What are the responsibilities and job description for the Hardware Product Manager position at Frontline Wildfire Defense?
Position: Hardware Product Manager
Department: Engineering
Location: California
Employment Type: Full-Time
About Frontline Wildfire Defense
Our mission is to protect homes, families, and communities from wildfire disasters. Frontline enables customers to track wildfires, receive important alerts, and safely navigate a wildfire while protecting a customer’s home with the remotely operated Frontline Wildfire Defense System. Our home defense system hydrates the materials of a home and its surrounding area to prevent ignition from flying embers - the #1 cause of structure loss during wildfires. We are a small team in the early stages of growth and have already achieved significant milestones in protecting homes and earning revenue through successful installations throughout Northern and Southern California. Our team includes experienced engineers, product designers, and investors, and we are growing rapidly.
About This Opportunity
Hydration is central to our protection philosophy, and the mechanical systems that communicate with our cloud architecture and distribute water from source to sprinkler heads with appropriate pressure and flow are critical to our product success. As the Mechanical Engineering Manager, you will:
• Optimize our controller and water distribution systems for performance and reliability, communicating requirements through detailed professional drawings.
• Work directly with operations and channel partners, owning technical support and collateral needed to facilitate successful system installations.
• Drive product development for new products in our protection systems portfolio, including hydraulic systems, electronic controllers, sensors, cameras, and communication peripherals.
• Research, test, and validate improved components and design concepts.
You are organized, passionate about making a big impact in a company with a big mission, and resourceful enough to work well in a flexible, scrappy environment.
Responsibilities
• Own the mechanical reliability and performance quality for the entire Frontline Defense System and continually seek out ways to improve it.
• Develop and own system design and installation guides, training collateral, and mechanical training support for direct teams and channel sales and installation partners. Maintain and update documentation on company-facing and external-facing sites.
• Troubleshoot and solve problems related to incorporating systems into projects.
• Develop and provide technical support and presentations to stakeholders such as fire departments, water districts, and other regulatory agencies.
• Manage the product roadmap and incorporate/design new products with Frontline’s strategic objectives in mind, working closely with company operations and leadership in prioritizing product development.
• Contribute to the intellectual property strategy of the company.
• Manage all costs and supply chain for Frontline-manufactured parts, working directly with supply vendors in ordering, product quality monitoring, manufacturing enhancements, and supply chain logistics.
• Manage inventory of Frontline-manufactured components and work with operations and administration to stay ahead of demand.
• Own architecture and logistics of bundling Frontline-manufactured components with commonly sourced piping and foam components for efficiency in direct and channel applications.
• Develop and validate design and installation tools to assist the sales and operations teams.
• Create detailed documentation and drawings with CAD (SolidWorks preferred).
Experience / Qualifications
• 5-7 years of experience in mechanical design or a similar engineering role, preferably with some leadership experience.
• Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, or equivalent.
• Travel is required; the candidate must be willing to travel throughout the Bay Area and California to job sites.
• Experience in consumer electronics design is preferred, with a bonus for hydraulic/fluids experience.
• Strong analytical and critical thinking skills with great attention to detail.
• Ability to read and edit construction blueprints.
• Excellent verbal, written, and visual communication skills.
• Willingness to take on a variety of tasks needed in a startup environment.
Compensation
• Salary and equity will be dependent on experience; future compensation tied to performance.
Life at Frontline
• Join a passionate and driven team with a mission and a sense of humor.
• Flexible, remote work environment.
• Competitive salary and equity package.
• Flexible time off policy.
Diversity and inclusion are essential values at Frontline. We know we’ll do our best and most impactful work when we feel represented and we belong. We encourage talented people from a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences to apply. We do not discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.
