The Director of Engineering is responsible for hardware development, team management, and cross-team collaboration for autonomous vehicles.
About Cyngn
Based in Mountain View, CA, Cyngn is a publicly-traded autonomous technology company. We deploy self-driving industrial vehicles like forklifts and tuggers to factories, warehouses, and other facilities throughout North America. To build this emergent technology, we are looking for innovative, motivated, and experienced leaders to join us and move this field forward. If you like to build, tinker, and create with a team of trusted and passionate colleagues, then Cyngn is the place for you. Key reasons to join Cyngn:
We are small and big.
With under 100 employees, Cyngn operates with the energy of a startup. On the other hand, we’re publicly traded. This means our employees not only work in close-knit teams with mentorship from company leaders—they also get access to the liquidity of our publicly-traded equity.
We build today and deploy tomorrow.
Our autonomous vehicles aren’t just test concepts—they’re deployed to real clients right now. That means your work will have a tangible, visible impact.
We aren’t robots. We just develop them.
We’re a welcoming, diverse team of sharp thinkers and kind humans. Collaboration and trust drive our creative environment. At Cyngn, everyone’s perspective matters—and that’s what powers our innovation.
About this role:
The Director of Hardware Engineering is a critical role responsible for the strategy, development, and execution of all hardware and vehicle system development for Cyngn’s autonomous industrial vehicles. This role will lead a multidisciplinary team of engineers, designers, and technicians to design, build, and iterate on robust, reliable, and manufacturable hardware solutions. The Director will ensure strong cross-functional collaboration with other teams, interact with customers and vendors, contribute significantly to the company’s overall product roadmap and strategic objectives, and overall foster a culture of innovation and execution excellence.
Responsibilities
- Manage team personnel including hiring, onboarding, performance management, and professional development of team members
- Define team goals, priorities, workflows, and processes that align with company objectives, priorities, and processes.
- Champion a culture of quality, safety, and growth-mindset within the hardware engineering team
- Oversee the end-to-end hardware development cycle from concept and design through prototyping, testing, validation, iteration, production handoff, and ongoing product engineering of Cyngn’s mobile autonomous robot products
- Deliver robust and reliable hardware solutions that meet product requirements, quality standards, and cost/manufacturability expectations.
- Establish and iteratively improve hardware development processes and procedures
- Drive R&D initiatives for the hardware technology roadmap, evaluating new technologies and components to meet future product needs
- Be proactive and stay up-to-date in industry best-practices, industrial automation standards, and emerging technologies
- Lead architectural decisions for hardware systems by effectively incorporating input and requirements from the cross-functional team, ensuring designs are robust, scalable, and aligned with company objectives
- Effectively communicate project status, technical and program risks, technical strategies, and team resourcing needs/constraints to executive leadership and other stakeholders
- Collaborate closely with the software teams to ensure seamless hardware-software integration and reliable system performance
- Support downstream customer-facing teams with technical documentation for vehicle assembly and maintenance
- Manage relationships with key hardware vendors, suppliers, and partners
- Lead technical discussions with vendors to select components and ensure performance, quality, cost, and availability meet the needs of the product development
- Represent Cyngn’s hardware capabilities in discussions with external partners and key customers
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechatronics, Robotics, or a related field
- Minimum of 10 years of progressive experience in hardware engineering with at least 5 years in a leadership or management role overseeing multidisciplinary teams in a product organization
- Proven track record of successfully leading the development, launch, and full product lifecycle of complex hardware products, preferably in robotics, autonomous vehicles, automotive, or industrial automation
- Strong foundational knowledge in one or more core hardware engineering disciplines (e.g. mechanical, electrical, mechatronics)
- Understanding of system development principles including hardware/software co-design, firmware development, etc.
- Knowledge of manufacturing, fabrication, and assembly processes, CAD/CAE tools and design practices
- Familiarity with relevant functional safety practices and standards (e.g. risk assessment, FMEA, ANSI B56.5, ISO 13849)
- Ability to effectively communicate and collaborate with cross-functional teams and influence stakeholders at all levels
- Strong strategic thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making abilities
- Willing and able to take a hands-on approach, when needed, diving into technical details to solve problems and lead the team
Benefits & Perks
- Health benefits (Medical, Dental, Vision, HSA and FSA (Health & Dependent Daycare), Employee Assistance Program, 1:1 Health Concierge)
- Life, Short-term and long-term disability insurance (Cyngn funds 100% of premiums)
- Company 401(k)
- Commuter Benefits
- Flexible vacation policy
- Remote or hybrid work opportunities
- Sabbatical leave opportunity after 5 years with the company
- Paid Parental Leave
- Daily lunches for in-office employees
- Monthly meal and tech allowances for remote employees
- Allowance to purchase new headphones when you join!
Top Skills
Cad/Cae Tools
Electrical Engineering
Mechanical Engineering
Mechatronics
Robotics
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