Head of Hardware Manufacturing Operations

Applied Intuition, Inc. is powering the future of physical AI. Founded in 2017 and now valued at $15 billion, the Silicon Valley company is creating the digital infrastructure needed to bring intelligence to every moving machine on the planet. Applied Intuition services the automotive, defense, trucking, construction, mining and agriculture industries in three core areas: tools and infrastructure, operating systems, and autonomy. Eighteen of the top 20 global automakers, as well as the United States military and its allies, trust the company’s solutions to deliver physical intelligence. Applied Intuition is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, with offices in Washington, D.C.; San Diego; Ft. Walton Beach, Florida; Ann Arbor, Michigan; London; Stuttgart; Munich; Stockholm; Bangalore; Seoul; and Tokyo. Learn more at applied.co .

We are an in-office company, and our expectation is that full-time employees primarily work from their Applied Intuition office 5 days a week. However, we also recognize the importance of flexibility and trust our employees to manage their schedules responsibly. This may include occasional remote work, starting the day with morning meetings from home before heading to the office, or leaving earlier when needed to accommodate family commitments. This in-office expectation does not apply to contractor positions

About the role

As the Head of Hardware Manufacturing Operations, you will lead a 0 to 1 effort to establish and build out Applied Intuition's hardware operations department. You will own the full hardware manufacturing operations function, selecting and driving domestic and international manufacturing suppliers to deliver physical AI hardware products across automotive, trucking, defense, construction, mining, and agriculture sectors. In this role, you will recruit, scale, and lead a multidisciplinary team spanning Operations Program Managers, Manufacturing Engineers, and Reliability / Quality Engineers to execute on committed hardware deliverables across multiple industries.

At Applied Intuition, you will:

• Own the full hardware manufacturing operations function and build out the department from 0 to 1

• Select, manage, and drive domestic and international manufacturing suppliers and global supply chains

• Build and lead a high-performing team of Operations Program Managers, Manufacturing Engineers, and Reliability / Quality Engineers

• Drive NPI, DFx, quality assurance, and mass production setups for physical AI hardware across diverse industries

• Oversee committed hardware product deliverables across automotive, trucking, defense, construction, mining, and agriculture verticals

• Manage global supplier selection, yield optimization, contract negotiation, and factory audit processes

We're looking for someone who has:

• BS or MS degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Supply Chain Management, or a related technical field

• 12+ years of experience in hardware operations and supply chain management

• 7+ years of direct experience building and leading engineering and operations teams (OPMs, MEs, Quality/Reliability Engineers)

• Experience managing consumer electronics manufacturing alongside experience in one or more of the following: automotive, trucking, defense, construction, mining, or agriculture

• Deep technical expertise in contract manufacturing management, printed circuit board assembly (PCBA), final assembly, test execution (FATE/ATE), and yield optimization

• Hands-on proficiency managing global supplier pipelines, bill of materials (BOM) costing, vendor audits, and quality control systems (ISO 9001/IATF 16949)

Nice to have:

• Experience shipping complex hardware products from early prototyping (0 to 1) through high-volume production

• Deep domain experience handling dual-use or defense hardware operational compliance and export requirements

• Track record of working directly with global tier-1 suppliers and contract manufacturers across domestic and international regions

Don’t meet every single requirement? If you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.