Senior Manager, Hardware

Gather AI; Pittsburgh (Allegheny County); On-site; USD 160,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Gather AI in Pittsburgh seeks a Senior Manager, Hardware to lead a hands-on team as drone and MHE Vision hardware moves from validated prototypes to manufacturable products built to survive the shock and wear of a warehouse environment.

You will define weekly and quarterly priorities, own vendor relationships, and ensure scalable production while maintaining quality and reliability. The role emphasizes rapid, disciplined execution in a high‑growth hardware program.

Qualifications

• Proven track record delivering hardware from prototype to production at scale.
• Expertise in electromechanical systems and mechanical/electrical domains.
• Experience with SWaP, shock, and vibration analysis.
• Ability to establish change-review and documentation processes.
• Strong leadership and agile mindset for hardware teams.

Responsibilities

• Own the transition of drone and MHE Vision hardware from validated prototype to production designed to scale by 100×.
• Define build materials and a design system that product requirements and supply chain can support for rapid manufacturing.
• Lead and grow a hands-on hardware team, setting weekly and quarterly priorities against engineering leadership goals.
• Own contractor and vendor partnerships, holding them accountable for quality, timelines, and documented design changes.
• Implement change review, tracking, and documentation processes that bring rigor to an environment with historically loose requirements.
• Drive SWaP, shock, and vibration analysis to keep systems lightweight and rugged for warehouse use.

Skills

Hardware design

Systems engineering

SWaP analysis

Vibration analysis

Vendor management

Leadership

Job description

About Us

Are you ready to build the future of supply chain? At Gather AI, we're not just creating software; we're pioneering a new era of warehouse intelligence. We've developed a groundbreaking, vision‑powered platform that uses autonomous drones and existing equipment to capture real‑time data, completely digitizing workflows that have historically been manual and error‑prone. This means facilities operate smarter, safer, and more efficiently, ultimately redefining "on‑time, in full" delivery.

About the Team

Our hardware team builds the physical systems that bring warehouse intelligence to life. From small, lightweight autonomous drones to the vision and sensor kits that mount directly onto material handling equipment, this team turns computer vision and robotics into rugged, real‑world products that hold up on the warehouse floor. As Gather AI moves its MHE Vision platform toward general availability, the hardware team is scaling from prototype to production, and it owns that transition end to end.

About the Role

This is the role for a hardware leader who wants to own the leap from working prototype to production at scale. As Senior Manager, Hardware, you will lead a small, hands‑on team taking Gather AI’s drone and MHE Vision hardware from validated designs into manufacturable products built to survive the shock, vibration, and wear of a real warehouse. You will define what the team builds week over week and quarter over quarter, own the vendor and contractor relationships that make production possible, and put in place the documentation and change review processes that let hardware move fast without cutting corners.

What You’ll Do

• Own the transition of drone and MHE Vision hardware from validated prototype to production designed to scale by 100×
• Define build materials and a design system that both product requirements and the supply chain can support for rapid manufacturing
• Lead and grow a hands‑on hardware team, setting weekly and quarterly priorities against engineering leadership goals
• Own contractor and vendor partnerships, holding them accountable for quality, timelines, and documented design changes
• Implement change review, tracking, and documentation processes that bring rigor to an environment with historically loose requirements
• Drive SWaP, shock, and vibration analysis to keep systems lightweight, nimble, and rugged enough for warehouse and wearable use

What You’ll Need

• A track record of taking hardware from prototype into production at scale, ideally systems deployed by the hundreds or more in the field
• Deep systems design experience across electromechanical hardware, with fluency in both the mechanical and electrical domains
• Hands‑on command of SWaP, shock analysis, and vibration analysis for hardware built to survive demanding physical environments
• Experience organizing hardware documentation and standing up change review processes from the ground up
• A bias for urgency and an agile mindset applied to hardware, with the judgment to know when process helps and when it slows the team down
• Comfort navigating ambiguity, setting roadmaps, and holding a team and its partners accountable to the plan

Nice to Have

• Design for manufacturing experience with rugged systems that endure heavy machinery environments like forklifts and reach trucks
• Hardware supply chain expertise, including build volume planning, lead times, and vendor sourcing
• Domain background in robotics, warehouse automation, logistics, or factory machines