Hardware Technical Program Manager

Job description

ABOUT BASE Base is America’s next-generation power company. We’re rebuilding the foundation of modern civilization–electricity–by deploying a vast network of distributed batteries that is transforming today’s fragile, centralized grid into a resilient and abundant system. We are engineers, operators, and creatives solving some of the most complex, interdisciplinary challenges of our time. ABOUT THE ROLE In August 2026 we launched Base Core, https://www.basepowercompany.com/core a 39.2 kWh home battery designed and built in America, alongside a $1 billion Series D https://www.energy-storage.news/base-power-raises-another-us1-billion-in-series-d-financing-for-us-residential-bess/ at a $13 billion valuation. Core installs in under an hour, keeps a house running for up to 36 hours, and is coming off the line at Base Factory 1 in Austin https://electrek.co/2026/08/03/base-power-raises-1b-to-roll-out-its-giant-new-home-battery/ at thousands of units a month. Core is not the last thing we build. We're starting our next major hardware program, a new class of large-scale infrastructure hardware, far bigger than anything we've built for a single home, drawing on the same muscles: power electronics, thermal design, high-volume manufacturing, and a supply chain we control end to end. We're not discussing it publicly yet, but you'll hear the whole thing in your first conversation. We're looking for the person who owns that program from first prototype to volume production. WHAT YOU'LL DO - The program. One schedule, one critical path, one person accountable for the date. You build the plan, run the reviews, and force the decisions that keep the plan honest. - Design through production. Drive the hardware from prototype through engineering, validation, and industrialization into volume production. Own build plans, part readiness, and design maturity down to the part number. - Suppliers and contract manufacturers. Coordinate the sourcing of tier 1-3 components, qualify vendors, plan tooling capacity, and hold both internal and external teams accountable to our program cost targets, quality requirements, and delivery schedule with quantitative measurable metrics. Own BOM cost and defend it. - The ramp. Lead line bring-up, throughput, and yield, with a clean handoff to the teams who install in the field. - The truth. Leadership should hear bad news from you first, early, with recovery options already defined. WHAT YOU'LL BRING - You've personally carried a physical product from prototype to volume, thousands of units or more, not a pilot run. This is the bar. - You're technical enough to arbitrate. You can read a schematic and a mechanical drawing, understand the trade-off an engineer is proposing, and push back with credibility instead of relaying status. - You've owned elements of a manufacturing and supply change directly, including cost, tooling, quality, and capacity. - You have a working knowledge of hardware testing campaigns to validate performance and reliability. You build a structure where none exists. - You'd rather be on the factory floor than in a status meeting. Strong bias for hands-on / in person collaboration. PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS - Engineering background - High-volume consumer electronics, automotive, EV, or aerospace new product introduction - Power electronics, battery systems, or grid hardware - Data center, server, or networking hardware experience, racks, power distribution, or cooling - Standing up a new production line, or a new supplier, from zero ABOUT THE TEAM Base is a 100% in-person team in Austin. We build physical products that serve real people, and proximity to the product and to each other is how we move fast. Base's Hardware team designs, builds, and ships the physical product that makes Base's mission real - most recently Base Core, taken from first prototype to a production line at Base Factory 1 now running thousands of units a month. We don't outsource the hard parts: this team owns power electronics, thermal design, and the supply chain end to end, in-house. The next program applies those same muscles at a scale the team hasn't built at before, on hardware that's still being defined internally. Whoever takes this role shapes that program from its first prototype, backed by a company that just closed a $1B Series D to build it. Please note: Base is a startup, which means priorities shift and evolve quickly. Your role may expand or change based on the needs of the business at any given time, so the responsibilities listed may not be exhaustive. OUR VALUES - First Principles Thinking: Question assumptions. Principles > rules. - Operate at Base Pace: Focus on what matters, act quickly, and learn by doing. - Give & Get Feedback: Be direct, be humble, and maintain a growth mindset. - Everyone’s an Owner: Follow through on commitments and own results. - Strong Opinions, Loosely Held: Drive clarity and make calls with imperfect information. - Committed to the Mission: Rebuilding the grid is a big challenge. We work hard because we care deeply about the impact we’re creating. We work in-person. It’s not a 9-to-5. We are all-in. - Fun & Optimism Coexist with Grit: Collaboration and celebration coincide with the intensity of building real things. DO THE BEST WORK OF YOUR LIFE AT BASE.