Senior Technical Product Manager Hardware

Overview

Rachio is looking for a Senior Product Manager Hardware to own one of Rachio's hardware lines end to end: the roadmap for that line, the product definition behind each device in it, and the stage gates that take a concept from idea through EVT, DVT, and PVT to a product that ships on time, in full, and at the right cost.

Our hardware portfolio spans smart sprinkler controllers, hose timers, outdoor lighting, and the partner and OEM products we build with and for others, along with the tethered software experiences (setup, control, and device features in the Rachio app) that make them work. You will own a subset of these hardware programs from its roadmap, its definition, requirements, and its results - and how it feeds it into the portfolio roadmap.

The role is inherently technical and inherently commercial. You are measured on shipping products customers love - on time, at cost, and at quality - and on how your line performs in market: activation, returns, CSAT, and attach to software and subscriptions. Not on the volume of specs written. You work daily with Engineering (firmware, electrical, mechanical, and industrial design), Supply Chain and Operations, Design, Support, Finance, and Sales. You will spend real time with customers - homeowners and professional installers - and real time at the factory. This enables our customer driven approach and how we solve customer pain points in our roadmap.

A note on how this role works. Rachio runs a flat organization that maintains high ownership and a fast-paced start-up culture. This is an individual contributor role. Your influence comes from the quality of your product judgment, the clarity of your writing, and your credibility with the engineers, designers, and operators who build what you define. If there is a gap in the organization or resourcing standing between your product and its launch, you are expected to step in and close it. When the same gap shows up a second time, you are expected to fix what produces it.

We also expect you to work AI-natively: using AI for the research synthesis, data analysis, and first drafts that used to take days, so your time goes to customers, evaluating trade-offs, and focusing on strategic debates.

Responsibilities

Own your line's roadmap and product definition

• Own the roadmap for your hardware line across new products, line extensions, and lifecycle work on what has already shipped, kept led by data: customer research, product telemetry, support and returns data, channel input, and competitive intelligence.
• Write the "working backwards" documents for each new product and major feature in your line: the customer problem, the value to customers, partners, and channels, the target price and cost, the success criteria, and the questions we have to answer before we commit.
• Turn those into detailed, crisp business requirements and user stories that Engineering and Design can build to, spanning hardware, firmware, and the tethered app experience.
• Manage the trade-offs among customer experience, performance, cost, schedule, and operational support load - and make the call, with a written rationale, when they conflict.
• Feed the portfolio roadmap: bring the Director of Product the evidence, the sequencing constraints, and the bets you think are worth making in your category.

Run the product development process for your line

• Run your line's stage gates as a mechanism, not a meeting: concept through EVT, DVT, PVT, and ramp, with clear owners and exit criteria at each, and an honest review of what we learned at the end.
• Contribute to engineering decisions on technology and architecture - radios and protocols, sensors, power, enclosures - with enough fluency to be useful in the room and to recognize when a decision is a one-way door.
• Know when a problem belongs to Design, hand it over cleanly, and facilitate their design development process rather than direct it.

Integrate with Supply Chain and Operations

• Work with Supply Chain from concept forward on cost targets, supplier and contract manufacturer selection, tooling, and certification timelines, so initial inventory availability and delivery SLAs are set before we sell the product, not after.
• Own the product inputs to supply and demand planning for your line: launch quantities, ramp assumptions, and transition and end-of-life plans.
• Surface component shortages, cost overruns, schedule slips, and quality escapes early enough that we can still do something about them.

Launch your line, and close the loop

• Partner with Product Marketing on your line's launches: crisp definition of the product experience (hardware and software) and its value to the customer, plus the technical inputs that positioning, packaging, and channel enablement depend on.
• Own launch readiness on the product side: certification, firmware and app readiness, in-box content, support documentation, and the go/no-go criteria for build and ship.
• Own and close the post-launch feedback loop: what is confusing customers, what is driving returns and support contacts, and what we fix in the next firmware or hardware revision.
• Work closely with Engineering and project management to deliver on schedule.
• Instrument your line so success is measurable: activation, engagement, return rate, defect and warranty rates, CSAT/NPS, and attach to software and subscription offerings.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications:

• You have been the lead PM on at least two consumer hardware products through a complete cycle - concept, definition, development, certification, launch - and stayed with it in the market long enough to live with your own decisions. One product you can discuss in real depth beats five you touched.
• You have been in the builds. You have sat through EVT and DVT reviews, read failure analysis, and been part of a decision to re-tool or to ship as-is.
• Hands-on fluency across mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, industrial design, and firmware. You do not need to be able to do all four. You do need to have worked closely enough with all four to hold your own: read a schematic and a mechanical drawing, know roughly what a tolerance change or an antenna placement costs, and tell when an estimate is soft.
• You have shipped through contract manufacturers and know what DFM, tooling timelines, and certification (FCC, UL, CE) actually require.
• Working knowledge of embedded firmware, mobile technology, web services, and back-end application infrastructure - enough to reason about what a feature actually requires.
• You have taken a hardware concept from raw product intuition through fast, measurable tests to a decision - including the tests that killed the idea.
• You direct AI to do work that used to take days - research synthesis, data analysis, first drafts - and you are clear about where its judgment ends and yours begins.
• Exceptional written communication. You can distill a complex set of trade-offs into a written narrative a leadership team can act on.
• Comfort operating as a hands-on individual contributor. You write the working backwards doc, build the requirements, run the gates, and sit in the DVT review yourself rather than assigning it.
• Bachelor's degree.

DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Experience with smart home platforms and protocols - Matter, Thread, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth - and the platform partners that certify them.
• Experience in two-step distribution or professional trade channels (irrigation, landscape, electrical, HVAC, plumbing, building products) alongside retail and D2C.
• Experience with outdoor products, lighting, water management, or the sustainability categories.
• Experience with partner, OEM, or white-label hardware programs.
• Experience running a product line through an NPI or stage-gate process you did not design - and improving it from the inside.
• Hands-on experience maintaining a residential yard and irrigation system (or willing and able to).
• Engineering degree or advanced degree.

Salary range for candidates based in California: $201,000 - $302,000

Salary range for candidates based in Colorado - New York- New York City or Maryland : $188,000 - $282,000

Salary ranges include base salary and annual incentive bonus if applicable.

Exact compensation may vary based on skills, experience, and location.

Rachio is an equal opportunity employer.

Originally posted on Himalayas