NPI & Manufacturing Automation Engineer

The Role

As a NPI & Manufacturing Automation Engineer, you will own the intersection between engineering, supply chain, and manufacturing operations across multiple hardware programs.

You will work directly with contract manufacturers, component suppliers, and REEKON’s engineering team to ensure materials, components, and assemblies are available when needed to support prototype builds, production ramps, and ongoing manufacturing. You will maintain production BOMs, track lead times and dependencies across multiple tiers of the supply chain, and communicate risks and schedule impacts throughout the engineering organization.

At the same time, this is a hands-on engineering role. You will help build, deploy, and maintain the custom hardware, fixtures, test equipment, and automation systems that power REEKON's production operations.

The ideal candidate is equally comfortable reviewing a BOM with a contract manufacturer, working through an electronics component shortage with an electrical engineering supplier, building a production schedule around long-lead components, and debugging a custom fixture on the production floor.

To apply for this role, please email [email protected] with a note on what project you are most proud to have worked on and apply through the posting here.

The Job

Supplier Management

• Own day-to-day operational communication with suppliers across the supply chain, from Tier 1 contract manufacturers through Tier 2 and Tier 3 component and sub-component suppliers.

• Coordinate directly with electrical engineering representatives, component vendors, distributors, and manufacturers to resolve electronics sourcing, availability, lead-time, and substitution issues.

• Maintain visibility into material availability, purchase timing, supplier lead times, manufacturing schedules, and other dependencies required to keep production running.

• Identify supply constraints and schedule risks early and drive them to resolution with suppliers and internal engineering teams.

• Develop and maintain relationships with existing suppliers while identifying new vendors and alternate sources as program requirements evolve.

BOM & Program Management

• Create, maintain, and manage production Bills of Materials (BOMs) across multiple REEKON hardware programs.

• Track component revisions, approved alternates, sourcing status, lead times, and engineering changes throughout the product lifecycle.

• Maintain a clear view of program schedules, material dependencies, engineering dependencies, and manufacturing readiness.

• Translate supplier and manufacturing constraints into actionable schedules and priorities for the engineering team.

• Communicate program status, blockers, critical dependencies, and required decisions across electrical, mechanical, firmware, operations, and manufacturing stakeholders.

• Coordinate engineering changes with contract manufacturers and suppliers to ensure changes are implemented correctly without disrupting production.

Production Automation

• Design, build, deploy, and maintain custom hardware automation used throughout REEKON's production and manufacturing operations.

• Develop automated test equipment, assembly fixtures, programming stations, sensor systems, and other purpose-built production tooling.

• Integrate sensors, actuators, motors, microcontrollers, electrical systems, and mechanical components into robust production equipment.

• Work alongside electrical, mechanical, firmware, and software engineers to rapidly develop solutions to manufacturing and production challenges.

• Write and maintain scripts, firmware, and software used to control production equipment, automate testing, collect production data, and diagnose failures.

• Maintain and improve existing production automation infrastructure, ensuring equipment remains reliable as products, processes, and production volumes evolve.

• Troubleshoot production equipment and manufacturing issues directly on the floor, identifying root causes and implementing durable solutions.

Your Background

• Strong understanding of hardware BOMs, component sourcing, supplier lead times, and production planning.

• Comfortable working with electronics suppliers and navigating component availability, substitutions, lifecycle issues, and long-lead components.

• Fluent understanding of engineering drawings, schematics, specifications, datasheets, and other technical documentation.

• Strong project management skills with the ability to manage schedules, dependencies, risks, and priorities across multiple simultaneous hardware programs.

• Hands-on experience building or maintaining custom hardware, manufacturing equipment, test fixtures, robotics, mechatronics, or automation systems.

• Comfortable working with electrical and mechanical systems and debugging real-world hardware.

• Experience with Python, C/C++, microcontrollers, or similar is strongly preferred.

• Comfortable using standard engineering and diagnostic equipment including multimeters, oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and other bench tools.

• Highly organized while remaining comfortable operating in a fast-moving environment where both engineering designs and manufacturing requirements evolve quickly.

What Makes You Stand Out

• Experience working directly with contract manufacturers and component suppliers.

• Experience owning material planning or supply-chain execution for multiple simultaneous hardware programs.

• Experience working directly with electronics distributors, semiconductor manufacturers, and electrical component suppliers.

• Experience managing multi-level BOMs and approved vendor/manufacturer lists.

• Experience taking hardware products from prototype through pilot builds and volume manufacturing.

• Experience designing and deploying automated test equipment or custom production fixtures.

• A track record of building your own hardware, robotics, CNC equipment, test systems, or other electromechanical projects.