Hardware Engineering Manager

About us

Food waste is a $1 trillion problem – costing the world over 1% of global GDP. We’re dead set on solving the problem and looking for people to help us achieve our mission. We, at Winnow, believe that food is far too valuable to waste, and that technology can transform the way we produce food. Our team is made of people who all share a passion for food and technology.

Winnow was founded in London in 2013 to help the hospitality industry prevent food waste through internet of things tools in the kitchen. We have worked with thousands of sites and are operating in over 90 countries around the world supported by our offices in London, Dubai, Singapore, Cluj-Napoca (Romania) and Chicago. We are a scale-up stage company with a strong base of clients who are rolling out our system globally. We have blue-chip customers including Accor Hotels, IKEA, IHG, Marriott, Compass Group and many others.

Winnow’s clients on average reduce waste by over 50% by value and sustain savings. Winnow works with hotels, universities and schools, staff restaurants, event/hospitality kitchens, buffets, pubs, and high street restaurants. Where the system is permanently adopted, pre-consumer waste value is reduced by 50% - 70% with no detrimental impact to the perceived quality or value of the offer to their customers. This represents a typical improvement of food cost savings of 3% to 8%, commonly a 40%+ increase in profitability for operations.

As the global leader in addressing food waste, we are committed to continue pushing the envelope on what technology can do to solve this problem. Winnow Vision, our new artificial intelligence-based technology, is trained to automatically track all food waste thrown away. It has won awards at the World Economic Forum and has received tremendous enthusiasm from our clients and the industry. You can read more about it on our website and this article in Forbes.

Other recent accolades saw Winnow listed in the 2025 Sunday Times Best Places to Work - a recognition based on feedback from our UK team. While this award is based in the UK, it reflects something global: a culture built on purpose, collaboration, and the belief that businesses can - and should - tackle real-world problems while being great places to work. Previous awards saw Winnow in the top 10 of the FoodTech 500 awards - the worlds first definitive list of the global entrepreneurial talent at the intersection between food, technology and sustainability, as well as winning Impact 50's most impactful companies to work for. You can read more about it here.

We are passionate about living our values and place them at the centre of everything we do. We are excited about like minded talent who share these values, joining us in our mission:

Equal parts head and heart. We’re both passionate and measured. We carefully balance the need for quick solutions and pragmatism with the ability to step back, take in the bigger picture and build for the long term.

Bravely honest. With each other, that means we’re a transparent organisation where healthy, respectful debate is encouraged. With our customers, we challenge them if we don’t think they’re achieving their goals, whether they be environmental or financial.

People of action. Done is better than perfect, and we learn by boldly doing then rapidly improving. We’re breaking new ground, so we know things might go wrong. But we judge ourselves and each other on our reaction and our resilience.

Bound by food. We’re a diverse bunch, but our belief in the value of food is the common thread in everything we do. With each other, we celebrate through our love and respect for food. With our customers, it means we work hard to develop creative tools to make it easy for chefs to value food.

Hungry and humble. Our product is revolutionary, our people are impressive, and we’re hungry for change. But, we’re just the catalyst for a bigger movement. We stay humble regardless of our success, and make chefs the heroes in this journey.

People and planet positive. We’re caretakers of the planet, helping to preserve and support it for now and the future. Our work already minimises the impact that the hospitality industry has on the planet, and we’re also committed to actively reducing our own footprint while doing so. We’re leaving the planet and its people better off than we found them.

This is an opportunity to join an exciting organisation and help us propel our growth at what are truly the most exciting and dynamic points in time in our business. You will work alongside a driven team who are motivated by building an exciting business and leaving the world a better place than we found it.

Requirements

About the role

We are seeking an experienced Hardware Engineering Manager to take strategic ownership of our hardware portfolio and devise and execute the strategy for scaling our hardware solutions. This is a hands-on leadership role where you will operate with significant autonomy: you will own the full product lifecycle from EVT through to MP, devise the hardware roadmap and system architecture, establish and embed world-class engineering processes, and take ownership of our Contract Manufacturer relationships and global supply chain strategy.

You will independently lead and mentor a Hardware team of three, holding full accountability for their development, performance, and delivery. You will challenge the status quo, identify opportunities to improve how we engineer and manufacture our hardware, and act as the ambassador for the hardware function across Winnow. You will translate our longer-term product vision into actionable tactical plans, and execute these plans with little guidance, escalating strategically where needed.

Reporting to the company Founder, you will make critical decisions around design direction, manufacturing partnerships, and supply chain strategy, while staying hands-on in the lab.

This is a full-time position, and is 100% office based. We are located in Farringdon, Central London and there will be occasional travel to customer sites or manufacturing partners.

