Production Engineering Manager

Auckland
Hardware /
Full-time /
On-site
The future of food production hinges on an important question: How do we feed the world’s growing population without compromising our natural resources? Both dairy and beef farmers feed our population and hold the keys to vital climate solutions. At Halter, we’re on a mission to enable farmers to run the most productive and sustainable farms. Farmers are using Halter to break free from the time-intensive constraints of conventional farming. They’re growing more grass, increasing milk production and/or helping their cattle gain more weight (for beef farming) and improving the health and well-being of their cows.

We bridge deep tech into farming. Halter enables farmers to remotely shift, virtually fence and proactively monitor their cows’ health and behaviour. Can you imagine watching 500 cows or cattle walk calmly towards the milking shed or their next break? No quad bikes, no dogs, no fences. Just a mob of cows walking at their own pace. People say it looks like magic. Our customers are revolutionising farming with Halter. It's changing lives and transforming an industry.

People join Halter because they want 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 PartnersDCVCBlackbirdPromus Ventures, Rocket Lab’s Peter Beck and Icehouse ventures.

To find out more, visit our careers websiteLinkedIn & Instagram.

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

    • A genuine and shared connection to our mission to make a difference in the world.
    • The excitement, risk, and reward of a high-growth technology scale-up.
    • The pride of joining an iconic New Zealand technology company growing successfully on the global stage.
    • The opportunity to work with and grow together with an enthusiastic, and highly gifted team with diverse backgrounds.
    • The opportunity to supercharge your career in a supportive and caring environment.
    • 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?
    • Delicious snacks and drinks are available for your daily flow.
    • 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.
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!

Our Office First Approach (For Auckland Offices)

We do have flexible working hours and you can work from home when you need to but we encourage our team to be in the office as much as you can.

We have an office-first approach because we would like to keep the opportunity for teams to have spontaneous interactions which in turn has allowed our team at Halter to foster strong relationships. Stronger relationships make it easier to disagree, give feedback, do meaningful work and as a result, be higher performing as a team.

This is applicable mainly for our Auckland office-based roles rather than on-the-road roles in teams such as Customer Success or Business Development teams.

Join our team

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.