Product Engineering NPI Team Lead

Ursus, Inc.; New York (NY); On-site; USD 208,000 - 263,000; Full time

Job summary

Ursus, Inc. in New York, NY (also Phoenix, AZ or Austin, TX) seeks a Product Engineering NPI Team Lead to design and scale hardware NPI processes, stage‑gate readiness, and lifecycle governance across product families.

You will lead a TPM/NPI team, define transfer criteria to manufacturing, ensure on‑time product launches, and provide rigorous program health reporting to executives while mentoring engineers and managers.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in NPI or related hardware roles.
• 3+ years leading TPM/NPI teams.
• Experience building stage-gate NPI processes and lifecycle governance.
• Led multiple concurrent hardware development programs across product families.
• Experience guiding products from concept to manufacturing transfer and lifecycle management.
• Strong understanding of ECOs, ECNs, deviations, and design release processes.
• Defined manufacturing transfer readiness criteria with cross-functional partners.
• Established program governance including stage-gate and risk management.

Responsibilities

• Build the NPI process from gate definitions and readiness criteria.
• Lead and scale the NPI TPM team across multiple product families.
• Provide portfolio visibility with rigorous status and risk reporting to leadership.
• Define exit criteria for transfer to manufacturing and ensure production readiness.
• Establish clear RACI and ownership across TPMs and engineering leads.

Skills

NPI leadership

Program management

Hardware program management

Cross-functional leadership

Executive communication

Tools

Teamcenter

Windchill

Arena

Agile

3DEXPERIENCE

Job description

Product Engineering NPI Team Lead

LOCATION: New York, NY; Phoenix, AZ; or Austin, TX

DURATION: FTE Direct Hire

PAY RANGE: $208K - $263K; offers equity

QUALIFICATIONS:

• 10+ years of experience in New Product Introduction (NPI), Technical Program Management (TPM), Product Engineering, Product Operations, Manufacturing Program Management, or related disciplines within hardware organizations.
• 3+ years of direct leadership experience managing TPM, NPI, Product Operations, Program Management, or Product Engineering teams.
• Demonstrated experience building, implementing, and scaling stage-gate NPI processes, readiness reviews, manufacturing transfer procedures, and product lifecycle governance frameworks.
• Experience leading multiple concurrent hardware development programs across diverse product families, balancing schedule, risk, resources, readiness, and business priorities.
• Experience driving products from concept and design release through validation, pilot production, manufacturing transfer, production ramp, and lifecycle management.
• Strong understanding of Engineering Change Orders (ECOs), Engineering Change Notices (ECNs), deviation management, configuration control, design release processes, and product lifecycle management.
• Experience defining manufacturing transfer readiness criteria and partnering with Manufacturing Engineering, Operations, Quality, Supply Chain, and Product Development teams.
• Experience establishing program governance structures including:
  • Stage-gate reviews
  • Program health reviews
  • Risk management frameworks
  • Executive reporting
  • Cross-functional decision processes
• Proven ability to build accountability frameworks, RACI models, ownership structures, and decision‑making processes across engineering organizations.
• Strong leadership experience mentoring, developing, coaching, and scaling technical program managers and NPI professionals.
• Excellent executive communication skills with experience presenting program health, risk, resource constraints, and readiness decisions to executive leadership.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Experience supporting AI infrastructure, data centers, compute systems, networking hardware, power systems, electrical infrastructure, industrial equipment, semiconductors, robotics, or advanced manufacturing.
• Experience working within hardware OEM, ODM, server, networking, power infrastructure, or mission‑critical infrastructure organizations.
• Familiarity with PLM systems such as:
  • Teamcenter
  • Windchill
  • Arena
  • Agile
  • 3DEXPERIENCE
• Experience implementing portfolio management, program management, or NPI tooling.
• Experience supporting manufacturing transfer into new factories, production facilities, or contract manufacturing environments.
• Experience managing portfolios spanning mechanical, electrical, compute, networking, cooling, and power‑infrastructure products simultaneously.
• Experience building NPI organizations, TPM teams, or program‑management functions from the ground up.
• Familiarity with modular infrastructure, rack systems, compute hardware, switchgear, power equipment, liquid cooling systems, or integrated hardware products.

