Leads the hardware engineering team across autonomous vehicle and robotics programs. Responsibilities include staffing, hiring, mentoring, resource allocation, engineering process development, technical reviews, design guidance, prototype testing, manufacturing support, requirements development, proposal support, and customer engagement. The role requires multidisciplinary hardware leadership spanning mechanical, structural, hydraulic, electrical, manufacturing, and vehicle systems, with travel to customer and test sites as needed.
About Stratom
Stratom is a mission-driven engineering company developing autonomous and unmanned ground vehicles and robotic systems for demanding industrial and defense environments. Our teams design, build, and deploy advanced systems that combine rugged mechanical platforms with cutting-edge autonomy.
Our work spans the full lifecycle of complex systems, from early concept and prototyping through fielded deployment. With multiple working prototypes in hand, our next major opportunity is transitioning these platforms into production over the coming years to deliver capable systems at scale. We are looking for talented and engineers who want to take ownership of challenging engineering problems and play a key role in bringing multiple platforms into production.
Stratom is seeking a versatile individual to lead our Hardware Engineering Team. The Hardware Engineering Manager will work closely with Stratom’s technical leads, engineers, and customers across the DoD to successfully execute our vehicle development programs. You will work across programs, enabling our engineers to perform at a high level. As a growing R&D firm, each team member is asked to wear many hats and contribute to a wide variety of disciplines, so resourcefulness and adaptability are highly valued. A strong candidate will also have outstanding interpersonal skills and be ready to become a prominent leader within our team right away.
Duties and Responsibilities
· Manage staffing for the hardware engineering team, including staffing plans, hiring, and resource allocation across projects.
· Meet regularly with individuals to discuss performance and development and provide feedback and coaching. Mentor engineers and ensure their growth.
· Defines processes to ensure consistent, quality engineering.
· Ensures engineering processes are followed and development artifacts are produced.
· Understands the broad scope of development being performed by the mechanical engineering team across all relevant projects to avoid duplicated work and leverage complementary work.
· Supports projects as a domain technical expert by reviewing work and providing technical input as needed. Help solve ambiguous problems by providing guidance and direction.
· Supports bid and proposal efforts, especially for task scope and duration.
Qualifications
Key Responsibilities
Engineering Leadership
- Lead, hire, mentor, and develop the hardware engineering team.
- Manage staffing, resource allocation, and engineering priorities across programs.
- Establish and maintain effective engineering processes, reviews, and documentation.
- Promote collaboration, reuse, and standardization across projects.
Technical Leadership
- Serve as a senior hardware engineering resource across vehicle and robotics programs.
- Review designs, analyses, drawings, requirements, test plans, and other technical deliverables.
- Guide engineers through complex or ambiguous technical challenges.
- Support mechanical, structural, hydraulic, manufacturing, electrical, and vehicle-system development.
- Support prototype development, testing, integration, and troubleshooting.
Program & Customer Support
- Work closely with program managers, technical leads, engineers, and DoD customers.
- Support requirements, planning, scheduling, risk management, and technical reviews.
- Support proposals through technical scope, staffing, schedule, and cost estimates.
- Travel to customer sites, test locations, and other facilities as needed.
Required Qualifications
- 10+ years of engineering, technical leadership, and/or program management experience.
- 3+ years leading, hiring, and developing high-performing engineering teams.
- Bachelor’s degree in a relevant Engineering field.
- Experience leading multidisciplinary engineering teams.
Required Technical Competencies
- Mechanical system design and development
- Ground vehicle, structural, hydraulic, and electro-mechanical systems
- CAD modeling, engineering drawings, GD&T, and tolerance analysis
- Prototype development, integration, testing, and troubleshooting
- Manufacturing processes, design for manufacturability, and production support
- Requirements development, technical reviews, and engineering documentation
- Cross-functional development with electrical, software, autonomy, and manufacturing teams
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience with autonomous/unmanned ground vehicles or complex robotic systems.
- Familiarity with ISO 9001:2015.
- Advanced degree in Engineering, Business, or related field.
- Military officer or equivalent leadership experience.
- Demonstrated ability to build collaborative, high-performing teams.
Additional Requirements
- This position requires access to information subject to the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and/or the Export Administration Regulations (EAR). Candidates selected for this position must meet applicable eligibility requirements for access to export-restricted information. Under ITAR/EAR regulations, a U.S. person is generally defined as a U.S. citizen, U.S. permanent resident (Green Card holder), political asylee, or refugee.
