# VP, Hardware Engineering – Matter Compiler

**Company:** [Atomicmachines](https://hotfix.jobs/companies/atomicmachines)
**Location:** Emeryville, CA, Santa Clara, CA
**Role:** Hardware Engineering
**Salary:** $275k – $330k/yr
**Experience:** 15+ years
**Skills:** GD&T, Dfmea, Pfmea, Tolerance Analysis, Precision Mechanisms, Kinematics, Metrology, Sensors, Actuators, Motion Subsystems, Reliability Engineering, DFM, Dfa, Fracas, Dvp&R
**Posted:** 2026-04-22

> Leads hardware engineering for digital manufacturing Nodes in micromanufacturing platform, owning architecture, precision design, reliability, and team of principal mechanical engineers. Requires 15+ years leading teams and 7+ years hands-on in robotics/precision automation, with bachelor's in engineering or related field.

## Job Description

## What You’ll Do

- Cultivate a high-performing leadership team by managing managers and directors while ensuring their teams consistently deliver against strategic objectives and engineering excellence standards.
- Own the node hardware architecture: mechanism selection, kinematics, structural design, thermal control, sensing, actuation, and serviceability - with clear interfaces to software, controls, and manufacturing.
- Drive hardware requirements and error budgets for precision, throughput, and reliability (accuracy, repeatability, stiffness, settle time, drift, MTBF/MTTR, uptime) and translate them into subsystem specifications and verification plans.
- Lead design and industrialization of motion subsystems (stages/gantries, rotary axes, Z/force axes), end-effectors, fixturing, and in-situ metrology aligned with sub-micron performance needs.
- Establish rigorous design processes: design reviews, interface control documents (ICDs), **GD&T** and tolerance analysis standards, **DFMEA/PFMEA**, verification & validation (V&V) plans, and disciplined engineering change control (**ECO/ECN**).
- Build scalable calibration and alignment strategies into the hardware (datums, fiducials, kinematic mounts, reference artifacts) and partner with software to automate calibration, compensation, and drift detection.
- Partner with Manufacturing Engineering to develop the prototype-to-production pipeline for node hardware: supplier strategy, **DFM/DFA/DFS**, first-article inspection, incoming quality, build documentation, assembly/test fixtures, and ramp to stable yields.
- Drive reliability engineering for nodes: test strategy (lifetime, wear, thermal cycling, vibration, contamination), **FRACAS**, root cause analysis, preventive maintenance design, and reliability growth metrics.
- Hire, develop, and lead a high-performing multi-disciplinary hardware organization (**ME**, opto-mechanics, test/validation) with a strong bar for technical excellence and execution.
- Partner cross-functionally to integrate nodes into complete manufacturing systems and debug factory issues with urgency, rigor, and high standards.

## What You’ll Need

- **15+ years** leading cross-org teams (including managers/directors) and driving org-level hiring/talent strategy, plus **7 years** as an IC building complex robotics, precision automation, or advanced manufacturing systems.
- Demonstrated ownership of multiple hardware systems shipped to production: from early prototypes through manufacturing ramp and sustained field operation.
- Deep expertise in one of the following: precision mechanism design: stiffness/compliance, vibration/dynamics, thermal drift, error budgeting (including **Abbe errors**), and practical metrology.
- Strong command of **GD&T**, tolerance stack-ups, and design for manufacturability/assembly/service (**DFM/DFA/DFS**), including collaboration with suppliers and quality teams.
- Experience selecting and integrating sensors and actuators (**encoders**, force/torque, vision, capacitive/inductive, pneumatics, motors, bearings) with clear understanding of physics and failure modes.
- Track record of building hardware test and validation frameworks: **DVP&R**, fixture design, automated test where appropriate, and clear pass/fail criteria tied to requirements.
- Strong reliability and failure analysis skills: **DFMEA/PFMEA**, **RCA**, **DOE**, **CAPA**, wear/fatigue, contamination, and field-debug discipline in production environments.
- Systems-level leadership and communication across mechanical, electrical, controls, software, vision, manufacturing, and supply chain domains.
- Cultural alignment with first-principles reasoning, accountability, disciplined thinking, high standards, and truth-seeking teamwork.
- Minimum **bachelor's degree** in Mechanical Engineering, Robotics, Electrical Engineering, Physics, or a related field with deep hands-on hardware execution.

**Salary Range: $275,000—$330,000 USD** (also includes equity and benefits).

## Similar roles

- [Director of Mechanical Engineering, Hardware Platform](https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/4219f90f-e1e3-444d-8278-1069b2ffd439) - Atomicmachines - Emeryville, CA - $275k – $320k/yr
- [Director, Global Quantum System Deployment](https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/72bcbb66-a295-42d2-8247-2fa09cb10997) - Rigetti Computing - Berkeley, CA - $240k – $275k/yr
- [Director of Mechanical Engineering](https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/5360d2d8-efe7-4df5-bf5b-66b23510fa22) - Eightsleep - San Francisco, CA - $225k – $300k/yr
- [Director, Structures - Design](https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/490f0163-3cf7-48e4-b8eb-1cc81db7e27e) - Shield AI - Remote - $210k – $320k/yr
- [Director/Senior Manager, Electronics Engineering](https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/37a78be2-bac5-4799-acab-42b7c3730c98) - Fourier - Mountain View, CA - $185k – $250k/yr

**Apply:** https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/d5a21de4-b1b3-48d9-899e-4987195e203a
**Canonical:** https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/d5a21de4-b1b3-48d9-899e-4987195e203a