Senior Director, Hardware & Vehicle Development

<div class="content-intro"><p><img style="display: none; max-width: 100%;" src="https://click.appcast.io/greenhouse-te8/a31.png?ent=34&amp;e=22630&amp;t=1701374353806" width="1px"> <img style="display: none; max-width: 100%;" src="https://track.jobadx.com/v1/i.gif?utm_pixel=224e990b-8ff4-4287-8d5d-2ff09647f181&amp;utm_ptz=EST&amp;utm_rqt=track" alt="" width="1"></p></div><h2><strong>About the Team</strong></h2> <p>DoorDash Labs is a team within DoorDash building autonomous delivery robots from the ground up as part of DoorDash's core delivery platform. Our mission is to make autonomous last-mile delivery a reality at city scale — reliably, efficiently, and profitably. With autonomy proven on real sidewalks, we are now focused on scaling our hardware platform from hundreds of deployed robots to thousands and beyond, with a global expansion roadmap through 2030.</p> <h2><strong>About the Role</strong></h2> <p>We are looking for a Senior Director of Hardware and Vehicle Development to own the full hardware lifecycle at DoorDash Labs — from detailed product engineering through volume manufacturing and field service. In your first 90 days, you will get deeply embedded with the engineering and manufacturing teams, lead the selection of a contract manufacturing partner, and develop a lean hiring plan to fill key gaps. A year from now, success looks like a scaled hardware organization, with a clear path to robot profitability and a team that can sustain growth without you being the bottleneck on every decision.</p> <h2><strong>You're excited about this opportunity because you will…</strong></h2> <ul> <li>Own end-to-end hardware: lead engineering, manufacturing, and field service for our autonomous robot platform, with direct accountability for hitting scale milestones</li> <li>Build the team: shape the hardware organization from the ground up, with the authority and budget to bring in exceptional talent — including people from your own network</li> <li>Partner across the company: work closely with autonomy, product, and operations teams to translate system requirements into hardware decisions and manufacturing reality</li> <li>Drive profitability: lead the shift from proving the technology to reducing cost and improving efficiency, with robot-level profitability as a near-term goal</li> <li>Operate with real ownership: this is not a coordination role — you will set the roadmap, make the calls, and be accountable for outcomes in a program that is moving fast and has visible impact</li> </ul> <h2><strong>We’re excited about you because…</strong></h2> <ul> <li>You have 15+ years of experience in hardware, automotive, or a closely related field, with at least 4-5 years leading a hardware organization at the senior director or VP level</li> <li>You have taken a hardware program from early development through volume manufacturing — ideally building something from scratch where you had to develop new approaches rather than inherit mature processes</li> <li>You have a track record of building high-performing teams and bringing exceptional people with you — your former colleagues want to come work for you again</li> <li>You have selected and managed contract manufacturers and know what a strong CM relationship requires from selection through production ramp</li> <li>You are comfortable operating in a fast-moving environment with aggressive timelines, and you know how to identify which processes add value and which ones to skip</li> </ul><div class="content-pay-transparency"><div class="pay-input"><div class="description"><p><span style="font-size: 32px;"><strong>Compensation</strong></span></p> <p>The successful candidate’s starting pay will fall within the pay range listed below and is determined based on job-related factors including, but not limited to, skills, experience, qualifications, work location, and market conditions. Base salary is localized according to an employee’s work location. Ranges are market-dependent and may be modified i