- Must maintain eligibility to hold a DoD clearance
Benefits
Stratom offers an array of benefits to eligible full-time employees, including health insurance, life and AD&D insurance, a retirement investment plan, annual paid time off, and holiday pay.
Stratom is committed to providing Equal Opportunity in Employment, to all applicants and employees regardless of, race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, military status, veteran status, handicap, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information or any other characteristic protected by law.
About
Stratom is a global leader in the development of unmanned ground vehicles and autonomous robotic systems that solve the most pressing real-world logistics and operational challenges for commercial and defense applications. Specializing in unmanned cargo movement, robotic refueling, robotic hazardous liquid transfer and autonomous mobile robots (AMR), the company’s military-proven tools, methods, technologies and strategic services solve the most difficult logistics and operational challenges. Whether in a safe, controlled settings or dynamic and challenging terrain, Stratom provides unique solutions to meet each customer’s specific needs. With its extensive expertise in R&D, engineering and system integration of autonomous technologies and solutions, Stratom, a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business, is the go-to expert for global corporations, local businesses and government institutions.
Stratom Inc Louisville, Colorado, USA Office
331 S. 104th St, Suite 235, Louisville, CO, United States, 80026
Similar Jobs
Analytics
Lead North American deployment of electronic hardware across wind turbine portfolios. Manage 3–5 field engineers, oversee project scope, schedules, budgets, quality, safety, vendors, subcontractors, and customer requirements. Provide technical leadership, pre-sales support, risk management, and field issue resolution while promoting continuous improvement. The role requires hands-on installation experience, stakeholder coordination, people leadership, wind turbine site work, and approximately 25% domestic travel with occasional international travel.
Top Skills:
Condition Monitoring SystemsElectronic HardwareFall Protection EquipmentPpeQa/Qc ProcessesWind Turbine Sensing Technologies
Healthtech
Leads a global hardware engineering team developing and supporting bioprocessing and laboratory instrumentation. Responsibilities include engineering strategy, technology roadmaps, resource planning, hardware execution, architecture decisions, design reviews, risk management, reliability, verification and validation, design for manufacturability, regulatory alignment, talent development, and continuous improvement. The role partners across systems, software, product management, quality, regulatory, and operations, with periodic international travel.
Top Skills:
Design ControlsElectromechanical SystemsFmeaRisk ManagementSystems ArchitectureVerification And Validation
Aerospace • Hardware • Software • Defense
Leads RF hardware engineering teams across multiple sites and product lines while maintaining technical ownership of board- and box-level designs. Establishes development processes, guides architecture and design reviews, supports complex debugging, and ensures designs are manufacturable, testable, reliable, and scalable. Responsibilities include hiring, mentoring, staffing, budgeting, cross-functional collaboration, production handoff, component risk mitigation, and design reuse. The role requires deep RF board design expertise and hands-on proficiency with RF simulation, analysis, schematic capture, and PCB layout tools.
Top Skills:
AltiumDfmDftDigital ElectronicsDown-ConvertersHfssPathwave System Design (Systemvue)PcbPhased ArraysPower ElectronicsRf ElectronicsRf Front-End ModulesRf Synthesis (Genesys)Software-Defined RadiosUp-Converters
What you need to know about the Colorado Tech Scene
With a business-friendly climate and research universities like CU Boulder and Colorado State, Colorado has made a name for itself as a startup ecosystem. The state boasts a skilled workforce and high quality of life thanks to its affordable housing, vibrant cultural scene and unparalleled opportunities for outdoor recreation. Colorado is also home to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, helping cement its status as a hub for renewable energy innovation.
Key Facts About Colorado Tech
- Number of Tech Workers: 260,000; 8.5% of overall workforce (2024 CompTIA survey)
- Major Tech Employers: Lockheed Martin, Century Link, Comcast, BAE Systems, Level 3
- Key Industries: Software, artificial intelligence, aerospace, e-commerce, fintech, healthtech
- Funding Landscape: $4.9 billion in VC funding in 2024 (Pitchbook)
- Notable Investors: Access Venture Partners, Ridgeline Ventures, Techstars, Blackhorn Ventures
- Research Centers and Universities: Colorado School of Mines, University of Colorado Boulder, University of Denver, Colorado State University, Mesa Laboratory, Space Science Institute, National Center for Atmospheric Research, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Gottlieb Institute
