Manufacturing Lead, Production & Scaling

We are looking for an experienced and tenacious Manufacturing Lead to join our team. In this role, your primary responsibility will be to juggle projects focused on the production and scaling of our novel textile manufacturing method, Vega™, through project planning, requirements management, and strategic resourcing. We’re looking for someone with experience in complex integrated hardware development who is excited about the risks and rewards of joining an early-stage startup.

About Us

unspun is a robotics and digital apparel company, with a mission to reduce global carbon emissions by 1% through automated, localized, and intentional manufacturing.

Included in Time's Best Inventions & Fast Company's World Changing Ideas, unspun aims to rapidly transition the trillion-dollar apparel world into one that is more intentional, inclusive, and efficient by focusing on the overlap between sustainability and profitability.

We’ve developed a proprietary and patent-pending technology at the crossroads of 3D printing and automated textile manufacturing. By skipping the flat 2D fabric stage, we can additively build custom apparel products from the ground up- straight from yarn to final product. If additive manufacturing, industrial automation, and synchronized systems of hundreds of sensors & actuators gets you excited, we’d love to talk!

Requirements

About You

As our first Manufacturing Engineering Lead on unspun’s Engineering Operations team, you will leverage technical knowledge and experienced project management skills to sail unspun forward in our next big step in growth, with the exciting (and slightly daunting) opportunity to design and implement manufacturing processes from the ground up, driving innovation and efficiency as we scale our first product. 

You will work with our hardware & textile engineers, develop strong external relationships with CM’s and vendors, and begin to build and mentor our own manufacturing team. You probably have a few battle scars from facing the challenges of scaling hardware in the past, and are jazzed to work in the turbulence of early-stage development. You are not discouraged by the never-ending fight against entropy, and have plenty of experience optimizing processes, keeping costs under control, and ensuring product quality. You're efficient when communicating at a high level, but not afraid to jump into the weeds with internal teams across engineering, operations, and manufacturing.

What You’ll Do

• Engage with the hardware engineering team on design reviews, technical discussions, and DFM to drive decisions from a cost and scaling perspective.
• Participate in supplier DFM reviews & guide suppliers in efficient use of poka-yokes, best methods of manufacturing, testing, and gauging and correct tools or assembly equipment to use.
• Lead a cross functional team to manage project timelines, develop/maintain action trackers, and advocate for schedules to ensure on-time delivery of parts from suppliers.
• Keep a constant pulse on key metrics (cost, supply, quality, cost reduction state, etc) with management teams.
• Develop and lead action plans to mitigate sourcing risks in a complicated supply chain.
• Identify key holes of expertise and actively build, mentor, and train team members to level up our collective Manufacturing Engineering awareness.
• Work onsite Mon - Fri from our Emeryville microfactory.

Ideal Qualities

• 5+ years of proven experience in engineering, manufacturing or supply chain management, or similar relevant backgrounds. 
• Understanding of strategic sourcing, financial and business opportunity analysis, comfort with legal frameworks, and contract negotiation skills.
• Adept at learning and using various project management and database tools.
• Ability to understand technical drawings and specifications, with strong knowledge of manufacturing processes and quality assurance
• Knowledge of Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP), Production Part Approval Process (PPAP), Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA), and Run at Rates is preferred.
• High sense of ownership and willing to get involved in the technical details to find simpler, efficient, and reliable solutions.
• Comfortable in a fast-paced early-stage startup environment. Flexible and calm in the face of ambiguity. Enjoys a diverse range of responsibilities and rapid development cycles.
• Inquisitive about exploring new ideas, an independent thinker who continuously learns, and someone who is able to tackle tough problems.
  
  

Bonus Points

• Experience with a single product, taking it from beta design to manufacturing many thousands of unit
• Excited about weaving, carbon reductio