Head of Manufacturing

Job description

ABOUT CHARGE Charge Robotics is a Series A startup building robots that build solar farms. Demand for new solar projects is booming (one-fifth of all the solar that exists in the US was installed last year!), but today’s construction companies can’t keep up due to limited labor resources. We thought this was insane, so we developed robots to directly address this bottleneck and speed up the world’s transition to renewables. We’ve shipped our first commercial system already, and are in the process of scaling up our operations to meet our massive demand. Charge is a fast-moving company, which means constant opportunities for learning and growth. You’ll have a large impact on the direction of our company and our product, which will be reflected in significant equity compensation. And you get to work with 🤖 giant robots 🤖. If you are excited to work on interesting technical problems with direct climate impact, you’re going to fit right in at Charge Robotics. Read more about Charge in recent press: - Fast Company - Solar Building Robots to Solve One of Climate's Biggest Problems https://www.fastcompany.com/91108331/these-solar-assembling-robotic-arms-could-solve-one-of-the-industrys-biggest-problems - MIT News - Making solar projects cheaper and faster with portable factories https://news.mit.edu/2025/charge-robotics-makes-solar-projects-cheaper-faster-portable-factories-0312 - YouTube - full video of our Gen1 robots building a solar farm https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZ2fP1Y5Z2E Charge’s funding: We’re MIT-founded and backed by Silicon Valley’s top investors, including Founders Fund, Energy Impact Partners, Lux Capital, YC (S21), and more. ABOUT THE ROLE Charge Robotics is hiring a Head of Manufacturing to own the full arc of how our products get built, from standing up and operationalizing our first production facility to building the manufacturing function supporting our field deployments. This is a foundational leadership role: you'll establish the processes, org, and physical infrastructure that take us from early commercial builds to repeatable, high-quality production at scale. You'll work in close partnership with engineering, supply chain, and field teams to ensure everything we ship (at HQ, at the production facility, and at our field deployment sites) is built right, built efficiently, and built to last and improve with time. WHAT YOU WILL DO - Build, lead, and grow a world-class manufacturing team, and collaborate with company leadership to align manufacturing strategy with company goals and roadmap - Own the operationalization of our production facility end-to-end (site readiness, equipment, workflows, safety, and staffing) drawing on prior experience doing this before - Build and maintain a manufacturing engineering org in close lockstep with design engineering to ensure HQ builds, facility production, and field deployments are efficient and continuously optimized for manufacturability. Own the NPI process to ensure smooth handoffs from development into production - Collaborate with supply chain to drive COGS reduction over time through DFM feedback, process optimization, and yield improvement - Establish manufacturing processes, documentation, and organizational design (including BOMs, drawings, part qualification, and supplier quality) and set the bar for excellence across all manufacturing activity - Internally and externally represent the manufacturing function to key stakeholders including employees, customers, executives, and investors, and own EHS compliance and safety culture at the production facility YOU - Have excellent verbal and written communication and interpersonal skills, with ability to communicate clearly across engineers, suppliers, technicians, and leadership - Have 10+ years of professional experience, including 3+ years in a manufacturing leadership role, including standing up and operationalizing a production facility - Have brought complex electromechanical systems, especially those involving metal fabrication, rigging, or heavy machinery, from prototype to production - Are familiar with DFM, DFA, and/or GD&T principles, and have experience sourcing and qualifying suppliers and contract manufacturers - Operate effectively in a fast-paced, in-person startup environment; can roll up your sleeves when needed while maintaining context of broader organizational goals - Are based in or can relocate to the SF Bay Area, and able to work 4-5 days/week from our San Leandro HQ - Are open to ~20% travel (including field deployments and production facility) - Are excited to personally play a part in mitigating climate change IT’D ALSO BE NICE IF YOU - Have a Bachelor's and/or Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Industrial Engineering, or a related field - Have experience in automation, robotics, or capital equipment manufacturing - Have experience working with solar or construction industry technologies - Are familiar with high-complexity, low-volume production environments - Have used ION manufacturing software EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.