AgZen is an MIT spinout that provides droplet-level sensing and feedback systems to measure and optimize agricultural spray application.
About AgZen: AgZen is a fast-growing precision agriculture company headquartered in Somerville, MA, built on MIT research and focused on one problem: making crop spraying more efficient. Our flagship product, RealCoverage, is the world's first system that measures and controls droplet coverage at the leaf level, giving growers real-time visibility into spray performance and cutting chemical and water use by up to 50% without sacrificing yield. We are a small, technically deep team working at the intersection of fluid mechanics, computer vision, AI, and real agricultural environments. If you want to build technology with measurable impact on how the world grows food, this is the place to do it. About the Role We are looking for a sharp, tenacious, and thorough Senior Manufacturing Engineer to join our team and lead AgZen’s external manufacturing operations. As part of the hardware team, you’ll be responsible for design, building, and testing RealCoverage units that run on sprayers around the world, as well as assisting in the development of new systems to enable further agricultural optimization. This role will be an essential resource for AgZen’s contact manufacturer, component suppliers, operations department and dealer network. Strong communication, flexibility, teamwork, the desire to take on different responsibilities and own them will all be essential skills for a successful applicant. 📍 This role is located in Somerville, MA (Boston area) with work required to be in-person. Travel to support AgZen's major manufacturing builds (seasonal) will be required. What You'll Do - Lead AgZen production runs in deep partnership with our contract manufacturer, ensuring high quality and on time unit delivery to customers - Own RealCoverage manufacturing documentation including bill of materials, drawings, PCB files, packing list, and test procedures - Develop and execute manufacturing test plans including subsystem end-of-line tests, ICT/FCT of PCBs, and quality sampling - Design relevant hardware test stands, software interfaces, and vision calibration stages to validate unit build quality during manufacturing - Translate confirmed sales into build kits by assigning serial numbers, managing system shipping order and required configurations - Optimize project bill of materials, using DFM/DFA principles to ensure product quality while minimizing cost and labor hours - Interface with contract manufacturer engineers and assembly technicians to - Escalate manufacturing issues up the technical chain if assistance or advice is needed while assessing risk and relevant production deadlines - Root cause all issues that arise during production, including those in fabrication, procurement, documentation, or testing - Track build status and quality transparently for all stakeholders including engineering, operations, dealers, and customers - Interface with operations team and dealers to ensure on time and complete delivery to customers - Manage NRE projects and relationships with key AgZen component suppliers/partners, spearheading development of AgZen hardware for future production runs - Direct engineering testing, ensuring subsystems pass ingress protection, humidity, vibration, and accelerated lifecycle testing and receive relevant third party certifications - Track system reliability through growing season, working with field team and dealer network to identify fleetwide issues and incorporate them into engineering action items, change orders, and future product designs - Facilitate spare part tracking, inventory and replenishment at all of our global dealerships alongside the operations team - Own manufacturing requirements definition, scheduling, FMEA, build execution and tracking, and build after action reports across the company What We're Looking For Required: - Bachelor's degree in Manufacturing, Mechanical, Industrial, Electrical Engineering, or a related field - 5+ years of progressive experience in manufacturing engineering, process development, or advanced manufacturing, with a focus on strategic and systems-level problem solving, preferably in robotics, aerospace, or complex electromechanical systems - Excellent problem-solving skills with the ability to troubleshoot complex mechanical and electromechanical assemblies quickly in a manufacturing environment - Expert in CAD software (SolidWorks, CATIA, or similar) for tool/fixture design and review of engineering drawings and strong understanding of GD&T (Geometric Dimensioning & Tolerancing) - Experience with creating and approving change orders associated with products, procedures, and BOMs - Proven track record of DFM/DFA collaboration with design teams to drive manufacturable and serviceable product designs - Experience writing clear, concise, and detailed work instructions, SOPs, and training materials for assembly technicians - Experience working in production environments, with an ability to adapt processes for continuously evolving product designs - Experience working on products that require high reliability at scale, where field failures have real operational consequences - Strong communication and influencing skills, with a proven ability to present and defend complex technical concepts to senior leadership and negotiate trade-offs with cross-functional partners - Experience supporting on-site prototype builds and providing direct manufacturing floor support - balancing countermeasures and corrective-actions Preferred: - Hands-on experience with additive manufacturing, rapid prototyping, machining (e.g. Mill, Lathe) and fabrication (e.g. Welding, Grinding, Bending) techniques for developing and validating custom tooling, jigs, and fixtures to support precision mechanical assembly - Experience with agricultural, industrial, or other ruggedized hardware designed to operate in harsh environments - Demonstrated experience applying Lean Manufacturing,