Hardware R&D Tech Lead

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop the team
• Hold weekly 1:1s and give every role written expectations and clear measures.
• Coach, give direct feedback, run performance reviews, and address performance issues early, with HR.
• Cross-train the team so no task depends on one person.
• Build a culture of ownership: confirm work is done, close every loop, and hand off in writing.
• Keep staffing matched to the fleet
• Track workload across provisioning, builds, QC, refurbishment and parts shipping, and spot capacity gaps before they cause delays.
• Forecast headcount with the Head of Service Operations as the fleet grows, then hire and onboard to plan.
• Plan coverage for time off, on-call rotations and build surges.
• Keep the team aligned on priorities
• Own the team's charter and intake for requests from field service, engineering and manufacturing.
• Keep a single prioritized backlog and make trade-offs visible early.
• Join the daily field service stand-up, and publish a weekly status: done, in progress, blocked, decisions needed.
• Coordinate testing with engineering
• Plan and run hardware tests and validation with the hardware, software and reliability engineering teams, such as docking, charging, battery, thermal and endurance testing.
• Schedule HQ test robots, make sure results are recorded and shared, and pilot retrofits before they go to the fleet.
• Support root-cause analysis on repeat field failures.
• Run depot operations
• Oversee robot and base provisioning, builds, refurbishment and returns.
• Own the QC gate so parts and robots ship complete to hospital sites and to manufacturing.
• Make sure parts ship the same day, and keep work instructions and repair procedures current.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of hands-on work with electromechanical or robotics hardware, such as building, repairing, testing or field service.
• 2+ years leading technicians directly, including hiring, coaching and managing performance.
• Strong electrical troubleshooting on low-voltage DC systems, batteries, chargers and wiring harnesses, using a multimeter and reading schematics.
• Experience running a test, QC or build process with written procedures and recorded results.
• Clear, direct written and verbal communication with technicians, engineers and leadership.
• Able to balance competing priorities and say what will slip and why.
• What Makes You Stand Out
• Familiarity with MaintainX or a similar maintenance management system (CMMS).
• Experience working with contract manufacturers on builds, quality issues and returns.
• Background with mobile robots, AMRs or other autonomous machines.
• Experience with lithium battery systems and charging, LiFePO4 in particular.
• Lean or 5S shop practices, or experience in a regulated environment such as healthcare.
• Working conditions
• Full-time and on-site at our Austin, TX headquarters, working in a hardware shop and office setting.
• Up to 10% travel to hospital sites and manufacturing partners.
• Regularly lift and move components up to 50 lb, and stand for long periods during builds and testing.
• Occasional after-hours support when robots are down.

What Makes You Stand Out

Working conditions