Manufacturing Engineering Lead: From Prototype to Production

9-mothers; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

9 Mothers in Austin, TX is hiring a Manufacturing Engineering Lead to define its first manufacturing organization for a robotic turret product. You will plan what to build in-house vs. with contract manufacturers and create a scalable path as volume grows.

This ground-floor role is hands-on: you will write the first manufacturing instructions and lead the transition from prototype to production, shaping process, quality, and supplier relationships.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of manufacturing engineering / operations experience on hardware products shipped.
• Experience taking a product from prototype to production, with documented outcomes.

Responsibilities

• Define the manufacturing strategy and make/buy decisions for the product.
• Build early units yourself and write the initial manufacturing instructions.
• Stand up the production process with routings, stations, tooling, and flow.
• Drive design for manufacturability with DFx mindset and part-count reduction.
• Qualify and manage suppliers, machine shops, and contract manufacturers.
• Lay the quality foundation with inspection, in-process checks, and traceability.
• Own BOM discipline and collaborate on ERP/MRP tooling integration.
• Run pilot and low-rate builds and translate learnings into process improvements.
• Model unit costs and shape the future manufacturing organization as volume grows.

Skills

Manufacturing engineering

Product-to-production experience

Job description

9 Mothers in Austin, TX is hiring a Manufacturing Engineering Lead to define its first manufacturing organization for a robotic turret product. You will plan what to build in-house vs. with contract manufacturers and create a scalable path as volume grows.

This ground-floor role is hands-on: you will write the first manufacturing instructions and lead the transition from prototype to production, shaping process, quality, and supplier relationships.