Principal Build Project Engineer

Socket.dev; San Diego (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 225,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, Dental, and Vision insurance

Fidelity 401(k) plan with 4% employer匹

20 paid time off (PTO) days per year

13 paid company holidays

9/80 work schedule (every other Friday

Job summary

Monarch Quantum in San Diego is seeking a Principal Build Project Engineer to lead end-to-end hardware builds, from prototypes through production readiness, and to drive the program from the ground up in a fast-paced startup environment.

You will own build schedules, manage cross-functional teams across engineering, manufacturing, and supply chain, and deliver leadership-facing updates with risk-based insight, enabling on-time delivery and scalable production.

Qualifications

• Master's degree in engineering or a related field.
• 8+ years of relevant startup/tech experience.
• Experience leading hardware programs through prototypes to production.

Responsibilities

• Own build schedules across programs, coordinating milestones and dependencies.
• Lead planning of early prototype builds and guide transition to production.
• Drive actionable, data-backed mitigation to protect timelines.
• Maintain BOM, drawings, tooling, and inspection readiness.
• Provide program-level build updates and risk reporting.
• Foster cross-functional collaboration across engineering, manufacturing, and operations.

Skills

Cross-functional leadership

Hardware program management

Program coordination

Education

Master's degree in engineering

Job description

Join our fast-paced and passionate team as a Principal Build Project Engineer.

As we scale, you will be instrumental in building our foundation from the ground up. This is a dynamic, hands-on role for a self-starter who thrives in a fluid startup environment. You'll have the opportunity to work on cutting edge technologies, work closely with leadership, and develop and implement best practices that support our mission and growth. Your key responsibilities are as follows:

• Provide strategic ownership of build schedules across multiple programs, ensuring alignment of milestone dates, cross-team dependencies, and critical path activities at the organizational level.
• Lead planning and execution of early engineering prototype builds and guide teams through the transition to stable, scalable production builds, partnering with Process Development and Operations to meet long-term production performance targets.
• Drive predictable and repeatable build execution by influencing coordination across Supply Chain, Design Engineering, Process Development, and Operations, removing cross-program bottlenecks and enabling efficient delivery.
• Oversee BOM, drawing, tooling, and inspection readiness for complex or multi-team builds, ensuring Design Engineering and Process Development resolve gaps before they impact execution.
• Deliver clear, program-level build progress updates, synthesizing risks, trends, and outcomes for leadership and stakeholders.
• Anticipate and elevate schedule risks early, providing data-backed mitigation strategies that protect overall program timelines.
• Ensure robust configuration management across builds and programs, maintaining accurate serial-number-level records of material, part, process, and approved configuration variants.
• Direct tracking of critical and long-lead material readiness, ensuring supply continuity through proactive engagement with Supply Chain on order status, expected receipts, and buffer strategies.
• Oversee incoming inspection and certification readiness for critical parts, ensuring quality and compliance processes support build objectives.
• Maintain a comprehensive, cross-functional risk and issue log, driving accountability through clearly defined owners, action plans, and resolution targets.
• Foster high-trust collaboration across engineering, manufacturing, and operations teams, championing recognition, shared success, and behaviors that reinforce company values and program excellence.

• This position requires access to export-controlled information. Employment is contingent upon the applicant being a U.S. person as defined by 8 U.S.C. § 1324b(a)(3).

Experience:

• Master's degree in engineering or a related field.
• 8+ years or more of relevant experience (including pursuit of relevant higher education); ideally within a startup or technology company.

Skills:

• Proven ability to lead cross-functional execution of complex, multi-phase hardware programs from early engineering prototypes through NPI and full production readiness, ensuring alignment across engineering, manufacturing, and operations organizations.
• Deep, working knowledge across hardware development and manufacturing domains, including manufacturing engineering, process development, systems engineering, test, optics/photonics, quality, system integration, and the end-to-end product development lifecycle, with the ability to provide strategic guidance across these areas.
• Strong capability to communicate, influence, and coordinate effectively with technical experts across diverse engineering disciplines, enabling clear decision-making, alignment, and cross-team collaboration at the program level.

Startup Mindset:

• You're creative, flexible, and eager to wear multiple hats.
• You're passionate about building systems from the ground up and comfortable with ambiguity and change.

The expected annual salary range for this position is $180,000-$225,000.

As a full-time employee, you will be eligible for Monarch's comprehensive benefits package, which includes:

• Medical, Dental, and Vision insurance
• Fidelity 401(k) plan with 4% employer matching
• 20 paid time off (PTO) days per year
• 13 paid company holidays
• 9/80 work schedule (every other Friday off)

Monarch Quantum is proud to be an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, citizenship status, national origin, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, age, religion, creed, physical or mental disability, medical condition, marital status, veteran status or any other characteristics protected under applicable federal, state and local laws.