Opportunistic
Foundational Industries · San Francisco
Company Overview
Foundational is building a network of AI-native, autonomous factories for modern contract manufacturing. We’re reshoring critical supply chains so companies can produce high‑quality products domestically, quickly, and at competitive cost.
Foundational exists to make reindustrialization practical. Our factories are autonomy-first, reconfigurable by design, and orchestrated by a unified, AI-native factory operating layer that connects design through production.
Transformative Opportunity
Recent breakthroughs in robotics and physical AI have shifted autonomous manufacturing from a theoretical promise to a deployable capability, triggering a global race to operationalize these systems at scale. The challenge is no longer whether autonomy works, but who can integrate AI-native robotics into real production environments.
The ability to manufacture advanced products domestically is now central to U.S. economic competitiveness and national security. Foundational is focused on deploying these capabilities at scale during a decisive decade for American industrial leadership.
Who We Are
Foundational was built by executive leadership from Google’s physical AI platform and America’s two largest contract manufacturers.
Manufacturing critical products requires trust. The Foundational team has deployed AI systems at multi-billion-dollar scale and delivered thousands of products across hundreds of manufacturing facilities.
Role Overview
We’re always looking for exceptional people. If you have deep technical expertise or hands-on experience in any aspect of industrial automation, robotics integration, AI-driven systems, or advanced manufacturing execution, we’d love to hear from you. We don’t have a fixed box for this role; we’re looking for high-agency individuals who want to build something that matters and are motivated by ownership, velocity, and impact.
Key Responsibilities
Identify, scope, and execute high-impact projects across industrial automation, robotics, AI-enabled systems, and manufacturing operations, adapting focus as company priorities evolve.
Partner closely with founders, engineers, operators, and external partners to turn ambiguous problems into concrete plans and executed solutions.
Act as a force multiplier in moments of urgency, helping diagnose issues, unblock progress, and drive resolution in complex, high-stakes environments.
Help shape Foundational’s technical, operational, and organizational direction by contributing judgment, creativity, and execution in areas where leverage is highest.
What You’ll Bring
A builder’s background — engineering, product, implementation, operations, or similar — with a desire for greater ownership, responsibility, and impact.
A strong understanding of how software, data, and AI can augment physical systems and manufacturing workflows, even if you are not a specialist in AI yourself.
High agency and execution bias: the kind of person others rely on to get things built, fixed, or figured out when the path is unclear.
Demonstrated experience building, deploying, or operating systems in real-world industrial environments, including automation, robotics, manufacturing execution, or adjacent domains.
Comfort operating in ambiguity, working closely with founders, and helping shape problems, solutions, and roles from zero to one.
Deep alignment with Foundational’s mission to reindustrialize America, with motivation driven by purpose, velocity, and long-term impact rather than narrow role definitions.
Why Join Foundational
Foundational is built for people who want their work to matter. The ability to manufacture critical products domestically is central to U.S. economic strength and national security, and we are focused on turning that imperative into execution at scale.
We operate with a strong bias toward delivery. Progress is measured by what runs in production, what holds up under pressure, and what improves over time. Ownership, judgment, and follow-through define our culture.
Foundational brings together the most experienced leadership team in autonomous manufacturing — operators who have run the largest contract manufacturing platforms in the United States, alongside engineers who have built and deployed large-scale systems at Google. This combination positions us as the clear leader in this category, with both the credibility and capability to set the standard for autonomous production.
We reward exceptional outcomes exceptionally. Compensation and equity are structured to reflect responsibility, impact, and results, with meaningful upside for those who help build and scale the business. For those aligned with the mission and motivated by execution at scale, Foundational offers the opportunity to help define one of the most consequential industrial transformations of the next decade.
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