Product Cost Engineer, Capital Equipment

Own the financial performance of capital equipment investments for the AR Glasses portfolio, from early process concepts through ramp.

Responsibilities

• Establish and refine capital cost targets at program and portfolio levels; cascade targets down to line, station, and equipment while aligning Process, Tooling, Test, and Sourcing teams to meet them
• Develop should-cost models for capital equipment and validate supplier quotes by decomposing pricing to confirm quotes are cost-justified before commitment
• Partner with Sourcing on supplier strategy, Supplier Plan of Record (SPOR), and negotiation strategy; provide should-cost benchmarks, competitive alternatives, multi-program bundling leverage, and payment and milestone term guidance
• Manage capital expenditure (capex) reporting across the AR Glasses portfolio, including tooling, fixtures, automation, test and metrology equipment, and factory infrastructure; track flow-through to Total Cost per Unit via depreciation and capex-per-unit
• Work with Hardware and Manufacturing Engineering to identify and drive capital reduction opportunities such as station consolidation, cycle time and takt improvements, fixture simplification, test time reduction, and utilization gains
• Define and drive intergenerational re-use strategy by assessing the installed base for carry-forward across generations and programs; quantify manual versus automation trade-offs; influence design and process commonality; track realized re-use against budget
• Lead cross-functional capital reviews comparing actual versus target capex, utilization, re-use, and risks/opportunities; evaluate capital implications of design, process, automation, and test changes
• Support capital approval and governance in partnership with Capex Sourcing and Finance, including business cases, depreciation treatment, and redeployment or disposition of idle assets
• Codify capital cost management best practices into scalable processes and documentation across the organization

Requirements

• BS or higher in Manufacturing & Operations, Industrial, Mechanical or Electrical Engineering, or equivalent experience
• 8+ years of experience in capital cost management, manufacturing/process engineering, tooling, or automation roles in hardware products
• Experience building capital or capacity models (equipment cost, UPH, cycle time, OEE, utilization, staffing) to support investment decisions
• Knowledge of Operations and Supply Chain with demonstrated effective communication skills
• Experience collaborating across engineering, sourcing, and finance to align on trade-offs between cost, schedule, and technical requirements
• Experience applying analytical and problem-solving methods to cost, capital, or supply chain challenges and communicating findings to cross-functional stakeholders
• Experience with equipment re-use, redeployment, or intergenerational tooling strategy across product generations
• Familiarity with capital governance, depreciation, payback/NPV analysis, and asset disposition

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience adhering to and implementing responsible, ethical AI practices (risk assessment, bias mitigation, quality and accuracy reviews)
• Demonstrated ability to integrate AI tools to optimize or redesign workflows and drive measurable impact (efficiency gains, quality improvements)
• Demonstrated ongoing AI skill development (prompt/context engineering, agent orchestration) and staying current with emerging AI technologies
• Experience with complex capital equipment, including new line bring-up and ramp
• Master's degree or MBA in a relevant field (Engineering, Operations, Business)
• 10+ years of experience in capital cost, manufacturing engineering, or product cost management roles in hardware technology products
• Background in Manufacturing, Operations, or Engineering

Location

• Sunnyvale, CA (onsite)

Compensation

• USD 168,000 - 234,000 per year

Benefits

• Bonus
• Equity
• Benefits