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Hardware Operations Engineer

Chowbus

Chicago, ILJob$70–100K/yrPosted 6 days agoStill listed 6 days ago

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At a glance

Compensation
$70–100K/yr
Location
Chicago, IL
Work Authorization
Not specified

Olive lists jobs from US employers, including remote roles you can work from the United States.

Requirements

Credentials this posting asks for.

Valid Driver's License

Job overview

Chowbus is building its first U.S. hardware operations function to improve device reliability in restaurant environments. The Hardware Operations Engineer investigates escalated cases, reproduces and tests issues, diagnoses returned devices, and communicates findings to engineering teams in China. The role includes office and warehouse testing, occasional on-site troubleshooting, RMA decisions, and feedback that supports product improvements.

Skills & qualifications

RequiredNice to have

Skills

Technical SupportNetwork TroubleshootingMandarin ChineseEnglish LanguageEnglishSoftware DiagnosticsHardware DiagnosticsRMARepairLog AnalysisPacket CaptureRestaurant or Retail POS HardwareTest Environment BuildingStability TestingReliability TestingElectronics DiagnosticsMultimeterSchematicsHardware Supplier Management

Qualifications

5+ Years Technical Support ExperienceValid Driver's LicenseChicago-Based or Willing to Relocate

Benefits

Medical Insurance
Dental Insurance
Vision Insurance
401(k) Match
Paid Time Off
Parental Leave

Full job description

Chowbus is a leading Asian restaurant technology SaaS platform, with deep roots in the North American market for years. Currently, we stand as a pioneering enterprise in the North American Asian Restaurant SaaS sector. Driven by precise market positioning and efficient product services, our business has achieved doubled growth annually, covering over 30 core states and 100 key cities across the U.S., and partnering with more than 10,000 Asian restaurants. We build tech ecosystems that help restaurants grow, serve with heart, and uplift their communities,our vision is to creat a world where culturally rooted food entrepreneurs thrive everywhere. As our hardware footprint in restaurants grows, we are building our first US hardware operations function, working closely with our engineering and hardware teams in China to make sure every device performs reliably in real restaurant environments. You will be the technical bridge between our restaurants in the field and our hardware and engineering teams in China. You won't handle routine installations. Instead, you will take on the hardest hardware cases: reproducing issues, running tests in our office and warehouse, going on site when a problem can only be diagnosed in the real restaurant environment, and bringing clear findings back to the engineering team so we can fix root causes and improve our products. What You'll Focus On

  • Own escalated hardware cases: when devices behave abnormally in restaurants, investigate, diagnose and communicate the issue clearly to our engineering team in China
  • Go on site for issues that can't be reproduced remotely, such as printers dropping orders or intermittent network problems; capture logs and network packets and debug in the real customer environment
  • Build and maintain test environments in our Chicago office and warehouse, and run joint debugging sessions with engineers in China
  • Test devices returned from the field, run stability and stress tests, identify failure patterns and drive product improvements
  • Manage RMA repair processes, from software and hardware diagnosis to repair or replacement decisions
  • Learn our front-of-house hardware in depth (tablets, printers, card readers, kiosks, KDS, routers) and turn field knowledge into documentation and feedback for the team
  • Work closely with our support and tech teams to understand real customer scenarios and make sure field problems get solved at the root

What You Bring

  • 5+ years of technical support experience in the hardware or electronics industry (required)
  • Fluent Mandarin Chinese and English, comfortable doing technical discussions with engineers in China (required)
  • Strong software and hardware diagnostic skills, with the ability to isolate whether a problem is device, network or software related
  • Hands-on RMA and repair experience
  • Network troubleshooting skills, including log analysis and packet capture (e.g. Wireshark)
  • Based in Chicago or willing to relocate; valid driver's license for site visits

Nice to Have

  • Restaurant or retail POS hardware experience
  • Experience building test environments or running stability and reliability tests
  • Basic electronics diagnosis with a multimeter and schematics
  • Experience working with hardware suppliers or manufacturers in China

What We Offer

  • A fair compensation package
  • Medical, dental, and vision insurance
  • 401(k)
  • 100% employer-paid Short-Term Disability (STD)
  • 100% employer-paid Life Insurance and option for additional employee-paid Life Insurance
  • 100% employer-paid Accidental Death and Dismemberment (AD&D) Insurance and option for additional employee-paid AD&D Insurance
  • Company holidays
  • Birthday off
  • Paid Parental Leave
  • Flexible Paid Time Off (PTO)
  • Employee Assistance Program (EAP)

Base salary range: $70,000–$100,000 per year, based on experience and skills.

How this job compares

Set against the 4,191 open Technical Support jobs on Olive Jobs, counted November 4, 2026.

Pay
  • This posting$70–100K/yr
  • Illinois median$74–110K/yr51 salary ranges
  • US median$77–116K/yr1,341 salary ranges

This range's midpoint, $85K, is 8% below the Illinois median midpoint ($92K) — in the middle half of Technical Support salary ranges in Illinois.

Openings
Olive Jobs lists 119 open Technical Support jobs in Illinois and 4,191 across the US. 7% of them nationwide are listed as remote or flexible.
Hiring the most in Illinois
Experience
This posting asks for at least 5 years of experience; Technical Support postings that state a minimum ask for 3 years at the median (2,673 postings).
Education
364 of the 4,191 open Technical Support jobs (9%) ask for a bachelor's degree or higher.

Counted across the open, public US postings on Olive Jobs on November 4, 2026. Pay medians are the middle values of the low ends and of the high ends of postings that list both ends of a range in the same cadence (a yearly salary or an hourly rate); a range's midpoint is halfway between its ends. Pay and experience figures resting on fewer than 20 postings are left out.

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