Director Supply Chain & Hardware Operations

Who We Are:We build the intelligence that lets robots sense, reason, and act in the real world, moving beyond the lab and into everyday industrial settings like warehouses and factories. Our technology closes the automation gaps that traditional systems can't solve. We are on a mission to redefine how physical work gets done, and we're looking for curious, bold thinkers to help shape the future of robotics with us.Overview:Our AI-driven pick-and-place and returns-handling cells combine robot arms, adaptive force-controlled grippers, AI vision and a safety cabinet, all driven by Cortex, our vision-language-action model. They already run in live customer operations across the EU and US. We are scaling from around 50 units a year to several hundred, and getting there means moving production to external contract manufacturers with full quality control at the supplier. We're looking for a Director of Supply Chain & Hardware Operations to own the path from a release-ready design to a QA'd unit shipped to the customer. You will report to the CEO and receive frozen designs from our Director of Hardware Product Engineering & Industrialization through a shared Design-Transfer Gate.Your Responsibilities:Contract Manufacturing & IndustrializationMove gripper, cell, cabinet and final assembly to external contract manufacturers and EMS partners, with suppliers building to spec and shipping direct to customers where possibleTake frozen designs from Product Engineering into repeatable volume production, including ramp plans, build and work instructions and jigsRun a first pilot build of grippers outside our own facility within your first 90 daysSupplier Management & QualitySelect, negotiate with and manage suppliers, including commercial terms and capacity planningBuild redundancy for critical single points of failure such as the robot arm and long-lead or sole-source partsOwn incoming inspection, supplier quality, first article inspection, PPM targets and the manufacturing side of the RMA processPlanning, Inventory & LogisticsBuild S&OP, forecasting and buffer stock so parts are staged weeks ahead of each deploymentReduce supplier lead times and keep demo and fleet hardware availableOwn shipping and import and export across the EU and USCost & Operating ModelOwn hardware unit cost and bring COGS down over timeImplement the split between bespoke builds and a standardized product line on the operations sideSet up the supply chain operating model, KPIs and review cadence for your functionQualifications:Education and Experience10+ years in supply chain, manufacturing or hardware operations, including several years in a leadership roleA track record of taking a complex electromechanical product from prototype to hundreds of units per year, with production that kept running after the rampExperience standing up outsourced contract manufacturing, supplier quality, logistics and inventory from scratch in a scaleup or growth-stage companyDegree in engineering, supply chain, operations or a related field, or equivalent practical experienceSkillsHands-on supplier management, including selection, negotiation and supplier qualityManufacturing quality, NPI and industrialization experienceSupply and demand planning and inventory managementComfortable installing operating discipline, accountability and KPIs in a fast-moving, resource-constrained environmentFluent English and willingness to travel to suppliers and customer sitesAdditional Skills / Nice to HaveExperience in robotics, warehouse automation, AMRs or autonomous vehiclesExperience turning demos and pilots into repeatable production deploymentsExperience working with product engineering on design-to-cost and DfMGerman fluencyWhat We Offer:Competitive salary and equity in a fast-growing Series B robotics companyFlexible PTO and a collaborative, high-ownership cultureOwnership of our supply chain and manufacturing setup as we scale to hundreds of units a yearFind Jobs in Germany on Arbeitnow