MANUFACTURING 
DESIGN LEAD

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We are looking for a Manufacturing Design Lead to join the team to bridge the critical gap between initial product concepts and scalable physical production. In this high-impact role, you will be the driving force behind how our hardware is built and who builds it, owning the entire lifecycle of new product introduction for mechanical and mechatronic components. You will act as the central hub between our internal design team and external manufacturing partners, ensuring that our products are designed for agricultural operation (read: harsh environments!) and are practical to manufacture and can be delivered on schedule.

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On the technical side, you will own Design for Manufacturability (DFM), optimizing for yield, reliability, and assembly. This involves diving into mechanical CAD models to review the overall design, tolerances, materials, and guide tooling/fabrication strategies.  You will collaborate closely with others on the design team to refine designs and catch potential manufacturing risks early, acting as sign-off before designs are pushed to production.

 

Equally important is your leadership over our hardware supply chain and vendor operations. You will be responsible for sourcing highly capable manufacturing partners, help negotiate component costs (with assistance, if needed), and actively managing the Bill of Materials (BOM) to prevent lead-time bottlenecks during prototype builds and production ramps.

 

By managing the day-to-day relationships with our suppliers, you will ensure clear communication of technical requirements, oversee quality control during initial production runs, and work with vendors to ensure we are ready for season.

 

We work primarily out of our Kitchener office.  Nothing replaces real-world experience, so we have robots in orchards as much as possible and we prioritize everyone on the team having a chance to see their work in action in real orchards.  As a result, some travel should be anticipated for this role; however, the amount of travel can be adjusted based on team member’s interest and focus.

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You will thrive in this role if you:

• Want to work in a small and collaborative team where projects cut across disciplines and everyone takes ownership of our success.

• Are comfortable in an early-stage and dynamic environment where tasks and priorities can shift quickly.

• Enjoy hands-on work, moving from board layouts and design reviews in the office, to fabrication and assembly in the lab, as well as supported lab testing and rework. 

• Like to take initiative and work independently, but also know when to involve the team to tackle a problem together.

• Own your part of the design process and technical decision making, building a structure to the decision making process fit for your domain.  

 

You are unlikely to thrive in this role if:

• You're looking for a proven recipe that you are repeating daily. If so, totally understand. That’s not where we are at. We are a small team trying to do things that haven't been done before. We look for approaches that have worked elsewhere and see if they could work in our application. Our plan is evolving daily.

• You're hoping to avoid AI in the workplace.  We are looking to smartly integrate AI into each part of the work we do.  Not blindly - we respect the risks and need to implement it smartly.  Done right, we've seen first hand how we can use AI to amplify what we do, not replace it.  

• You want to be part of a large organization. There can be a lot of perks of being part of a large organization.  Better defined roles.  Ability to move up the ladder.  Bluntly, we're too small to have a "ladder".  Even if we succeed, there probably won’t be much of a ladder to climb up.  There may be a stepping stool, at best.  We measure success through growth and ability, even if they don't always result in a LinkedIn promotion update.  We'd rather have a small group of people that we can invest a lot in. 

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