Director of Robotics

Discovered MENA; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 400,000 - 500,000; Full time

Job summary

Discovered MENA is opening its US robotics lab in San Francisco and seeks a Director of Robotics to build it from the ground up.

You will own the lab end-to-end, manage the robot fleet, teleoperation rigs, calibration and data-quality standards, and hire the robotics, hardware and operations teams.

This role combines hands-on work with strategic leadership, interacting with customers and research partners to set the standard for embodied AI.

Qualifications

• Led robotics at an AI lab, humanoid company or robotics startup with real hardware.
• Built a team or lab from scratch rather than inheriting one.
• Deep knowledge in teleoperation, manipulation, imitation learning or large-scale robot data.
• Owned operational numbers (uptime, throughput, cost) in robotics projects.
• Able to attract top robotics talent in the Bay Area.

Responsibilities

• Stand up the San Francisco lab end to end.
• Manage the robot fleet, teleoperation and capture rigs.
• Set calibration, sensor synchronization and data-quality standards.
• Hire the robotics, hardware and operations team.
• Serve as the senior technical voice with customers and research partners.

Skills

Robotics leadership

Teleoperation

Imitation learning

Data quality

Hiring / building team

Tools

Teleoperation rigs

Calibration equipment

Job description

Director of Robotics - Physical AI - San Francisco

Director of Robotics | Physical AI | San Francisco

$400,000 to $500,000 base + bonus

Build a US robotics lab from day one

Very few people get to build a robotics lab from an empty building.

Robot learning has a data problem. Models are only as good as the real-world robot data behind them, and most of that data is noisy, poorly synchronised and impossible to train on.

We've partnered with a well-funded AI company that solves exactly that. They supply the training data behind robotics and embodied AI, using real robots, real operators and real sensors at scale. They're now opening their US robotics lab in San Francisco, and they need a Director of Robotics to build it.

You'll own:

• Standing up the San Francisco lab end to end
• The robot fleet, plus teleoperation and capture rigs
• Calibration, sensor synchronisation and data-quality standards
• Hiring the robotics, hardware and operations team
• Being the senior technical voice with customers and research partners

This is not a slide-deck Director role.

You'll spend real time with robots, rigs and cabling. You'll make the calls that decide whether thousands of hours of data are usable or worthless.

We're looking for someone who:

• Has led robotics at an AI lab, humanoid company or robotics startup, with systems running on real hardware
• Has built a team or lab from scratch rather than inheriting one
• Goes deep on teleoperation, manipulation, imitation learning or VLA models, or large-scale robot data
• Has owned operational numbers (uptime, throughput, cost), not only research results
• Can attract top robotics talent in the Bay Area

There's no existing US team and no lab to inherit. You'll be the person who sets the standard.

Employment type: Full-time.

Robotics | Robot Learning | Teleoperation | Embodied AI | Humanoids | Physical AI