Vice-President of Technology & Co-Founder

Wisemotion Robotics; Montreal; On-site; CAD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Wisemotion Robotics in Montreal is looking for a Vice-President of Technology & Co-Founder to define and execute the tech vision for their innovative AI-driven motion planning technology. You will drive the development of IMP, leading a multidisciplinary team while partnering with customers for product iterations.

The ideal candidate has advanced degrees in relevant fields, deep expertise in robotics, and a proven track record in bringing complex technologies to market.

Qualifications

• Advanced degree (MSc or PhD) or equivalent experience in Robotics, AI/ML, or related fields.
• Deep expertise in motion planning, optimal control, AI/ML for robotics.
• Proven experience in taking technology from prototype to product.

Responsibilities

• Define and execute the technology roadmap.
• Lead the evolution of the Intuitive Motion Planner (IMP).
• Recruit, mentor, and lead a multidisciplinary team.

Skills

motion planning

optimal control

robot kinematics/dynamics

C++

Python

AI/ML for robotics

Education

Advanced degree (MSc or PhD) in Robotics or related field

Tools

ROS/ROS 2

MoveIt

PyTorch

Job description

Wisemotion is an early-stage AI robotics company building the next generation of motion planning technology. Our AI-powered planner produces smooth, optimal, and collision-free trajectories in milliseconds — enabling robots to be deployed faster and scaled across industrial manipulators, palletizing robots, mobile platforms, and humanoids. Founded in 2024 in Montreal and built on technology developed at Purdue University, Wisemotion secured a $800K pre‑seed investment and is assembling its founding team.

The Opportunity

We’ve spoken with palletizing specialists, packaging machine builders, and system integrators and the message is consistent — programming and integration now accounts for ~60% of every robot project cost. Every new SKU, every cell relocation, every gripper swap forces a restart. Operators are forced to choose between scaling automation and meeting their cycle‑time and margin targets. It’s an impossible tradeoff.

The industry knows AI-driven motion planning is the answer — and the field has split into two camps, neither of which fits the integrator buyer. At one extreme: GPU-parallel planners that are powerful but architecturally locked to specific silicon stacks and a GPU bill of materials that doesn’t fit a $40K end-of-line cell. At the other: end-to-end learning and robotics foundation models — that are data-hungry and not production-ready for a cell that has to ship next quarter. The missing middle is where the category-defining company will sit: a physics-first, hardware-agnostic motion planner that adapts in seconds, runs on edge hardware, and drops into the open robotics stacks integrators already use.

We’re building IMP — an Intuitive Motion Planner that turns weeks of programming into a 15‑minute deployment, hardware-agnostic, edge‑deployable, and native to the open robotics stack. Integrators get up to 50% reduction in planning and movement time on the same hardware they already shipped. Internal benchmarks show 2× faster performance than the leading GPU-based planner with 20× less GPU memory.

The Role

As Vice‑President of Technology & Co-Founder, you will own Wisemotion’s technology vision and execution — driving IMP from research prototype to production-grade product, shaping the engineering culture, and leading the technical team.

Key Responsibilities

• Define and execute the technology roadmap, translating research breakthroughs into a production-ready motion planning platform.
• Lead the evolution of IMP — from algorithm design to benchmarking, optimization, and deployment on edge hardware — keeping it hardware-agnostic and native to open robotics stacks (ROS, ROS 2, MoveIt).
• Ship the first commercial versions of IMP (SDK, APIs, integration tooling) and establish rigorous engineering practices around testing, benchmarking, and deployment.
• Define IP strategy — patent filings, trade secrets, and competitive monitoring — with the founding team.
• Recruit, mentor, and lead a multidisciplinary team across robotics, AI/ML, and software engineering.
• Partner with early customers and design partners to translate field feedback into fast product iterations.
• Work with the CEO on go-to-market priorities, fundraising, and investor communication — clearly articulating Wisemotion’s technical differentiation.

What We’re Looking For

• Advanced degree (MSc or PhD) in Robotics, Computer Science, Electrical/Mechanical Engineering, Applied Math, or related field — or equivalent experience.
• Deep expertise in one or more of: motion planning, optimal control, trajectory optimization, robot kinematics/dynamics, AI/ML for robotics, or physics-informed neural networks.
• Strong software engineering background in C++ and/or Python, with modern ML frameworks (PyTorch, JAX, or equivalent).
• Hands‑on experience with ROS/ROS 2, MoveIt, and simulation environments (Isaac Sim, Gazebo, MuJoCo, or similar).
• Proven track record taking complex technology from research prototype to deployed product, and building high-performing technical teams.
• Entrepreneurial mindset, strong communicator, and motivated by building a category-defining company from the ground up.

Nice to Have

• Experience with industrial robotics integration (palletizing, packaging, warehouse automation) or humanoid/mobile manipulation.
• Familiarity with GPU-based planners, VLAs, or robotics foundation models; contributions to open-source robotics or AI projects.