Company

NestAI is a European AI lab for defence delivering the adaptive operating system for modern battlefield operations. We develop adaptive intelligence for unmanned and command systems: AI that continuously learns from operational data and adapts to changing conditions.

NestOS is our open, modular and interoperable platform that enables this at scale and keeps capability evolution under sovereign European control. Founded in 2025 by Peter Sarlin, whose previous company Silo AI became Europe's largest AI acquisition, NestAI brings together over 200 engineers and scientists and partners with leading European defence forces and industry.

Role Description

We are looking for a HW Chapter Lead to join our team full-time in Tampere.

In this role, you will be the driving force behind the people and the technology powering NestAI's hardware engineering discipline. This is a crucial leadership position that heavily emphasizes people management and exceptional interpersonal skills, while requiring a deep, foundational technical background. You will lead a talented chapter of hardware engineers, fostering their growth and ensuring the delivery of robust hardware platforms for our physical AI systems.

As a Chapter Lead, you will have a strong voice in shaping our hardware strategy, working closely alongside our architectural leadership to ensure our team has the tools, skills, and structure needed to scale. This role is ideal for a seasoned leader who loves building high-performing engineering cultures and possesses the technical breadth to steer complex hardware initiatives.

Day-to-day responsibilities include:

• Strategic Roadmap & Vision: Own and build the technical vision for hardware, aligned with broader strategic goals. Formulate long-term technical direction and drive organizational development within the chapter. Communicate effectively with Product Owners and stakeholders to ensure alignment between engineering capabilities and product needs.

• People Leadership, Growth & Collaboration: Mentor, coach, and manage a high-performing chapter of hardware engineers through continuous 1-on-1 feedback, performance tracking, and long-term career development planning. Drive open and effective collaboration with the People Lead. Foster functional expertise and talent enablement through knowledge sharing and upskilling initiatives while building a psychologically safe culture.

• Project Alignment & Operational Excellence: Support the Project Lead in planning and driving team goals based on insights gathered from regular team discussions. Translate organizational strategy and project targets into actionable project and individual goals. Remove operational impediments so the team can focus on high-impact work.

• Hiring & Resource Allocation: Lead recruitment efforts for the hardware discipline. Partner with Product Managers and project leads to assign the right talent to cross-functional squads, ensuring optimal capability coverage across projects.

• Customer Interface & Engagement: Engage in active, direct customer interaction as needed. Channel work, tasks, and requirements through the Product Owner when appropriate, maintaining clear lines of communication between customer needs and engineering execution.

• Agile Practices, Quality & Standards: Support task planning, tracking, execution, and metric-based evaluation within the Agile working model. Continuously develop necessary processes, quality standards, and tools. Define, drive, and maintain high engineering standards, best practices, and guidelines across teams.

Qualifications:

• Proven Leadership: A solid, long-term track record of leading, mentoring, and scaling hardware or systems engineering teams.

• Technical Roots: Significant technical breadth with a background of extensive hands-on work earlier in your career. We are looking for an empathetic leader who understands the technical grit required to build complex hardware platforms — not a pure manager.

• Exceptional Interpersonal Skills: Outstanding communication, emotional intelligence, and stakeholder management skills to navigate a fast-growing, mission-critical environment.

• Architectural Awareness: Broad knowledge of modern hardware engineering domains (e.g., embedded systems, PCB design, sensor integration, payload systems, mechanical design, or ruggedized electronics) to effectively collaborate with architectural leads.

• Strategic Mindset: Ability to balance people management, operational demands, and long-term technical vision.

Why join NestAI

At NestAI, you'll build meaningful, real-world technology as part of a world-class team of engineers, scientists, and experienced professionals. You'll work on systems where reliability genuinely matters, contribute to Europe's security and resilience, and solve problems that demand depth, trust, and craftsmanship.

If you want to build with purpose — and with leading experts in the field — you've come to the right place.

Perks & Benefits

We offer a growing set of practical benefits to support your work and wellbeing, day to day:

• Occupational healthcare (currently provided by Mehiläinen)

• Epassi Flex benefit (sports, culture, commuting, wellbeing)

• Lunch benefit (25% tax-free coverage)

• Regular team lunches and all-hands events

• Your choice of Mac or PC

• Holiday allowance (50% of holiday salary)

• Phone benefit according to company policy (subscription and device)

We are continuously developing and expanding our benefits as we grow.

Practicalities

Employment is subject to applicable security screening (including SUPO, where required).

Currently NestAI is focusing on hiring talent already located in Finland. Remote work from abroad is unfortunately not possible. Relocation within Europe might be an option — if it is an option for you as well, please bring the topic up in your cover letter!

NestAI is an equal opportunity employer. We consider all applicants based on their skills, experience, and potential.