Head of Product Design, Hardware
Worldcoin
About the Company:
Worldcoin (www.worldcoin.org) is an open-source protocol, supported by a global community of developers, individuals, economists and technologists committed to expanding participation in, and access to, the global economy. Its community is united around core beliefs in the inherent worth and equality of every individual, the right to personal privacy, and open and public collaboration. These beliefs are reflected in what the community is building: a public utility to connect everyone to the global economy.
The Worldcoin Foundation (www.worldcoin.foundation) is the protocol’s steward and will support and grow the Worldcoin community until it becomes self-sufficient. Tools for Humanity (www.toolsforhumanity.com) is a global hardware and software development company. It helped launch Worldcoin and continues to provide support to the Foundation, in addition to operating the World App.
About the Team:
The Product Design team is responsible for leading the teams designing all mechanical, electrical, and optical elements of our Devices. The Device organization includes Industrial Design, Product Design, Product, Industrialization, Device Software, Concept and Operations.
About the Orb:
Worldcoin's launch requires a "Proof-of-Personhood": a way to determine someone is human (not a bot) and hasn't already claimed their free share of Worldcoin. This is why we developed the Orb.
The Orb is an advanced biometric imaging device, custom-designed for Worldcoin's launch. Orbs are deployed to a global network of operators, who use the device to onboard new Worldcoin users. During this onboarding, the Orb will generate a hash of each user's iris and submit it to Worldcoin's trustless backend (built on Ethereum). For more details on how the Orb is part of Worldcoin's privacy-preserving approach to Proof-of-Personhood, see How the Launch Works.
The Orb solves a fierce combination of engineering and UX challenges, centered around image quality, security, and ease-of-use. Each device has an advanced iris imaging system, designed to work consistently across real-world lighting conditions. An additional suite of sensors feeds into an onboard fraud detection system, enabling use in unsecured environments. These systems are combined in a sleek industrial design with a simple, minimalist user interface.
About the Opportunity:
As the Head of Product Design in the Device org, you will be responsible for leading the hardware design of the Orb and other Devices in their entirety. This includes complex mechanical, electrical and optical design workstreams. You will have the opportunity to lead diverse work streams and collaborate with Industrial design and Product teams as well as Manufacturing, Operations and Device Software and App teams.
In this role you will:
- Lead the teams of other Mechanical and Electrical engineers in the successful development and high volume ramp of the Device roadmap
- Lead the Mechanical design of all enclosure parts and mechanisms necessary for each Device
- Lead the Electrical design including compute (currently NVIDIA Jetson), PCBA schematic and layout, camera and sensor selection, battery design, WiFi and LTE connectivity, audio and LED design
- Lead the optical design including liquid lens development, optical filter design, actuated polarizer design and 3d TOF sensors, thermal, IR and RGB cameras.
- Support the workstreams across Industrial Design, Product, Device Software and Industrialization
- Help define the design strategy for future versions of the Orb and other Device products and drive the respective implementation
- Optimize the user experience of the device to be as simple and efficient as possible
- Optimize packaging design and materials
- Conceptualize accessories (backpack, stand, bumper case etc.), validate them and ultimately bring them to production in cooperation with the Product and Manufacturing teams.
- Collaborate with engineering and management to define program requirements, set priorities, and establish scope which includes defining the roadmap and long-term strategy of the teams that you are partnering with
- Manage cross functional dependencies, risks, and changes effectively by optimizing scope, schedule, and resources accordingly
- Monitor program status and rapidly identify issues / risks. Succinctly communicate issues to relevant stakeholders and proactively collaborate to ensure timely resolution
About You:
- Attention to detail
- You enjoy and are skilled at leading high performing teams
- You care a great deal about good design
- Bachelor’s degree or higher in an engineering or design related discipline
- Enjoy a fast-paced environment
- Care more about outcome than process
- Enjoy solving hard problems and can turn incomplete, conflicting, or ambiguous inputs into action plans
- Experience operating autonomously and leading large-scale efforts across multiple teams and functions, with stakeholders in different disciplines across time zones
- You are able to handle projects from kick-off to production, demonstrating critical thinking and thought leadership.
- You look around the corners to anticipate potential blockers and navigate effectively
- Experience working on complex hardware and software integrated products
- Strong written and verbal communication skills, build strong relationships with technical and non-technical stakeholders and teams around the organization in order to drive alignment within the organization
- Ability to clearly articulate & read, write and speak in English (company language)
- Optimally 10+ years of relevant Design leadership experience in Mechanical, Electrical and Optical products ranging from concept through high volume production
What we offer:
- An open and collaborative office space in Munich’s Maxvorstadt!
- 30 vacation days on top of public holidays for the region
- Tools for Humanity covers your Deutschland Ticket costs
- Free Lunch and Dinner whenever you’re in the office!