SMT Line Lead (AI Hardware)

Location: Fully in-person in San Jose, with the SMT line located in nearby Milpitas. Relocation support is available for those moving to San Jose.

Salary: $250,000–$350,000 per year, plus significant equity.

Company

hirify.global builds hardware for frontier intelligence by co-designing chips, racks, software, and manufacturing systems focused on high-throughput, low-latency inference.

What you will do

• Run the US-based SMT line for new product introduction and mass production, from incoming materials through inspected finished modules.
• Build, lead, and develop teams covering incoming quality, material handling, logistics, quality and testing, machine operation, and rework.
• Create shift coverage, training and certification programs, skills matrices, build schedules, changeovers, and daily production reporting.
• Own material flow, kitting, feeder setup, line-side inventory, work-in-progress, finished-goods storage, and traceability.
• Manage inspection and rework operations, including SPI, AOI, AXI, testing, and ASIC rework, while partnering with process engineering to improve yield.
• Help bring up future lines, extract production data, establish an automated research loop, and integrate frontier AI into SMT operations.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in a STEM field or comparable experience.
• At least five years of electronics manufacturing experience in PCBA/SMT and at least two years leading production teams.
• Hands-on experience with SMT build scheduling, kitting, feeder setup, changeovers, and line-side inventory.
• Experience managing full-time employees and contractors across shifts.
• Working knowledge of SMT inspection and quality, including SPI, AOI, X-ray, IPC-A-610, J-STD-001, and MSD handling.
• Experience building production processes, training programs, and metrics, with the ability to automate parts of the role using agentic AI models.

Nice to have

• Experience leading an SMT line at a fast-growing hardware startup or bringing a new line from first build to stable production.
• Experience with complex high-value assemblies, large BGAs, server or accelerator boards, and BGA rework.
• Experience with MES, traceability, or inventory systems.

Culture & Benefits

• Fully in-person work in San Jose and Milpitas, with collaboration across engineering, research, and manufacturing.
• Medical, dental, and vision coverage with generous premium support, plus a $500 monthly credit for waiving medical benefits.
• $2,500 monthly housing subsidy for employees living within walking distance of the office.
• Relocation support for moves to San Jose, wellness benefits, and daily lunch and dinner at the office.
• Unlimited compute budget subject to return-on-investment justification.