Hardware Operations Program Manager
Mashgin
Other Engineering, Operations
San Jose, CA, USA
USD 125k-175k / year
Posted on Feb 12, 2026
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
Mashgin is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. Individuals seeking employment at Mashgin are considered without regards to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, marital status, ancestry, physical or mental disability, veteran status, gender identity, or sexual orientation.
Notice on fraudulent jobs
We have been made aware of instances of fraudulent job postings and/or fraudulent recruiting activity by bad actors, claiming to represent Mashgin. These fraudulent schemes often seek monetary contributions or payments from job seekers (such as for "start up costs" or "equipment"), or seek to collect sensitive personal or banking information from job seekers. These job postings and offers are not authorized by Mashgin, and Mashgin is not responsible for fraudulent offers or requests for personal information or payments. Mashgin will never ask for any financial commitment or contribution from a candidate at any stage of the recruitment process. Candidates who have questions about the validity of Mashgin job postings or offers should consult the job postings on our mashgin.com career site. If you think you've been scammed, please reference this site for more information.
125000 - 175000 USD a year
For roles based in Palo Alto, CA, the overall market range for Mashgin is typically $125,000 - $175,000 USD annually. Note that total compensation for this position will be determined by candidate’s relevant qualifications, work experience, skills, and other relevant factors. This estimate excludes the value of any benefits offered by Mashgin, and the potential future value of any other long-term incentives.