About algo1
algo1 is an AI-native platform reinventing the in-store shopping experience. Founded by Simon Franks (LoveFilm, Redbus) and backed by leading venture investors, we're ~40 people building from our London office.
Our devices live in retail stores and get used, abused, and relied on every day by real shoppers. They have to be tough enough to survive that and beautiful enough that people want to touch them.
The Role
We're hiring a Head of Hardware to own the physical product end-to-end, from today's early units through retail trials to mass deployment. You will define that strategy from scratch rather than inherit one.
You'll work directly with the founders and our two product leaders (B2C and B2B), backed by a strong engineering support in Pakistan and external design partners you'll select and direct.
The core challenge: consumer-grade quality and a premium finish at low cost, at scale. If you default to commoditised components over custom engineering and can prove it saved cost or time, we'll get along.
What You Will Own
The hardware product end-to-end: From today's early units through retail trials and into large-scale deployment.
Sourcing and supplier strategy: manufacturer selection, sourcing and management.
Supply chain scaling: including certification, production ramp-up, logistics, and successful deployment into retail environments.
External design partners: You will brief, select, and direct industrial design and engineering contractors.
The supply chain ramp: certification, production scale-up, logistics and getting devices into stores ready to work.
You're Right For This Role If You've
Taken a physical product from prototype through EVT/DVT/PVT into scaled production.
Shipped by coordinating design, engineering, and manufacturing through outsourced relationships, ideally with direct design-to-manufacturing experience in China.
Owned ODM and contract manufacturing relationships and survived real supply chain disruption.
Built consumer-grade hardware for demanding settings (retail, payments, logistics, mobility) where drop testing, IP ratings, and cleaning regimes are second nature.
The Details
London-based, in person; we build together.
Competitive pay plus meaningful equity.
Full autonomy over hardware strategy, working directly with the founders.
We would love it hear from you if you've shipped products people rely on every day and they just keep working,
Skills Required
- Taken a physical product from prototype through EVT/DVT/PVT into mass production
- Experience shipping more than 100,000 units
- Delivered hardware by coordinating external designers, engineering firms, and manufacturers
- Sourced and managed ODM and contract manufacturing relationships and navigated supply chain disruptions
- Built consumer-grade products for demanding environments (retail, payments, logistics, mobility) with durability and cleaning requirements
- Familiarity with drop testing, durability specs, ingress protection and cleaning regimes
- Preference for commoditised components over custom engineering, with examples of cost/time/risk reduction
- Comfortable acting as the hardware authority inside a fast-moving AI software company
What We Do
We’re a VC-backed stealth-mode company building behavioural AI solutions for the retail industry, focused on hyper-personalisation. Our mission is to bring the intelligence of modern machine learning directly to the in-store shopping experience.
