Prototyping Manager (Hardware)

Location: Fully on-site in Redmond, Washington, United States

Salary: USD $119,800–$234,700 per year across the U.S.; USD $160,200–$261,000 per year in the San Francisco Bay Area and New York City metropolitan area.

Company

Work within the Advanced Prototyping Center on design, engineering, and physical prototype development.

What you will do

• Lead multidisciplinary prototyping and model-making projects across teams, business groups, and product lines.
• Translate early concepts into innovative designs, visual models, class A appearance models, and working prototypes.
• Manage project specifications, schedules, budgets, resources, risk mitigation, and capital equipment planning.
• Develop new prototyping methodologies, fabrication techniques, materials, tools, and processes.
• Manage and develop the prototyping team through coaching, mentoring, empowerment, and accountability.
• Oversee lab operations, equipment, suppliers, sourcing decisions, and secure handling of prototype data.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Industrial Design, Industrial Technology, or a related field and 6+ years of model-making or prototyping experience; or a high school diploma and 10+ years of model-making or shop experience; or equivalent experience.
• Experience building and machining appearance models or engineering prototypes.
• Experience leading multidisciplinary prototyping, model-making, or fabrication teams in a fast-paced product development environment.
• Experience managing concurrent high-visibility projects, including resource allocation, prioritization, budgeting, scheduling, and risk mitigation.
• Experience with lab operations, equipment planning, capital investments, safety programs, vendor management, and operational excellence practices such as 5S.
• Ability to work fully on-site in Redmond, Washington, United States.

Nice to have

• Bachelor’s degree and 10+ years of prototyping experience in the consumer electronics industry.
• 5+ years of people management experience.
• Deep knowledge of advanced prototyping methods, manufacturing processes, fabrication techniques, materials, and emerging model-making technologies.
• Experience driving innovation through new tools, technologies, processes, or intellectual property.

Culture & Benefits

• Work at the intersection of creativity and engineering in an advanced prototyping environment.
• Collaborate with designers, engineers, researchers, product teams, external suppliers, and cross-functional partners.
• Support a culture based on growth mindset, inclusion, respect, integrity, accountability, and continuous learning.
• Benefits and additional compensation may be available.