The Director of Hardware Engineering & Manufacturing is responsible for the hardware systems that power InnerPlant's commercial product, CropVoice. The CropVoice platform translates signals from our living sensors to pinpoint stress well before visible symptoms, giving farmers and agronomists critical and timely insights and removing the guesswork behind key in-season decisions. The Director owns the hardware product lifecycle-from architecture and engineering through prototyping, validation, manufacturing, deployment, and continuous improvement-as InnerPlant turns breakthrough technology into scalable, reliable products that can operate across millions of acres.
The Director of Hardware Engineering & Manufacturing will be based in Des Moines, IA, and reports to the Chief Operating Officer.
Your Role
As the Director of Hardware Engineering & Manufacturing, you will lead the development, production, and integration of the hardware behind CropVoice-working at the cutting edge of precision agriculture, electronics, optical sensing, mechanical design, and manufacturing. You will shape how InnerPlant's hardware function grows. As the CropVoice platform scales across crops and geographies, you will have the mandate to build and lead the hardware engineering organization. To achieve success, you will:
- Lead hardware product design and development, including:
- Owning the hardware engineering roadmap and system architecture for CropVoice's optical, electrical, embedded, mechanical, and data-acquisition systems;
- Leading development from concept and rapid prototyping through design verification, validation, production, and field deployment;
- Overseeing design of hardware that meets product and field requirements and operates reliably through heat, cold, moisture, dust, vibration, variable power conditions, long operating hours, and limited opportunities for maintenance;
- Overseeing equipment operation to ensure the efficiency and reliability of CropVoice hardware and troubleshoot when needed; and
- Using field data and customer feedback to continuously improve product performance.
- Drive efficient and scalable manufacturing processes, including:
- Owning the transition of hardware products from engineering prototypes into repeatable and scalable manufacturing, anchored in design-for-manufacturing and design-for-assembly practices;
- Developing and managing relationships with contract manufacturers, suppliers, and strategic technology partners, and building scalable and cost-effective supply-chain strategies for critical components and assemblies;
- Establishing manufacturing processes, quality standards, test procedures, and production controls, and leading root-cause analysis and corrective action for manufacturing and field failures; and
- Establishing reliability and environmental testing programs and verification and validation strategies.
- Build the hardware engineering team:
- Establish engineering processes that enable rapid development without compromising product quality or reliability; and
- Recruit, develop, mentor, and lead a high-performing hardware engineering team with clear technical ownership, accountability, priorities, and development processes.
What Makes You Stand Out
The successful Director of Hardware Engineering & Manufacturing is both a technical leader and a builder: someone who can establish engineering discipline while moving quickly, solve difficult problems personally when necessary, and work across the organization to turn ambitious technology into products that work reliably in the real world. In particular, you will have demonstrated the ability to:
- Solve technically challenging projects with strategic management of people, programs, and resources and be willing to dive deeply into technical problems when needed.
- Translate between highly technical disciplines and business objectives, working closely with software and data engineering, plant science and biotechnology, agronomy, product, commercial, and field operations teams so that hardware development remains tightly connected to customer value and commercial priorities.
- Champion the company's mission to transform farming and create an engineering culture that values speed, technical excellence, experimentation, ownership, and learning.
- Drive continuous improvement in product quality, cost, and reliability as InnerPlant's commercial footprint grows.
RequirementsYour Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Systems Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
- 8+ years of relevant engineering experience, with significant experience leading hardware product development; 3+ years of engineering leadership or management experience.
- Demonstrated experience taking complex hardware products from prototype through production and into the field, including managing external engineering, manufacturing, and technology partners.
- Experience with electronics, embedded systems, sensors, optics, instrumentation, or related technologies.
- Strong understanding of manufacturing processes and design-for-manufacturing principles, including experience working with contract manufacturers and external suppliers.
- Experience developing verification, validation, reliability, and test strategies.
- Strong project and program management capabilities with a track record of meeting deadlines and excellent written and verbal communication skills.
- Demonstrated ability to recruit, develop, and lead high-performing engineering teams.
- Willingness to work hands-on and dive deeply into technical problems when needed.
- Experience developing sensing, imaging, optical, agricultural, industrial, automotive, robotics, or other field-deployed hardware, including for harsh or variable environmental conditions (preferred).
- Experience in agriculture, ag technology, or precision agriculture, and in a startup or rapidly scaling technology company (preferred).
BenefitsThe US base salary range for this position is $150,000 - $200,000 + benefits. Within the range, individual pay is determined by factors including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training. We offer insurance benefits and flexible time off.
InnerPlant provides an amazing opportunity to work on some of the hardest problems facing humanity and help design the agricultural systems of the future. We're backed by John Deere, large farmers, and veteran venture capitalists.
