re ready to shape the future of fabrication, come build it with us.

The Opportunity:

We are looking for an exceptional hardware product leader to own and grow our SLS hardware business, and to be the architect of what comes next. Reporting directly to the CPO, you’ll step into an established business with a strong foundation and an exciting new chapter to shape. The role is becoming available as our current leader moves to take on new responsibilities within our growing R&D organization.

This isn’t your typical product management role. You will operate with the autonomy of a startup founder, backed by the resources, brand, and manufacturing capability of a scaled company. You'll lead major hardware programs from concept to launch, lead a team of product managers, define roadmap strategy for an entire product line, and make the calls that determine how Formlabs competes and succeeds in additive manufacturing.

We're looking for someone who has done hard things: Founded a company, shipped physical products, and competed seriously to be #1. A background in 3D printing is not required. We build complex systems that span materials, robotics, and software, with a GTM engine that spans prosumer through industrial sales. The successful candidate has technical ability to dive deep across domains, commercial sense to understand what customers want and how to make it work for the business, marketing chops to communicate a compelling vision, the data skills and customer obsession required to support an opinionated point of view, and strong leadership traits: drive, grit, and desire to win.

Your Impact:

Your mandate is to define and drive the vision and strategy for the SLS business - identify where the market is going, build the roadmap to get there first, build the buy-in to execute across the organization, and lead the cross-functional teams that make it real. We value a bias for action, comfort with ambiguity, and deep ownership over outcomes. A successful leader has both a sharp understanding of what customers actually value, and a clear‑eyed view of what's technically and commercially feasible, with the poise required to make challenging trade‑offs required to build exceptional products, fast.

What You’ll Do:

• Own the full hardware product roadmap for the SLS business, across discovery, definition, development, and delivery, supported by strong customer insights and market analysis, through program execution and launch.
• Lead multi‑disciplinary teams across engineering, design, manufacturing, and commercial functions. You are the connective tissue that ensures we ship exceptional products that customers love and drive strong financial results for the business.
• Make high‑stakes decisions on product positioning, hardware architecture tradeoffs, and go‑to‑market timing. Understand the customer value behind every major call, not just the technical rationale.
• Represent the voice of the customer inside the building, and the voice of the product in front of customers. Be the person who actually knows how our hardware gets used, why, and by whom.
• Partner deeply with engineering leadership: know enough to pressure‑test what's feasible, identify what smells wrong, and find solutions from adjacent domains when the obvious path is blocked.
• Operate with urgency. You don't wait for permission. You don't confuse activity with progress. You find a way.

About You:

We hire divergent people. Founders, athletes, people who've done something genuinely hard and come out the other side knowing what they're made of. If your path has been linear and comfortable, this is probably not the right fit.

• You've built real hardware - multiple generation products, major programs, or an entire company. You know what it takes to ship hardware that works reliably for the customer and for the business.
• You have previously led a significant business or founded a hardware venture. The experience of owning vision,P&L, roadmap, results, and team simultaneously is not new to you.
• You aren't just a "product person." You understand how roadmap strategy, technical hardware decisions, customer acquisition, and manufacturing operations must work in harmony.
• You possess the builder's mindset: the creativity to imagine what is possible, and the ability and the willingness to do whatever it takes to make it real - whether that's pitching a major customer, reviewing an engineering spec, or personally unblocking a production issue.
• You've gotten results without enough money, time, or people. You don't fold when the work gets difficult.

Bonus Skills:

• Experience in 3D printing, additive manufacturing, or adjacent physical product categories. (Having domain knowledge does not make you good at this job - but not having it will slow you down.)
• Degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Robotics, or a related technical discipline.
• MBA or equivalent experience owning a P&L or leading a high‑growth GTM motion.
• Familiarity with hardware manufacturing standards and compliance (ISO, medical, aerospace, etc.).
• Strong proficiency with data - exploration, extracting signal from noise, sizing markets, and presenting findings in a way that drives decisions.

Our Benefits & Perks:

• Robust equity program to build future wealth through RSUs
• Comprehensive healthcare coverage (Medical, Dental, Vision)
• 401K matching and access to financial advisors
• Generous paid Parental Leave (up to 16 weeks)
• Tenure‑based paid Sabbatical Leave (up to 6 weeks)
• Flexible Out of Office Plan – Take time when you need it
• Ample on‑site parking & pre‑tax commuter benefits
• Healthy on‑site lunches, snacks, beverages, & treats
• Regular sponsored professional development opportunities
• Many opt‑in culture events across our diverse community
• And of course... unlimited 3D prints

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.

Our Candidate AI Guidelines are available here. Please give them a read.

Compensation

Every Formlabs employee receives equity because everyone contributes to building the company. You’ll have the opportunity to share financially in the value we create together, with a shared incentive to build a business that succeeds over the long term. Equity will be a significant portion of your total compensation, and will increase over time in proportion to your impact. The base pay will be determined by your skills, qualifications, experience, location, and expected impact on the organization.

The annual base pay range for this role is: $160,000 — $280,000 USD