Engineering Manager, Data Systems Hardware & Site Engineering

Reality Labs is looking for an Engineering Manager to lead our Data Systems Hardware & Site Engineering team. This team designs, builds, and deploys the devices and systems used to capture the datasets behind Reality Labs products. That work supports Codec Avatars, Input, and Health programs across all RL devices, and enables the algorithm development and research behind those programs. You'll manage a multi-disciplinary engineering team (mechanical, electrical, firmware/embedded software, and systems engineering) across three classes of capture hardware. Studio systems: large-scale multi-camera rigs with controlled lighting, hardware synchronization, high-bandwidth ingest, and storage infrastructure. Wearable prototypes: data collection headsets, sensor-integrated form factor mockups, and body-worn devices that hold sensor alignment and repeatable positioning across participants. In-the-wild systems: portable and participant-operated hardware that collects outside a controlled lab, durable enough for sustained handling by non-engineering operators and serviceable in the field. You'll also own the site engineering function that deploys and sustains these systems across North America. You're a builder and a leader. You'll get hands-on with critical hardware challenges, represent and advocate for the hardware engineering craft, and develop the overall data collection strategy with program leaders and stakeholders. That means translating research roadmaps into system requirements, deciding which modality fits which program need, and making sure our capture capabilities keep up. Requirements are often undefined at project start. Research direction and program priorities shift, and specs get established through prototyping and measurement. You'll be the connective tissue between researchers, engineers, and site teams, determining project priority, feasibility, and resource allocation across programs with competing timelines.

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop the hardware, electrical, and embedded software engineering craft for data capture systems across multiple RL programs
• Own the design and evolution of studio capture systems, including multi-camera arrays, structured lighting, hardware synchronization, high-bandwidth data pipelines, and on-site storage infrastructure
• Own the design and evolution of wearable capture prototypes, including data collection headsets, sensor-integrated form factor mockups, and body-worn devices, covering sensor integration, alignment repeatability, fit, comfort, thermal, and participant safety
• Own the design and evolution of in-the-wild collection systems that operate outside controlled lab environments, built for transport, field assembly, and use by non-engineering operators
• Manage a team of mechanical, electrical, and firmware engineers. Mentor, grow, and develop leaders and individual contributors
• Represent and advocate for the hardware engineering craft. Develop the right processes, practices, and people to accomplish the team's work
• Own the team's systems for designing, simulating, prototyping, and testing capture hardware
• Drive architecture and design reviews for hardware and firmware across device programs
• Provide individual technical contributions by implementing electro-mechanical and firmware solutions on critical projects
• Establish design standards, common platforms, and reusable subsystems to reduce cost and schedule on subsequent builds
• Identify essential roles and recruit top engineering talent
• Develop the overall data collection strategy with program leaders and stakeholders across Codec Avatars, Input, and Health
• Translate research roadmaps into system requirements and capture capability targets
• Decide which collection modality fits which program need, and make the trade-offs across data quality, participant scale, cost, and deployability explicit
• Define equipment standards and technical specifications for capture systems
• Own the site engineering function for data collection sites across North America, including deployment planning, bring-up, and sustained technical support
• Build and manage site engineering teams (technicians, coordinators, contingent workers) that install, operate, and maintain capture systems
• Accountable for hardware inventory, logistics, maintenance, and equipment standards across distributed sites
• Ensure, through partners, scaled deployment and site-level technical processes including calibration, validation, privacy and data compliance, and participant safety
• Perform root-cause analysis on failures in deployed hardware, drive design improvements back into the systems, and verify effectiveness
• Design for transport, field assembly, and reconfiguration across sites, and support device bring-up and troubleshooting on location
• Manage site engineering budgets and resource allocation across collections and hardware programs
• Serve as liaison between researchers, engineering, site teams, and software teams across programs
• Coordinate complex projects with key partners. Manage team allocation, schedules, milestones, and delivery
• Influence leaders and key partners to gain alignment, build virtual teams, and accomplish cross-team goals
• Drive improvements through measurement, feedback loops, and continuous iteration
• Balance priorities across Codec Avatars, Input, and Health programs with competing timelines and resource needs

Minimum Qualifications

• BS or higher in Mechanical, Electrical, or Systems Engineering (or equivalent experience)
• 12+ years experience as a hardware engineer working across one or more of: electrical, mechanical, embedded software, systems engineering, or similar domain
• 5+ years in leadership and people management in medium to large scale organizations
• Direct experience shipping consumer hardware or working in technology R&D organizations
• Demonstrated expertise with complex data capture systems, including multi-camera rigs, lighting, hardware synchronization, and high-bandwidth data pipelines
• Experience with hardware that integrates cameras, sensors, and compute into constrained or wearable form factors
• Experience owning multi-site technical operations or site engineering (labs, data collection, manufacturing, or similar)
• Demonstrated domain knowledge in compute and systems development with a proven track record building advanced technology
• Experience leading design development from schematic capture, PCB layout through assembly
• Experience establishing requirements and specifications in environments where full system requirements are undefined at project start

Preferred Qualifications

• Deep expertise in camera systems, structured/controlled lighting, time synchronization (PTP/genlock), and high-speed data ingest/storage architectures
• Experience with AR/VR headsets, smart glasses, or other head-mounted hardware
• Experience designing hardware for repeated handling, transport, and field deployment by non-engineering operators
• Experience managing distributed teams and vendor partnerships across multiple geographies
• Background in health/medical devices, input devices, or biometric sensing systems
• Experience working with CM and EMS partners in design, manufacture, testing, and delivery of hardware solutions
• Experience developing data collection strategy across multiple programs and collection modalities
• Experience with digital circuit design and communications protocols (I2C, UART, SPI, USB, MIPI, I2S)
• Experience with high-bandwidth data transport (10G/25G/100G Ethernet, PCIe, NVMe, high-speed serial interfaces)
• Experience with head-worn, wearable, or body-worn devices, including fit, adjustment mechanisms, and anthropometric sizing
• Experience with 3D design modeling (NX or SolidWorks) and physical prototyping
• Experience with embedded computing and wearable devices
• Experience with motion capture, photogrammetry, or biometric sensing systems
• Experience with privacy, data compliance, and participant safety requirements in human subject study environments
• Experience with instrumented prototypes or research hardware built for data capture rather than production release

$208,000/year to $289,000/year + bonus + equity + benefits