Founding Head of Robotics Systems

Samson Rose; San Francisco, Northern (CA, KY); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 280,000; Full time

Job summary

Samson Rose is seeking a founding Head of Robotics Systems to define the robotics architecture, deployment playbook, and operating model for an ambitious autonomous-warehousing startup. You will own the robotics strategy, evaluation, integration roadmap, and deployment architecture for early live systems.

Ideal candidate has deep robotics and automation experience in industrial environments, with a track record of moving automation from pilot to production, stabilizing brownfield and greenfield

Qualifications

• Experience architecting and deploying robotics or automation systems into live industrial environments.
• Experience taking automation systems from pilot or proof-of-concept into production.
• Experience with multi-vendor multi-form-factor automation and robotics systems.

Responsibilities

• Define the company’s robotics systems architecture, technical roadmap, and deployment strategy.
• Help build the early robotics team and technical culture.
• Evaluate, select, and integrate off-the-shelf and technology-patterns’ robotics and automation systems for real-world environments.
• Lead robot integration into live operations, including site-level systems design, workflow design, commissioning, and go-live.
• Translate operational requirements into technical requirements for robotics systems.
• Build the deployment playbook for moving from point-solutions to end-to-end automation.
• Create a pragmatic roadmap that balances ambition with real-world deployability.

Skills

Systems thinking

High agency

Relentless execution

Pragmatism

Vendor judgment

Founder mindset

Ambition

Startup experience

Tools

PLCs & industrial controls

Robot fleet management

Machine vision

Safety systems

APIs & middleware

WMS/WES/MES integrations

Job description

Our client is building autonomous warehouses for middle-mile logistics.

Their goal is to deploy full-stack, end-to-end automation into warehouses, moving from isolated point solutions toward autonomous warehouse operations. Over time, they are charting a path toward vertically integrated autonomous logistics hubs that can deliver throughput, reliability, resilience, and cost advantages as a service.

This is an unusually early opportunity to join as a founding team member and help define the robotics architecture, deployment playbook, and operating model for a company with ambition far beyond a typical robotics startup.

We are looking for a founding Head of Robotics Systems to join them who has integrated robots into live operations, understands industrial environments, and has launched automation systems from pilot to production.

This person will own the robotics strategy, technical evaluation, integration roadmap, and deployment architecture for the company’s early real-world systems. The ideal candidate has strong robotics and automation depth, but also understands that success in industrial automation depends on full-system reliability, uptime, maintainability, and deployment repeatability.

What This Role Is Not

• This is not a role focused on building a specific robot form factor from 0. The company’s ambition is to make multiple robots and automation systems work as part of a larger autonomous system.


• This is not a narrow robotics engineering role. It is a founding systems leadership role for someone who can bridge robotics, industrial operations, automation deployment, and company-building.


• This is not a lab-only robotics role. Success depends on deploying into real-world operations where safety, uptime, throughput, maintainability, and human workflows matter.

Key Responsibilities

• Define the company’s robotics systems architecture, technical roadmap, and deployment strategy.


• Help build the early robotics team and technical culture.


• Evaluate, select, and integrate off-the-shelf and technology patterns’ robotics and automation systems for real-world environments.


• Lead robot integration into live operations, including site-level systems design, workflow design, commissioning, and go-live.


• Translate operational requirements into technical requirements for robotics systems.


• Build the deployment playbook for moving from point-solutions to end-to-end automation.


• Create a pragmatic roadmap that balances ambition with real-world deployability.

Ideal Candidate Profile

The ideal candidate has architected and deployed robotics or automation systems into live industrial environments. They have seen what breaks after go-live, know how to stabilize systems in brownfield and greenfield deployments, and can design for reliability instead of demos.

Strong candidates may come from robotics companies, industrial automation companies, systems integrators, manufacturing automation teams, autonomous mobile robot companies, warehouse automation companies, fulfillment automation, material handling automation, or other related industrial environments.

Preferred Qualifications

• Elite systems integrator who can architect and integrate multi-vendor multi-form factor automation and robotics systems.


• Direct experience integrating robots or automation systems into live industrial environments like manufacturing, distribution centers, warehouses, fulfillment centers, or large-scale physical operations.


• Experience taking automation systems from pilot or proof-of-concept into production.


• Experience with AMRs, AGVs, robotic arms, physical AI solutions, autonomous forklifts, conveyors, sortation, AS/RS, palletizing, depalletizing, machine vision, industrial controls, or related automation systems.


• Experience with robot fleet management, navigation, localization, perception, motion planning, controls, safety systems, and industrial sensing.


• Experience with PLCs, industrial controls, safety-rated systems, scanners, sensors, machine interfaces, APIs, middleware, WMS/WES/MES integrations, or real-time operational systems.


• Experience leading site commissioning, acceptance testing, safety validation, and production go-live.


• Experience building deployment playbooks, technical documentation, vendor scorecards, or repeatable implementation processes.


• Thrives in the early-stage startup environment, with limited structure and high ownership.


• Prior startup experience or experience building new technical functions and organizations from scratch.

Traits We Are Looking For

• Systems thinking: understands that the robot is only one part of the broader operating system.


• High agency: can create clarity from ambiguity and drive work forward without waiting for perfect direction.


• Relentless execution: willing to push through hard technical and operational problems.


• Pragmatism: values reliable deployed systems over elegant but fragile prototypes.


• Vendor judgment: can pressure-test vendor claims while building productive partnerships.


• Founder mindset: wants to help build the company, not just manage a function.


• Ambition: excited by the opportunity to build something category-defining in industrials.