Services · Hardware R&D

Consulting

Mechanical engineer · μLED R&D · MBA — about seventeen years taking hardware from concept to market. Fractional CTO and R&D consulting for teams building instruments, test systems, and deep-tech products.

Current: ME Lead, microLED test (AR/VR / data interconnect) at Teradyne — advanced R&D and test-cell work; previously Silicon Photonics test on the same Innovation Lab path.

Ways to work

  • Hardware R&D consulting — project or advisory: scoping risk, unblocking NPI, architecture notes, and clear outside judgment on physical systems.
  • Fractional CTO — part-time technical leadership for hardware and deep-tech teams. Strategy, roadmap, eng-org judgment, and NPI oversight without a full-time hire.
  • Prototyping — fixtures, spikes, and short hardware-shaped experiments under either engagement when something you can hold or measure settles the decision.

Fractional CTO

Ongoing technical leadership for hardware and deep-tech teams — strategy and technical roadmap, engineering judgment across NPI stages, mentoring and org shape, vendor/partner technical lead, and hybrid stage-gate + agile delivery. Built for instrument, test, and electromechanical products, not SaaS product orgs.

Why this fits Fractional CTO

  • MBA — Northeastern University (Dec 2023). Dual concentrations: International Management and Technological Entrepreneurship. Business and tech-product judgment beside the hardware craft.
  • MITxPro — Architecture and Systems Engineering Professional Certificate. Systems framing for complex instrument and test products.
  • ME Lead · μLED R&D — microLED optical test for AR/VR and data interconnect at Teradyne; prior Silicon Photonics; Innovation Lab concept → initial production; mentoring; vendor/partner technical lead.
  • ~17 years in mechanical / R&D roles across instruments, test, and electromechanical products — SolidWorks since 2007, PDM / PLM, Atlassian agile certificate.

What you get

  • Hardware R&D leadership for complex test and instrument hardware — concept through initial production and NPI.
  • Domain focus: microLED / photonics test for AR and data interconnect; advanced R&D and production-oriented optical test cells.
  • Program & people: stage-gate + agile delivery; mentoring; overseas engineering coordination; vendor selection and on-site alpha/beta oversight.

Selected background

  • Teradyne — ME Lead, microLED test (AR/VR / data interconnect); earlier Silicon Photonics / Innovation Lab path from concept to initial production.
  • Thermo Fisher Scientific — Senior ME, Field & Safety Instruments: Apollo LIBS, handheld Raman, radiological detection, portable equipment; patents pending.
  • GCP Applied Technologies — end-to-end electromechanical systems; hybrid stage-gate + agile; vendor technical lead through alpha/beta.
  • Bruker — field-portable mass spectrometry; rugged / MIL-STD-oriented product work.

Who this is for

Hardware, deep-tech, and instrument & test teams that need senior technical leadership part-time — or a sharp project advisory. Neon’s apps (ShelfShares, HiveLabs) are personal and learning products — separate from this offer.

More background: thehivelabs.org/brandon · LinkedIn · Resume PDF.