Director of Hardware Operations at Ookla in Finland

The Opportunity

Ekahau makes Wi-Fi survey and network measurement devices. We do not manufacture them ourselves. Production, purchasing and testing are done by a contract manufacturer, product design by a design house, and type approvals go through a certification agent and an engineering consultancy.

This position is responsible for that whole network. It is the single point in Ekahau for HW operations: supply chain, type approvals and manufacturing of the products we ship today. It also plays a role in new HW programs, by bringing in mechanical, thermal and compliance requirements early enough that they can still be affected.

The work is coordination and decision making, not leading a team. There is no purchasing team and no compliance team to manage. There are partners who execute, and you are the one who decides, escalates and follows up that the dates hold. About half of the work is supply and manufacturing. This is not an engineering management position.

Key Responsibilities

• Supply chain and component risk: Review prices and quotations, make the buy recommendation and write down the reasoning. Escalate allocations and shortages with the distributors and the manufacturers. Handle the supplier change and discontinuation notices against our BOMs; these come in every week. Keep material that is physically in stock separate from material that is only ordered. During allocation these two numbers are far from each other.
• 2nd sources: Maintain a second source programme: which parts are really single source, how big the exposure is, and what is needed to qualify an alternative. For some parts there is no drop-in replacement, so the answer is a design change and then also a certification consequence.
• Type approvals: Take care of the certification programme in our markets (CE/RED, FCC, ISED, UKCA and national approvals), which runs through a type approval agent and test houses. Keep the certification calendar and the renewal dates up to date. If one renewal is missed, that market closes.
• Manufacturing: Production planning and forecast with the contract manufacturer, test capability and yield, engineering change notices, quality escapes and returns, finished goods stock, and end of life planning.
• New HW programs: Participate in the gate reviews from concept phase onwards. Own the design for compliance, design for manufacturing and design for testing requirements. Second sources are decided at BOM freeze, not afterwards. Component EOL exposure is checked before the design is locked. Life cycle planning starts from the beginning.
• EU recycling regulation for new products: WEEE, battery regulation, packaging regulation, and also RoHS and REACH/SCIP. Registrations per member state, authorised representatives where we have no local company, selecting the compliance scheme partners, and the reporting calendar. Battery removability is also a design input to new programs, not only a reporting duty.

Job Qualifications

We are looking for the right person, not the exact list of requirements. If you believe your life experience has prepared you for similar challenges, we’d like to hear from you.

• You have been responsible of HW operations for a product in production, through a contract manufacturer. Production, purchasing decisions and quality, not only one part of it.
• Experience of component allocation and shortages: broker market, EOL and last time buy decisions, qualifying second sources. You can also say no to a lot that cannot be authenticated.
• Radio product certification (RED, FCC, national approvals), and the knowhow of which design changes need re-certification and which do not.
• You read BOMs, schematics, mechanical drawings and test reports well enough to question a partner's answer instead of forwarding it.
• Finnish and English, both at working level. The manufacturing and design partners work in Finnish, the group and the certification agents in English. This is a real requirement.
• You are willing to be the accountable person: follow up the dates, write the decision down, and escalate when a partner's story changes.

Good to have:

• EU producer responsibility experience (WEEE, battery, packaging) in more than one member state
• Mechanical or thermal engineering background, or enough of it to set the requirements and review a proposal
• New product introduction to volume manufacturing, starting from concept
• Built up a supplier or compliance function where there was none before

About

Ookla, an Accenture company, is a global leader in connectivity intelligence that brings together the trusted expertise of Speedtest®, Downdetector®, Ekahau®, and RootMetrics® to deliver unmatched network and connectivity insights. By combining multi-source data with industry-leading expertise, we transform network performance metrics into strategic, actionable insights.

Our solutions empower service providers, enterprises, and governments with the critical data and insights needed to optimize networks, enhance digital experiences, and help close the digital divide. At the same time, we amplify the real-world experiences of individuals and businesses that rely on connectivity to work, learn, and communicate. From measuring and analyzing connectivity to driving industry innovation, Ookla helps the world stay connected.

About Accenture

Accenture helps the world’s leading enterprises reinvent by building their digital core and unleashing the power of AI to create value at speed for organizations across industries. Our strategy is to be the reinvention partner of choice for our clients and lead in the safe, widespread adoption of AI, and to be the most client focused, AI-enabled, great place to work in the world. We bring together the talent of our approximately 799,000 people with proprietary assets and platforms, deep process and industry expertise, and leading ecosystem relationships to deliver end-to-end solutions and measurable outcomes at scale. Through our Reinvention Services, we offer broad expertise across Cybersecurity, Digital Core, Finance, Industry and Enterprise, Song, Supply Chain and Engineering, and Talent, with advanced capabilities in AI and Data, Industry and Process, and Technology. We serve approximately 9,000 clients and generated approximately $70 billion in FY25 revenue. Visit us at accenture.com.