Field Operations Lead

Avatar Robotics; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Avatar Robotics is seeking a Field Operations Leader in San Francisco, CA, to enhance efficiency in robot deployments. This role requires a hands-on approach—responsibilities include diagnosing performance issues, leading teams, and optimizing layouts at customer sites.

The ideal candidate has over 6 years of operational experience, a strong focus on root-cause analysis, and the ability to conduct physical inspections. Extensive travel is required for success in this position.

Qualifications

• 6+ years in operations, standing up new sites.
• Proficient in root-cause analysis techniques.
• Hands-on experience with machinery and automation.

Responsibilities

• Own operational ramp-up of new deployments.
• Investigate performance gaps and implement fixes.
• Lead on-site teams to improve operations.

Skills

Operations management

Root-cause analysis

Hands-on machinery experience

Physical workflow optimization

Project management

Job description

San Francisco, United States | Posted on 07/03/2026

We're seeking a Field Operations Leader to take our newest robot deployments from day-one rollout to smooth, high-throughput operation. Early deployments are where the hardest and most valuable problems live: you'll own on-site performance, diagnose what's standing between a new site and its targets, find the root cause behind every lost hour, and lead cross-functional teams to build the fixes. This role is hands-on and high-ownership: when a deployment needs to be dialed in, you're the person we send, and you don't stop until throughput is where it needs to be. Expect to spend most of your time at customer warehouses, not behind a desk.

What we do

Avatar Robotics is building flexible robot fleets to revolutionize industrial work across the country. We're on a mission to make every tedious and dangerous warehouse/factory job virtual, safe, and semi-autonomous. With proven AI approaches and long distance teleoperation, you'll join a team that deploys a physical work solution that's scalable now, not later. We envision a world where millions of machines will make our goods and consumables more affordable and accessible than ever, while critical workers operate these robot fleets from the comfort of their homes. At Avatar Robotics, you'll create the workforce of the future—in one of the largest markets ($1T+ manual labor market in the US alone). We're a small but powerful team at the early innings of deploying thousands of units into facilities worldwide.

What you'll do

• Own the operational ramp of new deployments—take a freshly installed site and develop it into a smooth, predictable, at-goal operation.
• Investigate every hour of below-goal performance—throughput gaps, downtime, bottlenecks—and trace each one to a concrete root cause.
• Lead on-site teams (operators, technicians, customer staff, and engineers) to design and implement fixes, and get on the floor to do the work yourself when that's what it takes.
• Engineer the physical environment—robot placement, workstation layout, material flow, staging, and traffic patterns—to remove friction and maximize uptime.
• Diagnose and troubleshoot machinery and hardware issues, and partner with Engineering to turn recurring failures into product and process improvements.
• Build the operational dashboards and KPIs that expose where time and throughput are being lost, and use them to drive accountability.
• Develop Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for steady-state operations, edge cases, and safety protocols so a site keeps running smoothly after you move on to the next one.

What you bring

• 6+ years in operations, with a track record of standing up new sites, lines, or deployments and bringing them up to performance.
• Demonstrated root-cause rigor: you quantify performance gaps, run structured investigations (5 Whys, fishbone, time studies), and prove out fixes with data.
• Hands-on comfort with machinery, automation, or robotics—you can read a physical environment, spot the bottleneck, and aren't afraid to get dirty.
• Experience optimizing physical workflows (layout, material flow, throughput) in warehouse, manufacturing, fulfillment, or similar environments.
• Proven ability to lead and rally on-the-ground teams under pressure, including people who don't report to you.
• Strong project management skills to drive multiple concurrent deployments and fixes across sites to completion.
• Willingness to travel extensively to customer sites (frequently 50%+) and occasionally work irregular hours to support 24/7 operations.
• Bonus: Lean/Six Sigma, industrial engineering, or direct experience deploying or maintaining robotics/hardware in the field.

Additional Notes

• Heavy travel required—this is a field-first role centered on customer site visits.
• Need to be located near a major US airport; willing to relocate to San Francisco, CA preferred.
• Spanish fluency a plus given deployment and operator footprint.