MANUFACTURING ENGINEER

About WattAir

WattAir is an early-stage climate technology company developing systems that produce water from air while making better use of available energy. We are building for a future where reliable water can be generated closer to where it is needed, particularly across agriculture, industry, and data centers.

Our culture is grounded in hands-on ownership, technical honesty, speed, and resourcefulness. We care deeply about impact, take responsibility for outcomes, and enjoy solving difficult problems together.

Why This Role Matters

WattAir has developed working prototypes and is now moving toward reliable, field-ready products and repeatable manufacturing.

We are hiring a Head of Manufacturing & Commercialization to lead that transition. You will take ownership of the practical engineering, supplier, manufacturing, and operational decisions required to turn our technology into products that can be built, installed, serviced, and scaled.

This is a senior but highly hands-on position. You will work directly with the founders while also spending time in the workshop, visiting suppliers, reviewing builds, solving field problems, and creating the systems needed to support future growth.

What You’ll Do

• Lead the transition from custom prototypes to repeatable, field-ready products.

• Own design for manufacturing and assembly across mechanical, thermal-fluid, electrical, and packaged system components.

• Develop and manage suppliers, contract manufacturers, fabricators, and assembly partners.

• Establish bills of materials, drawings, assembly procedures, work instructions, and change-control processes.

• Build, modify, assemble, and troubleshoot prototype and pilot-scale equipment.

• Improve system cost, reliability, repeatability, serviceability, and ease of installation.

• Develop quality-control procedures, acceptance tests, and production documentation.

• Support field installation, commissioning, maintenance, and failure analysis.

• Lead manufacturing-readiness, product-safety, and certification planning.

• Help define WattAir’s longer-term manufacturing strategy, facilities, workforce, and production capabilities.

• Create enough structure to support growth without slowing down the speed of an early-stage company.

What We’re Looking For

We know strong candidates do not always fit a standard blueprint. If you have relevant hardware experience and are excited about what we are building, we encourage you to apply even if you do not meet every qualification.

Required

• Significant experience in manufacturing engineering, hardware productization, or the commercialization of physical products.

• Demonstrated experience moving hardware from prototype development into low-volume or repeatable production.

• Strong hands-on mechanical aptitude, including building, modifying, assembling, and troubleshooting equipment.

• Experience with design for manufacturing and assembly.

• Experience developing suppliers, fabricators, contract manufacturers, or other production partners.

• Ability to create and manage bills of materials, technical drawings, assembly documentation, and quality procedures.

• Strong practical judgment and the ability to balance technical performance, cost, schedule, reliability, and manufacturability.

• Willingness to work regularly in workshops, at supplier facilities, and at customer or pilot sites.

Nice to Have

• Experience with HVAC, thermal-fluid systems, industrial equipment, or water-treatment technologies.

• Experience with sheet metal, piping, frames, enclosures, heat exchangers, or packaged mechanical systems.

• Familiarity with pumps, fans, valves, sensors, controls, and other industrial components.

• Experience establishing quality-assurance and acceptance-testing processes.

• Knowledge of product-safety, regulatory, or certification requirements.

• Experience with field installation, commissioning, troubleshooting, and maintenance.

• Experience building manufacturing operations or facilities from an early stage.

• Experience working in a hardware startup, climate-technology company, or similarly fast-moving environment.

How You Work

• You enjoy making things work in the real world, not only reviewing them from a desk.

• You take ownership of problems and follow them through to a practical resolution.

• You can operate independently while knowing when a quick question will prevent wasted time.

• You communicate clearly with founders, engineers, technicians, suppliers, and customers.

• You are comfortable making progress with incomplete information and limited resources.

• You introduce structure where it helps, without creating unnecessary bureaucracy.

• You care about safety, quality, and building products that customers can depend on.

Why Join WattAir?

You will join WattAir at an important stage and have significant ownership over how our technology becomes a commercial product. You will work closely with the founders, influence major product and manufacturing decisions, and help build the foundation for a company addressing two critical challenges: water scarcity and more efficient energy use.

How to Apply

Please submit your resume and a few sentences explaining why WattAir and this role interest you. We would particularly like to hear about a physical product or system you helped move from prototype into manufacturing or field deployment.

A formal cover letter is not required. If this sounds like you, or someone in your network who could be a strong fit, we would be glad to hear from you.