Senior Manager, R&D (New Products)

Senior Manager, R&D (New Products)

About The Company

Metantz connects the top 1% talents to global opportunities. This is an exciting opportunity with our award-winning customer, a deeptech ROV company, setting category benchmarks. They are a Kochi-based deep-tech company building underwater robots for places people can’t safely reach: dams, ports, ships and offshore infrastructure. Defence, government, infrastructure and energy customers in India and abroad already use our systems in the field. We are expanding our product portfolio, and we need a hands-on product leader to take the next generation of robots from idea to field-ready product.

The role

You will own the new product development pipeline and report to the CTO. This is not a pure research role, and it is not a sustaining-engineering role for existing products. You will turn emerging customer and mission needs into new, reliable, manufacturable robotic products. You will lead a multi-disciplinary team through concept, prototype, field trials and handover to production.

What You Will Do

• Define the new-product roadmap with the CTO and CEO, based on customer needs, market gaps and technology feasibility.
• Run new-product programs end to end: requirements, architecture, prototype, field trials, design freeze and production handover.
• Lead and mentor a multi-disciplinary team across mechanical, electronics, embedded, software, controls, sensors and communications.
• Run proof-of-concept and prototype cycles quickly, with clear go/no-go gates so that experiments don’t drift into commitments.
• Set up disciplined testing: lab, environmental, endurance and field trials. Feed every failure back into the design.
• Keep production handovers clean, with complete drawings, BOMs, firmware versions and test procedures.
• Work with Sales and customers on feasibility, estimates and early pilots for new products, and manage scope on custom requests.
• Manage program budgets, vendors, partners and component choices, including obsolescence and single-source risks.
• Contribute to IP creation and protection (patents, design records, documentation).
• Work closely with the existing product, production and field teams so that new products build on proven platforms.

You might be a fit if you have

• 8–12 years of experience in engineering and R&D, including 3+ years leading teams or programs.
• Experience at a robotics or drone company (UAV, UGV, marine or other autonomous systems), with new products taken from concept to field deployment.
• Hands-on depth in at least one core discipline (mechanical, electronics, embedded, controls or software) and enough breadth to lead across all of them.
• Experience with prototyping, validation, field trials and the move to manufacturing.
• Familiarity with sensors, navigation, communications and autonomy stacks (a strong plus).
• Exposure to defence, government or other high-reliability product requirements (a plus).
• A Bachelor’s or Master’s in electronics, electrical, mechanical, mechatronics, robotics, aerospace, computer science or a related field.
• Strong systems thinking, sound technical judgment and the discipline to deliver on commitments.

What Success Looks Like In 180 Days

• You have reviewed the current new-product pipeline, team capacity, technical risks and key-person dependencies.
• A prioritised new-product portfolio is agreed, with owners, milestones and go/no-go gates.
• At least one priority program has a validated architecture and a working prototype in test.
• A repeatable prototype-to-field-trial-to-handover process is in place.
• A regular review cadence surfaces risks early for the CTO and leadership.

What This Role Is Not

It isn’t research detached from delivery, a role where every design decision runs through you, a pure project coordination role without technical ownership, or a firefighting role for existing products.

Why join

You will build the next generation of robotics for some of the harshest environments on earth, work directly with the founders and CTO, and own new products from first sketch to the field.

Location

Kochi, Kerala. Full-time, with travel for trials, customers and partners.