Senior Manager, Operations – Robotics Lab & Physical AI Operations

If you have a Candidate Login already, but have forgotten your password please use the steps to reset your password. If you have forgotten your email login, please contact [email protected] subject Workday Candidate Login

When creating your Workday account and entering personal information like name, address, please do not use ALL CAPS.

Thank you!

NOTICE:  For Privacy Policy please review here

Job Responsibilities:

Leads multi-team robotics lab operations and physical AI data programs at scale. Owns end-to-end operational strategy and execution across lab environments, ensuring high-quality, safe, and efficient data collection and evaluation.

Drives operational excellence through standardization, analytics, and technology, while maintaining strong client relationships and developing high-performing teams. Partners closely with Quality and Safety leadership to ensure consistent performance across complex, real-world environments.Key Responsibilities

Ops strategy execution: Translate business and engineering goals into operating plans, OKRs, and execution models across robotics lab environments (humanoid, teleoperation, motion capture, simulation).

Standardization & scale: Build and implement SOPs, lab playbooks, and workflows to reduce variability and drive consistent performance across teams and sites.

Analytics & insights: Define and own core dashboards and KPIs (throughput, quality, utilization, safety); translate data into actionable improvements.

Technology & automation: Partner with Ops Tech and Engineering to improve tooling, lab systems, and automation (e.g., workflows, integrations, data pipelines).

Quality & safety partnership: Co-own operational excellence with Quality and Safety Leads; align on guidelines, audits, incident prevention, and continuous improvement.

Workforce & capacity: Plan and optimize staffing across lab environments; manage shifts, coverage, onboarding, and certification for operators and analysts.

Vendor strategy: Set expectations and SLAs across vendors; monitor performance, drive improvements, and support scale decisions.

Client satisfaction: Support executive-level governance, planning, and reviews; ensure delivery aligns with scope, quality expectations, and evolving requirements.

Financial stewardship: Build and manage budgets, forecasts, margins, and change orders; align commercial models with operational delivery.

Risk, compliance, and security: Own operational risk management; ensure adherence to safety standards, data handling policies, and audit readiness.

Org & talent development: Manage L1 managers and senior ICs; hire, coach, and build a strong leadership bench to support scaling operations.

Cross-functional leadership: Coordinate across Engineering, Quality, Safety, Ops Tech, and Vendor Management to deliver against client and business goals.

Requirements

Education 
Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience in business, operations, engineering, robotics, or a related field.

Experience

5–8 years in operations or program delivery in robotics, physical AI, AI data operations, or adjacent domains.

4–6 years in operations leadership, managing managers and multi-team environments.

Experience running onsite or lab-based operations involving hardware, data collection, or real-world testing environments.

Proven track record driving standardization, analytics, tooling/automation, and vendor performance at scale.

Skills

Program and portfolio planning across complex, multi-team environments.

Strong people leadership: goal setting, coaching, delegation, and performance management.

Clear communication with senior stakeholders, engineers, and frontline teams.

Strong analytical mindset; ability to translate data into operational decisions.

Experience with spreadsheets, PM tools, and dashboards; familiarity with robotics systems (sensor data, telemetry, ROS concepts) is a plus.

Strong quality and safety mindset with practical application of SOPs, QA frameworks, and compliance standards.

Sound judgment across scope, time, cost, quality, and safety tradeoffs.

Scope & Autonomy (L2 Alignment)

Leads multiple teams and lab environments, setting operating rhythms and standards across robotics programs.

Makes day-to-day and medium-term strategic decisions; escalates only high-impact or non-standard issues.

Direct line management for L1 managers and senior ICs; strong influence across Quality, Safety, Engineering, and Vendor partners.

Owns delivery performance, operational excellence, and client outcomes across the program.

Additional Job Details: