Production Engineering Manager

About the role

Join us as a dynamic leader in our production engineering team, where you’ll spearhead the development of our hardware production. This vital role focuses on leading our Production team to enhance our assembly and test processes, ensuring the delivery of high-quality, on-time and cost-effective hardware. We work with world-class suppliers in Asia and encourage a solve-by-seeing approach, and therefore this role will involve international travel.

We value diverse perspectives that enrich our collaborative environment, seeking a leader who thrives in a fast-paced setting and is adept at managing tight deadlines and challenges. We commit to making this a rewarding experience, offering support and opportunities for your professional growth while maintaining a strong emphasis on the well-being and development of our team.

What your day could look like

• Enabling the team to design, implement and maintain highly reliable production processes and production test systems.
• Using production data and key performance indicators to plan and balance the team's focus and resources between sustaining, NPI projects and time at our suppliers to match Halter’s wider business priority. 
• Visiting suppliers to develop relationships and influence their strategy and ensuring the best technical support for our products. 
• Maintaining high levels of communication with the broader hardware team regarding hardware requirements, integration, timelines, risks, and priorities.
• Taking ownership of key production outcomes and working with other teams across the business to ensure a successful result.
• Recruiting and growing exceptional production engineering talent to achieve key production outcomes.
• Ensuring production engineers are supported in their roles with regular 1:1s, reviews, and active development of personal development plans.
• Staying on the cutting edge of best practices and ensuring the team continues to grow and develop. 

Who we’re looking for

• A Bachelor's Degree in Engineering or similar field is highly desired
• 5+ years of experience in shipping high-volume products. Production of Electro-mechanical products is preferred.
• 3+ years as a people manager in a technical leadership role. Comfortable switching between technical leadership and people management.
• Previous experience utilising production data and key performance indicators to drive results and report on them to the business. 
• Willing to regularly travel internationally and loves being on the ground at our production locations, influencing key outcomes (Estimated 10-25% of the year).
• Expert in implementing production quality standards and manufacturing best practices, for example: IPC standards, Six Sigma, Statistical Process Control, and Lean Manufacturing.
• Deep experience in the design, implementation, and maintenance of highly reliable assembly processes and test systems for high-volume electromechanical products.
• A broad range of production processes including electronics assembly (SMT and through-hole soldering) and final assembly (box build). 
• Production testing frameworks such as NI Test Stand and HFT (Hardware Testing Framework).
• Production reliability tests (e.g. burn-in tests and High Accelerated Stress Screen).
• Mechanical part manufacturing (e.g. injection moulding and metal fabrication) is desirable.
• Expert in product life cycle change management in production, from NPI to mass production. Including experience managing the factory integration of production equipment, production firmware and production software.
• Someone who is positive and will thrive in a self-motivated and challenging startup atmosphere.
• Someone open to regular international travel.

Why our team loves working at Halter

• Every now and again a company comes along that disrupts and transforms an entire industry, leaving society in a better place. Few people get the opportunity to work at companies like these. Halter is an incredible technology transforming an essential industry. We have a genuine and shared connection to our mission to make a difference in the world.
• Our product changes the lives of our customers, directly improving their livelihoods and their lifestyle. Your work matters.
• Dedicate yourself to solving real-world problems alongside an epic team in a high-growth culture. The excitement, risk and reward of a high-growth technology scale-up on the global stage. Our ideas are truly valued, we are able to move fast, and our impact is real.
• State-of-the-art, dog-friendly office that’s been thoughtfully designed right in the heart of Auckland city. Did we mention dogs and cows?
• Healthy body, healthy mind. We’re partnered with Southern Cross Health Insurance to support your well-being.
• We offer 6 months of fully paid parental leave for primary caregivers, 4 weeks of fully paid secondary caregiver leave and many other parental benefits that support you and your family.
• Our personal growth is important. Halter offers an annual $1000 self-development budget to be used for anything that fuels personal growth.
• Our time to recharge is valued, we’re offered wellness leave and unlimited paid annual leave.
• We offer an inclusive and attractive remuneration package made up of salary, benefits and an employee stock ownership plan.

Our Office First Approach

There’s a reason you visit your friends in person, live with your family and don’t do dinners over Zoom. Humans are wired for connection. We believe a world-class, in-person office culture is the best way for high-performing teams. 

Being office first is a core pillar of our culture. We believe in-person connections are key to driving your own growth, learning, impact, and building genuine long-lasting relationships. Strong relationships make it easier to disagree, give feedback, and do meaningful and aligned work. We don’t like having heaps of rules or policies, but this means having strong, trusted relationships is critical.

Our office vibe is something special, it’s hard to describe until you’re here, but people at Halter who have come from fully remote or hybrid companies say they could never go back - the high energy and spectacular people they are now surrounded by everyday makes work so enjoyable. Your growth, your learning and your impact is truly unlimited here, and a big part of that comes from being together solving problems, innovating, building context, and constantly learning from each other.

About Halter

At Halter, we’re on a mission to enable farmers and graziers to run the most productive and sustainable operations. Our customers are using Halter to break free from the time-intensive constraints of conventional practices. Imagine watching 500 cattle stand up and walk calmly towards their next break? No quad bikes, no dogs, no fences. Just a group of cattle walking at their own pace. People say it looks like magic. Our customers are revolutionizing grazing with Halter. It's changing lives and transforming an industry. People join Halter to do meaningful work. By joining us you’ll be solving challenging problems within a talented team and a culture built for high performance. Our team out-think, out-work and out-care. We’re committed to delivering real change in the world - this isn’t easy, and in truth, we love that it’s hard. We’re backed to deliver on a mission that matters by Tier 1 investors including Bessemer Venture Partners, DCVC, Blackbird, Promus Ventures, Rocket Lab’s Peter Beck and Icehouse ventures.

To find out more, visit our careers website, LinkedIn & Instagram.

Join our team

Halter is committed to promoting a diverse and inclusive workplace — a place where we can each be ourselves and do the best work of our lives. Research shows that while men apply to jobs when they meet an average of 60% of the requirements, women and under-represented groups of candidates tend to only apply when they meet every requirement. If you think you have what it takes but don’t necessarily tick every requirement on this job description, please still get in touch and apply to Halter. We’d love to chat to see if you’ll be an epic fit!

If this opportunity sounds like you, please apply below by sending through your cover letter explaining why you’re excited about this role and working at Halter, along with your CV, and we’ll be in touch!

Please also feel free to check out the careers and culture page for more information on working at Halter and don't forget to follow us on LinkedIn & Instagram.