---
title: 'Senior Product Manager, Hardware Platform at Apptronik'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/senior-product-manager-hardware-platform-apptronik-austin-qsjmc8p74mb6'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-10-13'
---

# Senior Product Manager, Hardware Platform at Apptronik

- **Company:** Apptronik
- **Location:** Austin, TX
- **Posted:** 2026-08-04
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-13
- **Apply:** https://boards.greenhouse.io/apptronik/jobs/6134490004?gh_jid=6134490004

## Job description

Apptronik is a human-centered robotics company developing AI-powered robots to support humanity in every facet of life. Our flagship humanoid robot, Apollo, is built to collaborate thoughtfully with people, starting with critical industries such as manufacturing and logistics, with future applications in healthcare, the home, and beyond.

We operate at the cutting edge of Applied AI, applying our expertise across the full robotics stack to solve some of society's most important problems. You will join a team dedicated to bringing Apollo to market at scale, tackling the complex challenges like safety, commercialization, and mass production to change the world for the better.

## JOB SUMMARY

You will own the product direction for our humanoid robot platform operating in the field today. You'll manage it as a complete product, turning customer outcomes, field data, and engineering constraints into a roadmap that maximizes the platform's value at every stage of its life.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES or KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES

- Own and maintain the platform roadmap: scope, sequencing, and priorities across capability improvements, reliability, cost, and supportability.
- Manage the deployed fleet as a product: define and track the operational metrics that matter and drive the priorities they reveal.
- Turn field data, service feedback, and customer deployment insights into clearly written requirements, and communicate them to engineering teams through requirements documents, diagrams, and concise verbal communication.
- Lead trade studies balancing performance, reliability, cost, serviceability, and schedule; make and defend prioritization calls between sustaining investments and forward-looking capability work.
- Own change management for a product in the field: prioritize engineering changes, retrofit and upgrade programs, and software/hardware update rollouts with minimal customer disruption.
- Partner with supply chain and engineering on component lifecycle risks and drive make/buy and second-source decisions.
- Drive cost-down initiatives across the platform, connecting bill-of-materials and service-cost decisions to customer total cost of ownership and program economics.
- Continuously evaluate emerging technologies and build the business case for when and how to adopt them.
- Work with program management to align platform deliverables to build cycles, deployment schedules, and program milestones.
- Support product marketing initiatives, partner relationships, and other opportunities to accelerate the adoption of our products.

## SKILLS AND REQUIREMENTS

- Demonstrated experience managing a hardware product across its full lifecycle, from launch to end-of-life.
- Demonstrated experience managing the tradeoffs associated with shipping physical products and hardware iteration cycles.
- Strong analytical skills with experience using fleet, field, or telemetry data to drive product decisions and performance tracking.
- Experience evaluating new technologies for adoption: running trade studies, assessing maturity and risk, and building the case for (or against) technology insertion.
- Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written, enabling translation of technical insights into business impact.
- You make decisions in uncertainty, prioritizing velocity over perfection.

## NICE TO HAVE

- Experience with robotics, autonomous vehicles
- Experience managing platform transitions, carrying customers, learnings, and architecture from one product generation into the next.
- Familiarity with functional safety for hardware systems.

EDUCATION and/or EXPERIENCE

- At least 5 years of experience in product management.
- BS in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or equivalent technical field

## PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS

- Prolonged periods of sitting at a desk and working on a computer
- Must be able to lift 15 pounds at times
- Vision to read printed materials and a computer screen
- Hearing and speech to communicate

*This is a direct hire.  Please, no outside Agency solicitations.

Apptronik provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

## About Apptronik

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Apptronik builds advanced humanoid robots for real-world industrial applications, starting with manufacturing and warehousing, to address labor shortages and improve human productivity.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Funding Stage: Series A)
- **Headquarters**: Austin, Texas, United States
- **Founded**: 2016
- **Founders**: Founded as a spinout from the Human Centered Robotics Lab at the University of Texas at Austin; leadership includes CEO Jeff Cardenas and CTO Nicholas Paine

## Core Business
- Primary industry/industries: Robot Manufacturing, Humanoid Robotics, Industrial Automation, Artificial Intelligence
- Target customers: B2B / Enterprise — manufacturing facilities, warehousing and logistics operators, supply chain organizations
- Mission or purpose statement: “It is not Man vs. Machine, but Man + Machine” — building robots that empower humans to live to their fullest potential by solving labor shortages and reducing physical strain.

