Mechanical Engineering Manager — New Product Development (NPD) Robotics Hardware

Location: Downers Grove, IL — On-site

Employment Type: Full-time

Reports to: Founder & CTO

The Role

You will lead New Product Development (NPD) engineering team, taking ownership of new products as they transition out of R&D and guiding them through detailed engineering, validation, manufacturing preparation, and production release.

Working directly with the Founder & CTO, you will turn proven concepts and established product requirements into complete, reliable, manufacturable products. You will manage the team’s day-to-day work, contribute directly to engineering decisions, and own the toll gates that determine readiness to advance through each development stage.

Your responsibility extends through the successful handoff of the finished product to our Production division. You will work closely with Production, Quality, and Procurement to establish the assembly processes, tooling, test equipment, documentation, and production-line capabilities required to build the product consistently and efficiently. You will remain involved through pilot builds and initial production until the design and manufacturing process are stable.

This is a hands-on leadership role for someone who enjoys developing engineers, solving difficult technical problems, and seeing products successfully move from the prototype bench onto the production floor.

NPD Team Leadership & Development Execution

Lead and manage the NPD engineering team, establishing clear responsibilities, priorities, schedules, and deliverables.
Own the transition from R&D into product development, confirming requirements, concept maturity, unresolved technical risks, and the work needed to reach production.
Translate product objectives into engineering plans covering detailed design, prototypes, validation, supplier readiness, pilot builds, and production release.
Coordinate mechanical engineering work with electrical, software, and other contributing teams.
Remain directly involved in design reviews, technical problem-solving, and critical engineering decisions.
Develop engineers through coaching, regular feedback, performance management, and progressively greater ownership.

Engineering Toll Gates & Production Readiness

Establish and manage toll gates from R&D handoff through design release, validation, pilot production, and final transfer to Production.
Define the required deliverables, acceptance criteria, and evidence for each gate in coordination with the CTO and relevant departments.
Verify that product performance, reliability, manufacturability, assembly, serviceability, and cost requirements have been addressed.
Ensure that design decisions are supported by appropriate calculations, testing, inspection results, and build feedback.
Track open issues, assign corrective actions, and confirm their resolution before approving progression within delegated authority.
Escalate significant technical risks, requirement changes, and proposed exceptions to the CTO.

Production-Line Development & Manufacturing Introduction

Lead the engineering work required to establish production capability for new products, partnering with the Production division on line setup and launch.
Develop assembly sequences and help define workstation layouts, material flow, staffing needs, and equipment requirements.
Own the engineering design or specification of assembly fixtures, jigs, tooling, programming stations, calibration equipment, and functional test systems.
Work with Production to establish practical assembly methods, target cycle times, and processes that support expected production volumes.
Coordinate with Quality to define inspection points, acceptance criteria, traceability requirements, and controls for critical product characteristics.
Ensure assembly processes account for operator safety, ergonomics, mistake prevention, and ease of training.
Lead engineering support for pilot builds, identify bottlenecks and failure modes, and implement improvements before production ramp.
Train production personnel on critical assembly, adjustment, calibration, and testing procedures.

Final Product Handoff & Launch Support

Own delivery of the complete engineering release package, including approved drawings, BOMs, specifications, revision records, assembly instructions, and inspection and test requirements.
Verify that required components, supplier approvals, tooling, equipment, and technical documentation are ready for production.
Establish clear handoff criteria with Production and Quality, and secure their acceptance of production readiness.
Ensure the Production division has the information, equipment, and training needed to build and test the product independently.
Remain accountable for resolving engineering issues during initial production and incorporate build feedback through controlled design and process changes.
Transition routine manufacturing ownership to Production once agreed readiness and stability criteria are met, while retaining responsibility for ongoing product engineering support.

Additional Experience We’re Looking For

Demonstrated experience taking products from completed R&D or functional prototypes through production release.
Experience leading new product introduction, pilot builds, and transfer to a manufacturing or production team.
Practical involvement in setting up assembly lines, workstations, fixtures, tooling, and product test systems.
Experience creating production documentation and training assembly or manufacturing personnel.
The ability to assess readiness using actual build results, including quality, repeatability, cycle time, and unresolved issues.