Field Robotics Technician: Food-Production Uptime

Chef Robotics, Inc.; Los Angeles, New York (CA, NY); On-site; USD 70,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

Chef Robotics, Inc. is seeking a Field Engineering Technician to keep our deployed robotic food-portioning modules performing at their best at customer facilities in Southern California.

This hands-on role diagnoses root causes, performs field repairs, tunes module configurations via HMI, and communicates findings back to the engineering team. You will travel regionally (up to ~50%), work on-site with customer operations, conduct preventative maintenance, validate fixes, and help optimize

Qualifications

• 2–5 years hands-on experience maintaining, troubleshooting, or commissioning automated equipment (robotics, mechatronics, industrial automation, packaging, or food‑processing machinery)
• Comfortable with electrical and mechanical troubleshooting: reading schematics, using a multimeter, and working with sensors, motors, drives, and pneumatics
• Experience with HMIs, PLCs, or equipment parameter configuration, and the discipline to change a setting, observe the result, and iterate methodically. Linux experience preferred.
• A systematic problem solver who forms hypotheses, isolates variables, and documents findings so others can reproduce them
• Clear written and verbal communication, including the ability to give Engineering actionable, evidence‑backed feedback
• Comfortable with laptops, logs, and data tools; basic Linux or command‑line experience is a plus
• Able to travel regionally and work in food production environments, including wash‑down, cold, and noisy areas, with PPE

Responsibilities

• Perform field repairs and diagnostics on Chef modules across mechanical, electrical, pneumatic, sensor, and controls systems, and drive to the root cause rather than stopping at the failed part
• Tune and validate module configurations and parameters through the HMI to improve throughput, accuracy, and uptime for each customer’s ingredients, containers, and line conditions, changing one variable at a time and recording what worked
• Use logs, fleet data, and on‑site observation to separate configuration, hardware, and software causes, and elevate to Systems Reliability Engineers with evidence rather than symptoms
• Provide structured feedback to the Engineering team: recurring failure modes, serviceability and design issues, configuration learnings, and customer needs seen in the field
• Execute preventative maintenance on schedule and document wear trends and findings
• Run testing for new meals and new ingredients: set up, tune, record results, and recommend settings
• Track and log hardware requests, part numbers, and part quantities using the hardware request workflow
• Write and improve runbooks, work instructions, and troubleshooting guides based on what you learn in the field
• Coordinate with 3P technicians at customer sites and guide customer operators on day‑to‑day care and handling of the modules
• Communicate clearly with customer operations teams about what you found, what you changed, and what to expect
• Follow customer site safety, food safety, and lockout/tagout requirements at all times

Skills

Root cause analysis

Field diagnostics

Customer-facing

Documentation

Troubleshooting

Education

Associate degree or technical certification in mechatronics, electronics, robotics

Equivalent experience

Tools

HMIs

PLCs

Multimeter

Linux basics

Job description

Chef Robotics, Inc. is seeking a Field Engineering Technician to keep our deployed robotic food-portioning modules performing at their best at customer facilities in Southern California.

This hands-on role diagnoses root causes, performs field repairs, tunes module configurations via HMI, and communicates findings back to the engineering team. You will travel regionally (up to ~50%), work on-site with customer operations, conduct preventative maintenance, validate fixes, and help optimize