Key responsibilities

Strategic Hardware Leadership & Product Lifecycle

• Devise and execute the hardware roadmap and system architecture, independently prioritising development efforts and identifying where to invest R&D resources to scale active units into the thousands
• Own the full product lifecycle end-to-end—from EVT through DVT, PVT, and MP - making tactical decisions about design trade-offs, cost reduction, and functionality without requiring approval on standard execution
• Lead and mentor the Hardware team of three with full accountability for their performance, development, and delivery; proactively coach them through the complete hardware development process and empower them to solve problems independently
• Establish and embed new engineering processes — such as job pack release protocols, version control systems for PCBA design, and design change management — that raise standards and scale across the organisation
• Drive new product development from conception to field deployment, aggressively reducing landed costs whilst adding functionality and improving reliability

Manufacturing Strategy & Supply Chain Ownership

• Take ownership of the Contract Manufacturer (CM) bid process and CM relationship strategy across domestic and overseas vendors, making independent decisions on vendor selection and negotiation with strategic input from finance and operations as needed
• Establish and manage CM relationships end-to-end, overseeing PCBA manufacturing, full box-builds, comprehensive testing regimes, and quality assurance; challenge CM performance and drive continuous improvement
• Build and execute a global supply chain strategy, identifying technology partners, assessing component suitability, negotiating commercial terms, and managing warranty and support contracts independently
• Implement and evolve manufacturing best practices—including rigorous stock control, handling procedures, quality control, and traceability—establishing these as the standard across all manufacturing partners

Engineering Excellence, Compliance & Cross-Functional Leadership

• Navigate and independently manage global compliance testing and certification processes, including RF, EMC, and Safety standards (CE, UL, CSA, MET); own responsibility for maintaining and updating our compliance roadmap as products evolve
• Collaborate with software engineering teams to integrate hardware with operating systems, managing edge device configurations and firmware operations; challenge technical assumptions and propose creative solutions where integration challenges arise
• Establish and own a robust failure analysis framework for hardware returns, utilising serial number tracking and failure mode data to drive continuous improvement and prevent recurrence
• Engage in hands-on lab work when necessary—prototyping, testing, debugging, and PCBA re-work—bringing practical engineering insight to team decisions and acting as a technical problem-solver
• Act as the ambassador for the hardware function across Winnow, building relationships with product, software, and commercial teams; effectively communicate hardware constraints and opportunities to non-technical stakeholders

About you

Key Technical Skills & Requirements

• Degree in Electronic Engineering or equivalent; or significant hands-on experience that demonstrates equivalent technical depth
• Significant hands-on experience building and delivering hardware solutions, ideally including IoT or edge device products
• Proven track record leading the full product lifecycle of an electronic design end-to-end—from inception and design specification through prototyping, PCB design, testing, finalised product, documentation, public release, design changes for latent defects, and product end-of-life
• Experience leading or managing a team through product delivery and continuous improvement, with a track record of mentoring and developing other engineers
• Expertise identifying suitable components for designs, designing electronic subsystems, and implementing subsystems into larger designs
• Proven experience managing Contract Manufacturer relationships and/or global supply chains, including bid processes, vendor negotiation, and compliance/certification programmes
• Practical experience using Claude to support engineering work—whether accelerating documentation, debugging, code/firmware review, or research—and comfort evaluating where these tools add value versus where hands-on expertise is essential

Personal attributes

• You are a creative problem-solver who enjoys generating hypotheses for unknown issues, rigorously testing and documenting solutions, and sharing learnings with the team
• You are structured in your thinking with a disciplined approach to diagnosing and solving complex problems; you independently seek solutions and are comfortable making decisions with incomplete information
• You are results-driven and can demonstrate how you have delivered effective solutions in a timely manner, balancing speed with quality
• You are comfortable taking ownership and accountability for your work whilst working effectively as part of a larger team; you hold yourself and others to a high standard
• You are assertive when needed, and able to challenge the thinking of others in a respectful, non-confrontational way; you suggest and implement creative and innovative solutions to improve how things are done
• You are persuasive and personable, building strong relationships with both internal teams and external manufacturing partners; you enjoy the challenge of managing stakeholder expectations and gaining buy-in
• You are able to organise yourself effectively, including scheduling, prioritisation, and time management; you manage multiple complex projects in parallel and deliver to tight deadlines
• You are motivated and curious, absorbing new information quickly and applying it reliably; you have the courage to learn new technology and adapt your approach when circumstances change

Benefits

• Company stock options package

• Pension scheme
• Eye care vouchers
• Life insurance
• Company part-funded health insurance
• 2 Wellness hours per month, plus a £20 monthly wellness allowance
• Employee Assistance Programme - 24/7 helpline for your wellbeing
• 25 days of paid vacation time (plus the option to buy a further 5 days annual leave) in addition to national holidays
• You will love what you do - waking up every day solving one of the biggest social problems of our generation
• Committed team members with broad experience who share a common passion to build a world class business