Product Quality Engineer

Job Title: Product Quality Engineer

Locations: Palo Alto, CA

Employment Type: Full-time

Department: Manufacturing

Salary: $160K to $210K

About Our Client

Our client is an Applied R&D lab building an open-source humanoid robot platform and the full software stack that powers it. Their mission is to make humanoid labor economically viable, turning software into physical labor at scale. They build across the full stack: hardware architecture, locomotion, autonomy, simulation, and infrastructure. They move fast, ship to real robots, and open-source everything they can. If you want your work to matter beyond a paper or a demo, this is the place to be.

The Role

Our client's flagship robot platform gets built at scale on a contract manufacturer's line. As the Product Quality Engineer , you will be our client's quality owner at the contract manufacturer (CM), responsible for the final assembly and test (FATP) of the robot from the first trial build through mass production. You will ensure what comes off the CM line matches what the engineering team designed-every unit, at rate.

You will own process yield, define and enforce final inspection criteria, and manage the customer side of quality at the EMS partner. You will live in the phase gates (EVT, DVT, PVT, and into Mass Production), catching the defects, drift, and process gaps that decide whether a ramp succeeds or stalls. This role sits directly between the design teams and the factory floor, holding both to the highest standards.

Key Responsibilities

• CM Quality Ownership: Own final assembly and test quality at the contract manufacturer (Tier-1 / EMS) from trial production through mass production.
• Yield Optimization: Monitor first-pass yield (FPY) and defect rates at each station, run the root cause analysis, and lead the CM to close performance gaps.
• Inspection Standards: Define, document, and maintain final inspection criteria, including limit samples, workmanship standards, and station pass/fail criteria.
• Customer Acceptance: Own the customer inspection and acceptance process, including OQC, outgoing quality gates, AQL sampling plans, and lot disposition prior to shipment.
• NPI Phase Gate Leadership: Represent our client through EVT, DVT, and PVT phase gates, driving build readiness, defining final assembly test coverage, and signing off on quality exit criteria.
• Root Cause & Corrective Action: Lead structured problem-solving (8D, Fishbone, 5-Whys) on line failures and test escapes, verifying that permanent fixes hold.
• Process Controls & Audits: Set up and audit the CM's process controls-including FAI, in-process inspection, SPC on critical parameters, and line change control.
• Non-Conformance Management: Manage MRB, containment strategies, rework/sorting decisions, and disposition of held material at the CM.
• Quality Metrics & Reporting: Track and report key metrics (yield, DPPM, defect Pareto, RTY) and drive continuous improvement reviews with the CM.
• Cross-Functional Feedback Loop: Partner with mechanical, electrical, firmware, and manufacturing engineering to feed line and field failure data back into design and process improvements.

Key Qualifications

• 3+ years in a product, supplier, or manufacturing quality engineering role owning final assembly and test at a contract manufacturer or EMS partner.
• Direct experience taking a product through NPI phase gates ( EVT / DVT / PVT ) into high-volume Mass Production .
• Strong command of yield analysis, defect reduction, and chasing failures to their root cause rather than treating symptoms.
• Hands-on ownership of final inspection and outgoing quality (OQC, AQL sampling, limit samples, and lot acceptance).
• Deep fluency with core quality tools: 8D, FMEA, SPC, Control Plans, FAI, and MRB / non-conformance handling .
• Ability to read mechanical drawings, GD&T , electrical schematics, and test specifications across complex electromechanical hardware.
• Proven communication and influence skills to hold CMs accountable while maintaining production ramp schedules.
• Willingness to travel and work on-site at manufacturing partners in Shenzhen/Asia and Palo Alto as needed.

Nice to Have

• Experience with robotics, automotive, aerospace, medical devices, or other high-reliability electromechanical products.
• Experience managing quality at CMs in the Asia-Pacific region (e.g., China, Vietnam).
• Familiarity with quality systems and industry standards such as ISO 9001, APQP, PPAP, and IPC-A-610.
• Hands-on quality experience with motor, actuator, or drivetrain assembly and testing.
• Experience defining FATP test coverage and station-level test strategies.
• Scripting capability for quality data analysis and automation (e.g., Python or SQL).
• Experience standing up CM quality processes from near-zero at an early-stage hardware company.

Why Join Our Client

You will own the quality of a humanoid robot as it moves from hand-built prototypes to real production volume-the critical phase where most hardware companies either learn to ship or stall out. You will define the inspection standards and yield discipline for a physical system that operates in the real world, and your sign-off will stand directly between engineering design and shippable hardware.

Culture & AI Approach

Our client values intellectual curiosity, hands-on discovery, and pragmatic tool adoption. Everyone on the team is encouraged to use AI as a real collaborator to sharpen their thinking, accelerate workflows, and make their work easier for others to build upon.

Our client is an equal opportunity employer committed to diversity and reasonable accommodations during the recruitment process.