HOW WE OPERATE:

• Be a barrel. Full autonomy. Own things end to end, take on scope without being asked, no permission required to operate outside your core role.
• Insane urgency. We drive everything forward as fast as possible.
• Reason from first principles. Challenge every assumption. Zero analogy thinking, no egos, the best idea wins.
• Love of the game. The frontier of AI is the most interesting problem of our time. We put in long hours at high intensity to push the frontier forward.
• Build something that actually matters. If you're going to spend your time, spend it on something that matters to the world.

ABOUT THE TEAM:

The NPI team takes hardware from design release to repeatable production across every product build, from compute racks to medium‑voltage switchgear.

Examples of key problems the team is working on:

• Stand up a stage‑gate NPI process that works across product families as different as rack‑level compute integration and MV power equipment, without forcing them through the same checklist.
• Run multiple concurrent NPI programs with a small TPM team, keeping schedule, readiness, and risk visible at the portfolio level.
• Define what "ready to transfer" means with manufacturing engineering, so products land in production without a wave of post‑transfer ECOs.
• Enforce change discipline (ECOs, deviations, readiness criteria) at a pace that keeps up with the largest AI compute buildout in history.

POSITION SUMMARY:

• Build the NPI process from scratch: gate definitions, readiness criteria, and ECO and change discipline that hold across products ranging from racks to MV switchgear.
• Lead and develop the NPI TPM team, allocating 3 TPMs across 6 product families and making the tradeoffs explicit when coverage gets thin.
• Own portfolio‑level program visibility, with status and risk reporting rigorous enough that leadership hears about problems from you before anyone else.
• Set the transfer‑to‑manufacturing standards with manufacturing engineering, defining exit criteria a program must clear before production takes ownership.
• Hold the RACI between TPMs and engineering technical leads so ownership never blurs, and no decision waits on a debate about whose call it is.

WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR:

• 10+ years in NPI or program management at a hardware OEM or ODM, with 3+ years leading TPM or NPI teams.
• You've built stage‑gate processes yourself, defining the gates, readiness criteria, and ECO discipline, not just operated inside a process someone else designed.
• You've led TPM or NPI teams and developed the people in them, not just assigned their work.
• You've managed programs spanning multiple product lines simultaneously and can show how you kept them all honest.
• You've killed a program too late at least once, and you can name the signal you missed and what you watch for now.
• You keep NPI lightweight enough that engineers use it instead of routing around it.
• Bonus: portfolio management tooling, products spanning compute and power equipment, manufacturing transfer at new plants, or building teams from zero.

BENEFITS SUMMARY:

Individual compensation is determined by skills, qualifications, experience, and location. Compensation details listed in this posting reflect the base hourly rate or annual salary only, unless otherwise stated. In addition to base compensation, full‑time roles are eligible for Medical, Dental, Vision, Commuter and 401K benefits with company matching.

IND123

BENEFITS SUMMARY:

Individual compensation is determined by skills, qualifications, experience, and location. Compensation details listed in this posting reflect the base hourly rate or annual salary only, unless otherwise stated. In addition to base compensation, full‑time roles are eligible for Medical, Dental, Vision, Commuter and 401K benefits with company matching.

FAIR CHANCE POLICY:

Pursuant to the California Fair Chance Act, Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers, Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance, and San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, qualified applicants will be considered for assignment with arrest and conviction records. Criminal history may have a direct, adverse, and negative relationship with some of the material job duties of this position. These include the duties and responsibilities listed above, as well as the abilities to adhere to company policies, exercise sound judgment, effectively manage stress and work safely and respectfully with others, exhibit trustworthiness, meet client expectations, standards, and accompanying requirements, and safeguard business operations and company reputation.