Director NPI & Industrialization (m/f/d)

Who We Are:

We build the intelligence that lets robots sense, reason, and act in the real world, moving beyond the lab and into everyday industrial settings like warehouses and factories. Our technology closes the automation gaps that traditional systems can't solve. We are on a mission to redefine how physical work gets done, and we're looking for curious, bold thinkers to help shape the future of robotics with us.

Overview:

Our AI-driven pick-and-place and returns-handling cells combine robot arms, adaptive force-controlled grippers, AI vision and a safety cabinet, all driven by Cortex, our vision-language-action model. They already run in live warehouse operations across the EU and US. After our Series B, we are scaling from around 50 units a year to several hundred, built by external contract manufacturers. We're looking for a Director of NPI & Industrialization to own the hardware product from architecture to a frozen, documented design that a contract manufacturer can build to spec and our customers can rely on. You will report to the CEO and CTO and work closely with our Director of Supply Chain & Hardware Operations, who takes your released designs into volume production.

Your Responsibilities:

Product Architecture & Development

• Own the system design of the robotic cell across mechanical, electrical and controls integration, including robot arm integration, vision and sensor integration, cabinet, wiring and machine safety

• Lead development of our adaptive force-controlled gripper and end-effectors, which are core IP for Sereact

• Take each product from working prototype through DVT and qualification to a frozen, released design

• Work with the Cortex software team on hardware and software interfaces and trade-offs

Industrialization & Design Transfer

• Build design for manufacture, assembly, service and cost into every product from the start

• Set up and run a Design-Transfer Gate with Supply Chain, so every product handed to a contract manufacturer arrives as a complete, buildable package

• Design critical parts to be standardized and second-sourceable

Reliability, Quality & Documentation

• Install reliability engineering practice, including DVT, HALT, FMEA and tolerance and worst-case analysis

• Run a root-cause loop on field failures with Technical Support and drive design-related returns down

• Set up PLM, BOMs, drawings, specifications, configuration management and ECN/ECO discipline so every revision is documented and reproducible

Roadmap, Cost & Team

• Own the hardware roadmap, including the next-generation cell and the split between bespoke builds and a standardized product line

• Run design-to-cost programs and bring BOM cost per unit down over time

• Hire and lead the hardware and mechatronics engineering team and set its working cadence and accountability

Qualifications:

Education and Experience

• 10+ years in hardware, mechatronics or electromechanical product engineering, including several years leading engineering teams

• A track record of personally taking a complex electromechanical product from prototype through design freeze into series production at hundreds of units per year

• Experience building a hardware engineering or industrialization function from scratch in a scaleup or growth-stage company

• Degree in mechanical, electrical or mechatronics engineering or a related field, or equivalent practical experience

Skills

• Hands-on depth across mechanical, electrical and controls integration

• Strong command of DfX (DfM, DfA, design for service and cost)

• Reliability engineering experience with DVT, HALT and FMEA

• Experience setting up PLM, configuration management and change control

• Direct experience handing a released design to a contract manufacturer or EMS partner and supporting the first builds

• Fluent English and willingness to travel to suppliers and customer sites

Additional Skills / Nice to Have

• Robotics or manipulation experience, such as grippers, end-effectors, force control, robot arm integration or machine vision

• Machine safety experience, including CE marking, the Machinery Directive and functional safety

• Experience integrating hardware with an AI or software stack

• Experience turning demos and pilots into repeatable production products

• German fluency

What We Offer:

• Competitive salary and equity in a fast-growing Series B robotics company

• Flexible PTO and a collaborative, high-ownership culture

• Ownership of the hardware product and the team that builds it as we scale to hundreds of units a year