Product Design Engineering Director

COWBOY

Cowboy is a Belgian startup that is developing innovative electric bikes for urban riders. Cowboy’s main goal is to improve urban mobility and take commuters to their destination in a more enjoyable, sustainable and efficient manner.

Founded in 2017 by entrepreneurs Adrien Roose, Karim Slaoui and Tanguy Goretti, Cowboy is headquartered in Brussels, Belgium. Cowboy is the winner of the Eurobike 2017, the Red-Dot bicycle design award 2018 and the Red-Dot “Best of the Best” award for the Cowboy 2.

With traffic congestion plaguing metropolitan areas, electric bikes are proving to be the fastest means of transportation, beating cars and ground public transport. Cowboy’s vision is to elevate the daily commute to the next level in terms of speed, comfort and freedom of movement around the city. Cowboy enhances the riding experience by unifying intelligent technology, delightful design and meticulous customer service.

In April 2019, Cowboy launched its second model, the Cowboy 2, and introduced it to 8 additional countries (Germany, France, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Austria, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom). In June 2020, Cowboy unveiled its third generation electric bike.

In July 2020, Cowboy raised €23 Million from international investors (including Exor Seeds, the early stage investment arm of Exor, Isomer Capital, Future Positive Capital and Index Ventures) in the Series B round. Cowboy plans to recruit 30+ new talent in the next six months, scale operations, and expand its footprint across Europe through its Test Ride and Mobile Service networks.

About the role and what you'll be doing

We’re looking for a very experienced Product Design Engineer to join us here at Cowboy and help us achieve our ambitious vision: to change urban mobility through mass production of high-tech yet affordable electric bicycles.

Leading a team of highly qualified product design engineers and working directly for the VP Hardware Engineering, you will take ultimate responsibility over the development and the evaluation of mechanical parts of our bikes. You will find innovative solutions to achieve our design target while keeping performance high, BOM cost within budget and insure ever better reliability. From conception to production, from the choice of supplier to signing-off final drawings.

As a key part of the Engineering team you will also have to nurture and grow your young but talented team into a world class engineering function.

Main responsibility areas of the role

• Lead the product design and development of the future bike platforms of Cowboy
• Set the technical vision and manage the product development roadmap
• Lead design and drawing review for all mechanical modules, constantly improving the quality of the engineering
• Support industrial design team to design new concepts and evaluate technical feasibility by rapid prototyping
• Write test plans and approve test reports
• Work closely with supplier; on-site when required
  
• Manage a growing team of Product Design Engineers
• Set up the right processes and use the right tools to make sure the product design function is a scalable part of the Hardware Engineering department.
• Manage the selection, evaluation, and integration of external resources

Requirements

• Masters degree in Mechanical Engineering.
• 10+ years of relevant industry experience, having an experience in the bike industry is a plus.
• Experience with metallic and plastic part/sub-assy development with a strong partnership with designer
• Familiarity with the challenges of development for high-volume manufacturing.
• Hands on experience with rapid prototyping, fine tuning and reliability testing.
• Understanding of core technologies that drive state of the plastic and metallic manufacturing.
• Experience in planning engineering projects (from concept to production)
• Excellent technical, leadership and communication skills
• Result focused mindset, ability to drive the team to efficiently and successfully release new products

Benefits

• Become one of the key employees of a fast-growing startup
• Open, respectful and fun company culture
• Have a real impact on the company’s growth and evolution
• Work with people who love what they do every day
• Highly competitive salary package

Start date: as soon as possible

Just like our rider community in cities across Europe, diversity is a strength. No matter where you come from, or the path you're on, Cowboy is inclusive and so is our workplace. Your unique skills, passion, and perspective will help us continue to transform mobility and urban life for the better.