Director NPI & Industrialization

Job description

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 warehouse operations across the EU and US. After our Series B, we are scaling from around 50 units a year to several hundred, built by external contract manufacturers. We're looking for a Director of NPI & Industrialization to own the hardware product from architecture to a frozen, documented design that a contract manufacturer can build to spec and our customers can rely on. You will report to the CEO and CTO and work closely with our Director of Supply Chain & Hardware Operations, who takes your released designs into volume production. Your Responsibilities: Product Architecture & Development Own the system design of the robotic cell across mechanical, electrical and controls integration, including robot arm integration, vision and sensor integration, cabinet, wiring and machine safety Lead development of our adaptive force-controlled gripper and end-effectors, which are core IP for Sereact Take each product from working prototype through DVT and qualification to a frozen, released design Work with the Cortex software team on hardware and software interfaces and trade-offs Industrialization & Design Transfer Build design for manufacture, assembly, service and cost into every product from the start Set up and run a Design-Transfer Gate with Supply Chain, so every product handed to a contract manufacturer arrives as a complete, buildable package Design critical parts to be standardized and second-sourceable Reliability, Quality & Documentation Install reliability engineering practice, including DVT, HALT, FMEA and tolerance and worst-case analysis Run a root-cause loop on field failures with Technical Support and drive design-related returns down Set up PLM, BOMs, drawings, specifications, configuration management…