Hardware Operations Program Manager

About Mashgin Mashgin powers the world's best checkout experience for over 40 million users. Customers just place their items on our kiosks and our AI rings up their entire order in less than a second. With Mashgin, lines are now optional. Mashgin's technology powers over 1 billion transactions at your favorite locations, including over half of all US professional sports teams, 4,000 convenience stores, major airports, universities, and more. We’re not just building cutting-edge AI—we’re creating real-world impact and unforgettable experiences. Backed by a well-funded Series B, we’re also one of the rare AI startups that’s already profitable. Our secret? A culture of extreme ownership, autonomy, and customer obsession. At Mashgin, we are building something extraordinary by challenging conventional wisdom. We’ve thrown out the old rules to focus on what truly matters: creating a kickass product that makes people say, 'Wow'. We don’t care about short-term wins; we build systems that stand the test of time. If you thrive in a culture of excellence without compromise and want to see your work have an immediate, remarkable impact, you’re in the right place. Position Summary We are seeking an experienced, hands-on, execution-focused Operations Program Manager (OPM) to lead hardware product mass production and serve as the key liaison between Mashgin and contract manufacturers (CMs). This role will own production readiness, quality systems, and execution to ensure successful product launches and sustained manufacturing performance. This is a hybrid remote role where you'd be required to be onsite in San Jose, CA at least 2 times a week. What We Value:

Impact: You will own significant responsibility and have total ownership over your work. We stay lean and efficient, so your work directly impacts the product we ship every day.

Simplicity: Complexity is a waste of time here—we take pride in building things that just work.

Hard Work: Forget the glamorous research papers. We prioritize the hard work it takes to achieve real-world clarity and accuracy. You will innovate relentlessly to push the boundaries of what’s possible in visual automation.

Humility: No task is beneath you. Whether it's high-level architecture or grunt work to fix a bug, we check our egos at the door and get real work done.

Ruthless Prioritization: If everything is on fire, nothing is. You will be expected to prioritize ruthlessly, cutting through distractions to focus on the most impactful product improvements.

Customer Innovation: We are customer-centric, not customer-pleasing. You won’t bend to every client demand; you will let innovation drive the product forward to solve the real problems our users face.

Efficiency: Meetings suck. We keep them short and only use them for alignment, giving you your time back to focus on real work.

You Will Be

Owning mass production, quality assurance (QA) and contract manufacturing (CM) management

Leading contract manufacturers through ramp and mass production

Driving build readiness, production schedules, and on-time delivery

Managing yield, capacity planning, and factory performance

Creating and implementing scalable QA processes and quality criteria

Defining inspection standards, acceptance criteria, and production controls

Owning yield improvement and root cause analysis

Driving corrective/preventive actions (CAPA)

Establishing quality metrics that support growth and reliability

Aligning manufacturing strategy with product requirements and business goals

Providing clear, no-surprise updates to leadership

Acting as the escalation point for production and quality issues

Minimum Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Operations, Supply Chain, or related field

5+ years of experience in hardware operations, manufacturing, QA, or program management

Professional fluency in Mandarin Chinese (written and spoken) is required. You must be able to communicate technical specifications and negotiate timelines directly with factory floor leads and overseas suppliers without a translator

Ability to travel (domestic and international) up to 25% to visit manufacturing sites and vendors

Proven experience releasing products into mass production

Strong experience managing contract manufacturers

Deep understanding of NPI, ramp, and manufacturing processes

Experience building or improving QA systems

Comfortable working in a fast-paced startup environment

Preferred Qualifications

Consumer electronics or hardware startup experience

Familiarity with NPI processes and manufacturing ramp

Experience working closely with Asia-based supply chains

Proven ability to use AI tools to design and implement automation systems that eliminate manual work, streamline operations, and increase manufacturing and quality execution efficiency

What We Offer

An opportunity to work on a small, multidisciplinary team with the potential to break new ground in many different industries

Excellent health, dental and vision insurance for you and your dependents

401k plan

Flexible PTO policy

Catered lunch in office with fully stocked snacks and beverages

Pet insurance for your fur babies

Voluntary life insurance plan

Competitive salary and options in a small, rapidly scaling company