Lead Hardware Engineer – Production

About Tutor Intelligence

Tutor Intelligence builds and deploys AI-powered robots that do real work for customers across the US every day, palletizing and case picking in warehouses and factories. We believe general-purpose, generally intelligent robots will be built in our lifetimes. In 2026 we opened our first manufacturing facility in Watertown, MA, and our goal is 1,000+ robots across multiple platforms in the field by 2028.

Why This Role Matters

Getting from dozens of robots to more than 1,000 is an engineering problem, not a headcount problem. Many of the designs, test systems and manufacturing processes that will get us there don't exist yet. This role is the technical leader who builds them.

The Role

You're the technical lead of our Production Engineering team. You're a senior hardware engineer the hardware team respects, the person who jumps in to root-cause a problem on a robot we need to ship, and the mentor who raises the bar for the engineers around you.

Your mission is to build the environment that lets our manufacturing team produce high-quality robots at a competitive cost: designs that are easy to build, test and service, manufacturing systems that catch problems early, and test coverage that keeps defects out of the field.

This is not a traditional manufacturing engineering role. You've designed and owned hardware. You can open a schematic, put a scope on a board and find the problem, and you shape the product with design engineering instead of building whatever is handed over.

What You'll Own: Technical leadership:

Lead Production Engineering technically. Set engineering standards, mentor and develop engineers (including the Test & Reliability Engineer), review their work, and be the escalation point for the hardest problems on the floor.

Design for X (DFX):

Be manufacturing's voice in hardware design reviews. Drive design for manufacturing, test and service (DFM/DFT/DFS) with hardware and software engineering early, and push back on decisions that add complexity, quality risk or cost.

Robot debug and failure resolution:

Jump in to debug electrical, mechanical and system-level issues on robots we're trying to ship, across PCBAs, power distribution, harnesses, sensors, actuators, motor controls and communication interfaces. Drive recurring issues to root cause, permanent corrective action and validation.

Test strategy:

Own manufacturing test strategy and coverage from component test through robot bring-up, end-of-line test and Factory Acceptance Testing (FAT). Define what gets tested and how, and guide the Test & Reliability Engineer (a separate role we're hiring) on fixtures, automated test and diagnostic tools.

Manufacturing systems:

Define test data, traceability and work instruction requirements in our MES, and work with the manufacturing systems team to build a closed-loop production system.

Quality and cost:

Own first-pass yield, rework and cost-to-build. Find and drive reductions in labor, scrap and BOM cost without giving up reliability.

NPI and production readiness:

Bring new robot platforms and engineering changes into production with validated processes, tooling, fixtures, work instructions and test coverage in place.

Sustaining engineering:

Support sustaining engineering for robots in production and in the field. Work with Hardware Engineering and Maintenance to resolve field issues, qualify part changes and second sources, and feed fixes back into the build.

What Success Looks Like: 90 days:

You've debugged robots on the floor alongside the team and earned their trust. You're a regular voice in hardware design reviews, the top recurring build and FAT failures have clear root causes and fixes in motion, and Production Engineering has clear technical standards and a test strategy roadmap.

1 year:

Robots pass bring-up and FAT with minimal rework, first-pass yield is climbing, cost-to-build is down, and fewer manufacturing-related failures reach the field. New platforms launch with DFX and test coverage built in, the hardware team brings you in early, and output scales faster than headcount.

Required: Bachelor's in Electrical, Mechanical, Computer or Mechatronics Engineering. A Master's is a plus.

Senior hardware engineering experience (typically 8+ years) designing, integrating and debugging complex electromechanical systems. You've owned hardware, not just the process that builds it.

Strong electrical fundamentals. You read schematics, use scopes and meters, and personally isolate root cause across power, PCBAs, sensors, actuators and communication interfaces.

Hands-on DFM/DFT experience working with design engineering to make products buildable, testable and cost-effective.

Experience defining test strategy and building test systems: fixtures, bring-up, end-of-line or automated test.

Experience taking hardware from development through NPI into volume production.

Experience as a technical lead: setting standards, reviewing work and mentoring engineers.

A track record of driving recurring failures to permanent corrective action.

Daily, hands-on use of AI tools like Claude in your engineering work.

You've built systems where none existed, and you want to be on the production floor.

Preferred: Robotics, industrial automation or startup experience taking a product from low volume to scale.

Cost reduction work: should-cost, value engineering or BOM and labor reduction.

Python for test automation, diagnostics or data analysis.

PCB design reviews and design for testability.

MES, traceability or engineering change control experience.

Contract manufacturer or supplier bring-up.

Why Join

Build the production system for a new generation of robots from the ground up, with real ownership and visible impact.

Work directly with the Head of Manufacturing and side by side with hardware, software and deployment teams.

See your work ship: robots built in Watertown go straight to customer sites.

How We Work

Love of the Game · Gumption · Beginner's Mindset · Belief in Each Other · Keep Moving Forward · Customer Obsession

We value people who take ownership, get their hands dirty, solve hard problems and move with urgency.