Vice President of Engineering

The Lumber Manufactory (TLM) is building the future of sustainable lumber with next-generation sawmill technology. We design and operate state-of-the-art modular sawmills that produce high-grade dimensional wood products with greater efficiency and less waste. Backed by leading investors including Cantos, Slow Ventures, Susa Ventures, Banter Capital, Humba Ventures, and Ravelin Capital.

The Lumber Manufactory is seeking a Vice President of Engineering to serve as both the senior engineering leader and the primary technical authority for TLM’s sawmill platforms, systems, and technology roadmap. This role spans strategic leadership and hands‑on technical depth—owning system architecture, driving engineering execution across physical and digital domains, and ensuring that every design decision translates into safe, reliable, scalable, and manufacturable outcomes in the field.

This is a builder-operator role for someone who has led complex hardware-software intensive systems from concept through commissioning—ideally in manufacturing, logistics, aerospace, energy, or similarly demanding physical environments. The ideal candidate brings the technical credibility of a chief engineer and the organizational leadership of a VP, with a track record of deploying rugged, automated systems in resource‑constrained and remote settings.

This role is based in Seattle, WA and is best suited for candidates who are already local or willing to relocate, with regular travel to our Mississippi mill sites during development, commissioning, and deployment phases.

In This Role, You Will

Technical Architecture & Roadmap

• Serve as the system-level technical authority for TLM’s sawmill platforms, equipment designs, and process architectures.
• Define and maintain TLM’s multi-year technology roadmap, aligning engineering strategy with business objectives and long-term scalability.
• Own the overall technical architecture for mills—spanning mechanical systems, material handling, electrical power, controls, automation, and supporting infrastructure.
• Lead critical technical tradeoffs, balancing performance, reliability, safety, maintainability, cost, and schedule.

Engineering Execution & Integration

• Guide cross-disciplinary engineering across mechanical, electrical, controls, manufacturing, and systems engineering from R&D through deployment and continuous improvement.
• Ensure all designs are fully integrated, manufacturable, serviceable, and deployable at production scale.
• Drive rigorous testing, validation, qualification, and commissioning at mill sites.
• Partner with Production and Deployment teams to resolve field issues and incorporate lessons learned into future designs.
• Oversee integration of physical and digital systems into cohesive, high-performance solutions that can be replicated and stood up quickly in new environments.

Standards, Quality & Risk

• Establish and uphold engineering standards, design practices, and review processes across the organization.
• Ensure appropriate technical documentation, specifications, and design records are maintained.
• Identify and communicate technical risks, mitigation strategies, and decision rationales to engineering and executive stakeholders.
• Promote a strong culture of safety, reliability, and engineering rigor.

Team Leadership & Culture

• Build and lead a world-class multidisciplinary engineering team across physical and digital domains, including Design Engineering and Systems Engineering.
• Mentor senior engineers and technical leads, raising the technical bar across the organization.
• Develop processes, standards, and metrics for technical excellence.
• Foster a culture of innovation, accountability, and practical problem-solving.
• Support hiring, team growth, and organizational structure as engineering scales.

Cross-Functional Partnership

• Partner with Operations to deploy highly automated, hardware-intensive systems across diverse geographies.
• Work closely with Sales and Finance teams to align technical strategy with business priorities.
• Represent TLM’s technology with customers, partners, and investors as needed.
• Adapt to changing priorities and support team and operational needs as they evolve.

Who You Are

• A deeply technical engineering leader—equally comfortable owning a system architecture diagram and making a call on a field issue at a mill site.
• You have built and deployed complex hardware-software intensive systems in demanding, real-world environments: manufacturing lines, automated warehouses, distributed energy infrastructure, aerospace systems, or similar.
• You have a builder-operator mindset—you thrive on seeing technology work in the real world, not just in the lab.
• You design for ruggedness, reliability, and autonomy in rural or resource-limited settings, and you understand the logistics of shipping, staging, installing, and commissioning equipment outside urban hubs.
• You have a bias toward practicality, simplicity, and repeatability over over-engineering—you care deeply about reducing steps, people, and dependencies in deployment.
• You are comfortable leading in ambiguous, resource-constrained environments and know how to move fast without breaking what matters.
• You communicate clearly across technical and executive audiences, and you earn credibility with engineers through substance, not just title.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in an engineering discipline required; advanced degree a plus.
• 10–15+ years of progressive engineering experience, including significant time in hands‑on technical leadership (chief engineer, system owner, or equivalent).
• Demonstrated experience designing and integrating complex industrial or physical systems—manufacturing, logistics, aerospace, energy, automotive, heavy equipment, or similar.
• Proven track record leading multidisciplinary teams spanning mechanical, electrical, controls/automation, and software engineering.
• Experience deploying hardware-software intensive systems in the field, especially in remote, rural, or resource-constrained environments.
• Strong systems engineering mindset with experience through design, build, test, commissioning, and operational deployment.
• Experience with automation and controls to minimize ongoing human intervention at scale.
• Willingness to travel regularly to mill sites during design validation, deployment, and commissioning phases (25–50% travel expected).

The expected starting annual base salary for this position is $250,000. The applicable salary paid to a successful applicant will be determined based on multiple factors, including the nature and extent of prior experience and educational background.

We offer competitive compensation and comprehensive benefits, including:

• 100% employer-paid health coverage for employees and dependents (medical, dental, and vision)
• 100% employer-paid life insurance and disability coverage
• Paid time off and company holidays
• The opportunity to help build something from the ground up in an essential, evolving industry

Join our team as we modernize timber from forest to finished product.

The Lumber Manufactory is an equal opportunity employer committed to building an inclusive team. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.