Head of Mechanical‑Hardware

Job description

• I. Team Management & System Establishment (Core Management Responsibilities)
• Build the hardware R&D team from scratch: complete hardware‑team recruitment, talent‑ladder development, role‑responsibility division and workflow standardization aligned with company business plans.
• Establish a comprehensive hardware R&D system: define hardware development workflows, review mechanisms, version‑control rules, BOM specifications, reliability standards and mass‑production introduction criteria to standardize and institutionalize the full R&D process.
• Oversee daily team management, task decomposition, progress tracking, technical reviews, talent development and performance appraisal. Own the hardware team’s annual technical roadmap and iteration targets.
• Liaise with product, mechanical‑structure, software, algorithm and supply‑chain teams. Coordinate overall hardware‑project timelines, resolve cross‑functional collaboration bottlenecks and ensure on‑time project delivery.

• II. Hardware Architecture & Solution Ownership (Core Technical Responsibilities)
• Lead overall planning and definition of the robot complete‑machine hardware architecture. Oversee architectural design for four core hardware modules: AI main‑control hardware, servo‑drive hardware, complete‑machine power‑management system and sensor‑acquisition system.
• Drive the build‑out of the robot servo‑power‑hardware ecosystem: lead design and iteration of low‑voltage servo joint‑drive hardware, MCU minimum‑system circuits, three‑phase power loops, current‑voltage sampling, encoder interfaces, and motion‑bus hardware (CAN / EtherCAT).
• Lead in‑house development of high‑end heterogeneous SoC boards: design low‑level hardware solutions for compute‑control integrated chips including NVIDIA Jetson Orin and Horizon Robotics S100P. Build SoC minimum‑systems from the ground‑up; oversee high‑speed circuits (LPDDR, PCIe, MIPI, USB3.0), multi‑layer high‑speed PCB layout, SI/PI (Signal / Power Integrity) design and hardware bring‑up.
• Architect the complete‑machine power‑supply system: oversee robot lithium‑battery power delivery, multi‑stage PMIC power tree, power‑on sequence control, charge‑discharge management, surge‑suppression circuits, full‑scope hardware‑protection circuitry and low‑power‑system design.
• Establish motor‑testing frameworks and test fixtures: define full‑scope performance‑test specifications for servo motors. Design and deploy automated motor‑test benches and joint‑load‑test fixtures covering torque, speed, efficiency, temperature rise, jitter, noise, response bandwidth, overload endurance, life‑cycle aging and extreme‑condition validation. Deliver motor‑performance calibration, data evaluation and iterative optimization, alongside standardized test reports and hardware‑improvement proposals.
• Build end‑to‑end test systems for all in‑house hardware boards: own test‑scheme definition, fixture development and workflow setup for main‑control boards, driver boards, power‑supply boards, sensor‑acquisition boards and other custom‑designed PCBA. Oversee board‑level functional testing, electrical‑performance validation, signal‑integrity testing, power‑ripple / load testing, temperature‑cycle testing, vibration testing, aging tests and EMC reliability validation. Diagnose board‑level hardware defects, timing anomalies and stability failures, and establish standardized acceptance specifications for hardware PCBA.
• Oversee the sensor‑hardware ecosystem: unify analog‑front‑end design for IMUs, 6‑axis force‑torque sensors, temperature sensors and attitude‑sensing modules. Standardize low‑noise amplification, differential filtering, ADC acquisition and anti‑interference design principles; mitigate complete‑machine strong‑weak‑electric crosstalk, noise and temperature‑drift issues.

• III. Project Delivery & Mass‑Production Governance
• Lead hardware‑solution reviews, component selection, cost control and key‑technology troubleshooting. Resolve critical hardware challenges including high‑speed‑signal integrity, power‑stage thermal dissipation, EMC interference, power‑supply stability and sensor‑accuracy degradation.
• Coordinate debugging, performance calibration, reliability validation and failure analysis for all hardware boards, power systems, sensor subsystems and motor assemblies. Leverage in‑house‑built board‑test fixtures and automated motor‑test benches to iterate hardware performance and close out technical issues. Secure stability for PCBA units, robot joints and full machines, enabling end‑to‑end product roll‑out from prototypes and pilot runs to mass production.
• Collaborate with supply‑chain and manufacturing partners to resolve mass‑production hardware issues. Oversee product yield, reliability and cost targets, and build reusable hardware‑design libraries and technical documentation repositories.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree or above in Electronic Information, Power Electronics, Automation, Electrical Engineering or related disciplines. Minimum 5 years of R&D experience in robotics / industrial‑control hardware, plus 2+ years of hardware‑team‑management experience. Prior experience building hardware teams from scratch is preferred.
• Proven capability to architect full‑robot hardware systems, with deep expertise spanning: in‑house high‑speed heterogeneous‑SoC board development, servo‑motor‑drive hardware, complete‑machine power management, and sensor‑analog‑acquisition circuits; well‑rounded technical skill set.
• Independently led ground‑up development of core boards built around heterogeneous AI chips such as Jetson Orin and Horizon Robotics S100P. Hands‑on experience across the full workflow: SoC minimum‑system design, high‑speed DDR / PCIe / MIPI circuits, multi‑layer high‑speed PCB layout, SI/PI tuning and hardware bring‑up.
• Solid power‑electronics fundamentals; proficient with BLDC / low‑voltage servo power loops, MOS / IGBT drive circuits, current sampling, hardware protection mechanisms and motion‑bus hardware design.
• Mastery of multi‑stage complete‑machine power architectures, PMIC power‑on sequencing, lithium‑ion‑battery charge‑discharge management, high‑low‑voltage isolation, EMC / safety compliance, thermal design and reliability engineering. Strong analog‑circuit skills; capable of resolving weak‑signal acquisition and anti‑interference challenges for diverse sensors. Demonstrated ability to build comprehensive hardware‑test infrastructures, including custom‑designed board‑test fixtures and automated motor‑test benches. Expertise in board‑level electrical‑reliability testing, plus full‑dimensional robot‑motor performance evaluation, calibration and optimization.
• Proven team‑building and management capabilities; adept at process formalization, task decomposition, technical reviews and talent cultivation. Strong project governance, technical‑problem‑solving and cross‑functional collaboration skills.

Nice to have

Direct hands‑on experience in full‑machine hardware R&D and team leadership for humanoid robots, collaborative robots or quadruped robots. Track‑record covering full in‑house board development, custom motor‑test‑fixture construction, hardware‑test‑system build‑out and successful mass‑production delivery.