Head of Operations

About the Company

Human Archive is a research lab backed by Y Combinator focused on modeling human embodied intelligence. Founded by Stanford and UC Berkeley researchers, we build custom hardware products to recover human embodied intelligence as a learned model.

Responsibilities

• Manage day-to-day relationships with manufacturing partners, including SOW, milestone tracking, and contract negotiations
• Handle component sourcing for critical parts like image sensors, IMUs, and Li-ion cells, managing pricing and lead times
• Conduct in-person factory visits, line audits, and first-article inspections
• Perform floor QA, incoming material inspection, and yield improvement
• Act as a liaison for DFM reviews between engineering and ODM process engineers
• Manage commercial compliance including FCC, CE, RoHS, and REACH documentation
• Track BOM costs and manage IP protection arrangements

Requirements

• Mandarin-native with business-fluent English
• Resident in Shenzhen or willing to relocate
• 5+ years in hardware supply chain or ODM management roles in China
• Deep working network across the Chinese consumer electronics supply chain
• Ability to work on-site at factory floors and in vendor meetings

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience at hardware companies building head-worn, body-worn, or consumer camera products
• Sony industrial sensor allocation experience
• Prior relationships at Tier-1 Chinese ODMs
• Experience scaling hardware from <100 to 10,000+ units per year