Application Engineer: End-of-Line Automation

Who We Are:

At Formic, we’re on a mission to revolutionize American manufacturing and create more abundance in the world. We believe in continuing the American legacy of innovation by making automation accessible to all manufacturers and increasing their factory productivity by 10x. 

Supporting us in our mission, with investments thus far totaling over $60 million, are backers including Lux Capital, Initialized Capital, Blackhorn Ventures, Mitsubishi HC Capital NA, and CEOs and founders of multiple Fortune 50 companies.

The Solutions Team is dedicated to helping our customers address production challenges by developing automation solutions that deliver superb production outcomes. The team collaborates with prospective customers and the Formic sales team to scope out and understand challenges, identify the value drivers for the customer, and develop a fully managed Robotics-as-a-Service solution with cost reductions and a positive ROI on Day 1.

In this role you will serve as our customers’ first pre-sale technical and applications point of contact - advocating for their success and navigating the requirements of their production operation. You will establish credibility in both production and technical expertise with prospective customers and will rapidly develop an understanding of their production goals, challenges, and needs. You will leverage that understanding to serve as a consultative partner, providing customers with a solution, context, and guidance on the best path forward to deliver their desired production outcome. Additionally, you will partner with Formic’s Deployment Team to complete successful project handoffs and enable us to cross-functionally deliver the value of the solution you developed. This position is highly impactful in Formic’s mission to be a valued partner in enabling customers’ adoption of automation; you will be a key driver in our customers’ first steps along their automation journey.

As End-of-Line Application Engineering Manager you will:

• Partner with prospective customers, sales, and cross-functional internal teams to understand prospective customers’ needs and key manufacturing challenges
• Establish credibility with prospective customers as a trusted production and technical resource
• Conduct technical discovery calls in partnership with Sales team to understand customer automation needs and gather requirements
• Analyze production requirements, customer value drivers, project constraints, CAD data, parts lists, and other production and technical specifications to rapidly develop accurate and robust scopes of work and prospective solutions
• Scope and develop robotic automation solutions from Formic’s portfolio of standard automation products that deliver a prospect’s desired production outcome
• Provide the sales team with quick-turn cost estimates that will be used in developing proposals for customers
• Dynamically iterate solutions & proposals as needed to align with feedback from prospective customers, Formic sales team members, and Formic’s cross-disciplinary teams
• Participate in design reviews and customer meetings as needed throughout the pre-sales process to drive opportunities to a successful close
• Facilitate smooth customer from Sales/Solutions to Deployment, ensuring all information is communicated for a successful design, build and deployment
• Effectively manage multiple projects/proposals in flight at a time
• Recommend changes in procedures, design, or standard equipment where necessary
• Leverage understanding of customers’ businesses and feedback to identify gaps in Formic’s technical, operational, and commercial offerings
• Visit customer sites in person as needed

What makes you a great fit:

• Minimum 3+ years of demonstrated success in a similar position
• Preferred 7+ years of experience in related manufacturing or automation field
• Mastery of one or more segments of factory automation (case-packing and/or palletizing preferred), with a firm understanding of accurate costs related to deploying turnkey automation systems
• Familiarity with one or more major six-axis robot OEMs, such as Fanuc, Kuka, Yaskawa, Universal Robots, and ABB
• Hunger to learn, and grow in a fast-paced environment
• Expert-level understanding of factory automation including hands-on experience
• Familiarity and experience with CAD drafting required
• Ability to organize, track, and manage deliverables across multiple concurrent projects
• Ability to travel up to 50%
• A current, valid driver’s license and access to a car for daily local travel

Bonus points if you have:

• Experience in a consulting, consultative sales, technical sales, or similar environment
• Experience supporting technology adoption in a production or manufacturing environment 

What we look for: We’re building a company from the ground up, so every single person we hire has a massive impact on our team, culture, and ability to accomplish our mission. While each individual brings their own unique skills and perspectives to Formic, we look for people who share our vision and act in alignment with our Operating Principles. If this sounds like you, Formic could be the place for you!

• Fearless Optimism: You share our ambitious vision of what we can accomplish. You’re aware of the challenges we will face as a startup doing new things in an old space, but you’re energized by the incredible opportunity we have to drive change for our customers, and for the manufacturing industry at large.
• Factories First: You have a strong customer focus, no matter who your customer is. You seek to make things easier and better for our customers, even if it makes your job a little harder. 
• Today, Not Tomorrow: There are always plenty of projects to tackle in a startup, but you prioritize, take accountability for work, and have a bias toward action.
• Be Right Often: You don’t do things just because that’s how they’ve always been done. You keep looking for ways to improve, seek out feedback along the way, and back your decisions up with data. 
• Made of Rubber: Just like rubber, when you fall you bounce back up. You know there’s going to be a lot of challenge and change in our work ahead but you are adaptable, resilient, and ready to thrive through it all.
• Good Baton Passes: You work with a desire to make things easier and better for your team members. You use empathy to understand the needs and goals of others and support each other so Formic can be successful together.