## Products & Services
- **[Apollo Humanoid Robot Platform]**: A full-electric, bipedal humanoid robot designed for industrial use. Combines advanced hardware, embodied AI, and fleet-level management software. Current applications include material handling, line-side tasks, palletizing, case picking, trailer unloading, and inspection. Built as a scalable platform that can extend into healthcare, eldercare, and home environments over time. (Type: Hardware + SaaS Platform)

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly disclosed
- **Annual Revenue**: ~$3.5 million (estimated)
- **Total Funding**: ~$963.8 million (includes a Seed Round of $14.6M in 2022, a Corporate Round in 2025, and an undisclosed Series A round; notable investors include Mercedes-Benz Group AG and Google)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Mercedes-Benz Group AG, Google, Terex, Humanoid Global
- **Growth Signals**: Headcount grew 98.1% year-over-year to 334 employees (2026 data). Named to the **2026 CNBC Disruptor 50** list. Recognized on the **Best Places to Work** list (2024, 2025). Won the **2025 IEEE Robotics & Automation Product Innovation Award**. Named **Most Innovative** (2025). Active job postings increased 238.5% year-over-year (88 open roles). Acquired Elevate Robotics Inc.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Deep heritage**: Spun out of UT Austin’s Human Centered Robotics Lab; team dates back to the DARPA Robotics Challenge (2015) and includes ex-NASA collaborators.
- **Full-stack vertical integration**: Covers hardware, embodied AI, and fleet-level management software — a complete, scalable platform rather than a one-off robot.
- **Safe, human-centric design**: Built for human environments from the ground up, with a focus on reducing physical strain and complementing human workers, not replacing them.
- **Early enterprise traction**: Active partnerships with major industrial players like Mercedes-Benz and Terex, proving real-world deployment over lab demos.

## Strategic Focus
- Scaling Apollo for manufacturing and warehouse deployment (current core market).
- Expanding into more complex environments: construction, healthcare, eldercare, and the home.
- Continuous hardware and software upgrades (CEO Jeff Cardenas calls humanoid robotics “the space race of our time” and has signaled major upgrades to Apollo).
- Building out fleet-level tools for multi-robot management and learning.

## Why Work Here
- **Mission-driven**: Work on the frontier of humanoid robotics with a stated ethos of “Man + Machine” — robots that improve human quality of life.
- **High-growth environment**: Doubled headcount year-over-year with massive funding and expanding job postings; strong career growth potential.
- **Culture values**: Passion, creativity, collaboration, integrity, curiosity, and humility are explicitly stated as core values.
- **Perks & Benefits**:
  - Flexible PTO (open, unlimited)
  - 401k retirement plan
  - Comprehensive Medical, Dental & Vision coverage
  - Parental leave
  - Flexible work hours
  - Collaborative and innovative work environment
- **Remote/Hybrid Policy**: Not explicitly stated; 77% of workforce is in the United States (majority in Austin HQ). Specific roles may vary, but the company promotes a collaborative environment.
- **Talent sources**: Attracts talent from top robotics and tech companies — SpaceX, Tesla, Fox Robotics, Agility Robotics, Apple, iRobot, Neocis, and top universities (UT Austin).
- **Employee rating**: 3.9/5.0 on employer reviews (Work-Life: 3.5, Career: 3.7).

## Sources
1. [apptronik.com](https://apptronik.com/) — Company homepage
2. [apptronik.com/about-us](https://apptronik.com/about-us) — About Us / History / Mission
3. [apptronik.com/careers](https://apptronik.com/careers?gh_src=B+Capital+job+board) — Careers page / Perks & Culture
4. [apptronik.com/careers/job-listings](https://apptronik.com/careers/job-listings) — Open job listings
5. [linkedin.com/company/apptronik-inc.](https://www.linkedin.com/company/apptronik-inc.) — LinkedIn company profile (revenue, headcount, funding, employee breakdown)

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