Product Manager, Machine Tending

Responsibilities

You will own the strategy, roadmap, and commercialization of the machine tending product line, including managing third-party partnerships and internal development. You will also lead technical deployments, define standard configurations, and serve as the subject matter expert for sales and engineering teams.

Requirements

The role requires a bachelor's degree in engineering and at least 7 years of experience in industrial automation and robotics. Candidates must have hands-on experience with CNC equipment, robot safety standards, and cross-functional project management.

Skills

• Industrial automation
• Robotics
• Product management
• CNC machining
• Project management
• System integration
• Mechanical engineering
• Electrical engineering
• Controls engineering
• Robot safety standards
• Machine vision
• Technical sales
• Product roadmap
• Cross-functional leadership
• Commissioning
• Data analysis

Benefits

• Equity
• Commission structure
• Medical insurance
• Dental insurance
• Vision insurance
• Life insurance
• Short-term disability
• Long-term disability
• Employee assistance program
• Paid parental leave
• 401(k)
• Home office stipend
• Cell phone reimbursement
• Flexible time off

About this role

Who we are:
Formic is on a mission to reshape American manufacturing by making automation accessible to every factory. As labor constraints rise, costs increase, and global competition intensifies, automation is no longer optional for manufacturers that want to stay competitive.
We deliver automation through a Robotics-as-a-Service model that combines industrial robotics, proprietary software, and full-service support into a single, integrated solution. By removing the traditional barriers of cost, complexity, and risk, we enable manufacturers to deploy automation quickly and realize measurable gains in throughput, safety, and operational efficiency without large upfront capital investment.
Backed by leading investors including Lux Capital, Initialized Capital, Blackhorn Ventures, and Mitsubishi HC Capital North America, Formic is scaling rapidly and building the foundation for a new era of high-performance, Made in America production.
About the team:
The Automation Engineering Team is responsible for delivering robotics-driven automation deployments across a wide range of customer applications. The team partners cross-functionally to translate customer requirements into deployed systems, ensuring solutions are integrated, commissioned, and validated to perform reliably in real manufacturing environments. Automation Engineering works closely with customers, internal technical teams, and external integrators to execute deployments on schedule while maintaining high standards for quality, safety, and repeatability.
About the role:

As Product Manager, Machine Tending, you will own the development, commercialization, and growth of Formic's machine tending offering across both tracks. You will decide which applications we pursue, define standard configurations and pricing, and lead the engineering work that makes them repeatable to deploy.
You will need enough engineering depth to make technical decisions and enough business sense to make commercial ones. You will set direction, get hands-on when needed, and serve as Formic's subject matter expert for the vertical. The goal is an offering Sales can confidently sell, Engineering can consistently deliver, and customers can rely on.
In this role you will:
Own the machine tending product:
Own the strategy, roadmap, and portfolio across third-party and internally developed solutions
Prioritize applications across CNC mills, lathes, machining centers, and press equipment, and define standard configurations and application boundaries
Set requirements for robots, CNC interfaces, workholding, EOAT, controls, software, and safety, favoring compact footprints, quick changeovers, and minimal programming
Develop a robust portfolio of offerings that span the common use cases of our customers. This will include systems to sport a full range of offerings in the High Mix / Low Volume and High Volume / Low Mix applications.
Develop third-party system integration and partnerships:
Evaluate and select third-party machine tending platforms and integration partners against Formic standards for safety, uptime, serviceability, and cost
Define integration standards for partner systems (Formic telemetry, remote monitoring, safety review, documentation, and spares) so each one is supported like any other fleet asset
Negotiate and manage relationships with integrators, machine tool builders, and OEMs, including pricing, lead times, support terms, and co-marketing
Aggregate lessons from partner deployments into the requirements for Formic's internal product
Develop Formic-designed machine tending systems:
Lead robot arm selection across collaborative and industrial platforms (FANUC, Yaskawa, Universal Robots, ABB, KUKA, Others), weighing payload, reach, cycle time, safety architecture, CNC integration support, cost, and serviceability
Scope a modular design framework that covers turning, milling, grinding, Swiss-type, and press applications from a common base of cell frame, controls, safety, and software
Define part presentation options (drawers, grids, carts, pallets) and EOAT libraries scaled to part size, weight, and batch volume
Validate designs on reference cells before release, and partner with Project Engineering on controlled models, BOMs, and documentation
Lead technical development and deployment:
Turn requirements into development plans, scope, and milestones across mechanical, electrical, controls, software, and applications engineering
Development of standardized options for Machine Tool interface. Determination of the best practice for the most common machine tools and supplementary system for models that are unique
Own the deployment playbook from site survey through FAT, SAT, commissioning, and handoff to Field Operations, including safety risk assessments
Reduce install time and support needs using field feedback, and evaluate vision and AI where they add reliable value
Support sales and commercialization:
Serve as the technical subject matter expert for Sales, Solutions Engineering, and customers across active and queued clusters
Build a qualification framework that fits applications to standard offerings and flags custom work early, enabling accurate one-shot quoting
Support scoping, estimates, and quotations, ensuring NRE and application-specific costs are captured
Create specifications, application guidelines, and sales materials, and support launch events, IMTS, and named-customer case studies
Manage product economics and partnerships:
Own cost targets and improve margins through design, standardization, sourcing, and reconditioned equipment
Compare the full cost of third-party versus internal products, including development, deployment, and support
Build relationships with integrators, machine tool builders, and technology suppliers
What makes you a great fit:
Bachelor's degree in Engineering; MBA is a plus
7+ years in industrial automation and robotics spanning engineering and product or project management
Direct experience deploying or productiz...

About Formic

Automation Machinery Manufacturing · 51-200 employees · headquartered in Bolingbrook, Illinois · founded 2020