General Manager, Research Operations

Physical Intelligence; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

Physical Intelligence in San Francisco seeks a General Manager, Research Operations to lead a large, high-output data and research support team. You will own staffing, performance, retention, and day-to-day operations, ensuring resources focus on top priorities while building strong managers.

You will design training programs to raise performance and readiness for advanced research and deployment tasks, using data to drive quality improvements and productivity in a fast-changing, technical

Qualifications

• 7+ years leading large, high-output operations teams, ideally involving physical or hands-on work.
• Experience managing and developing managers and team leads.
• A track record of improving quality, productivity, and retention at scale.

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop a large operations team and its managers.
• Own staffing, performance, retention, and day-to-day operations.
• Make sure people and resources are focused on the highest-priority work.
• Build training and development programs that improve performance and prepare people for more complex research and deployment work.
• Use data to identify problems and improve quality, productivity, and how the team operates.
• Work closely with researchers and engineers to adapt the operation as their needs change.

Skills

Leading large ops teams

Managing managers

Improving quality

Staffing prioritization

Training program design

Data-driven decisions

Adapting to fast-changing tech

Job description

General Manager, Research Operations

Who We Are

Physical Intelligence is bringing general-purpose AI into the physical world. We are a group of engineers, scientists, roboticists, and company builders developing foundation models and learning algorithms to power the robots of today and the physically-actuated devices of the future.

High-quality data is the fuel for that mission. Our operations teams bring together people, robots, environments, and processes to produce the data our models need.

The Team

Research Operations supports the hands-on work behind our research, from collecting and evaluating data to testing and deploying our own tools and systems. The work changes quickly as our research evolves, so the team needs to be both highly organized and adaptable. The Research Operations GM leads the people and managers doing this work. They ensure teams are staffed effectively, build strong managers, and create an organization where people can perform at a high level and grow.

In this role you will

• Lead and develop a large operations team and its managers.

• Own staffing, performance, retention, and day-to-day operations.

• Make sure people and resources are focused on the highest-priority work.

• Build training and development programs that improve performance and prepare people for more complex research and deployment work.

• Use data to identify problems and improve quality, productivity, and how the team operates.

• Work closely with researchers and engineers to adapt the operation as their needs change.

What We Hope You'll Bring

• 7+ years leading large, high-output operations teams, ideally involving physical or hands-on work.

• Experience managing and developing managers and team leads.

• A track record of improving quality, productivity, and retention at scale.

• Strong judgment around staffing, prioritization, and performance.

• Experience building teams where strong people stay and grow.

• Comfort working in a fast-changing, technical environment.

Bonus Points

• Experience in robotics, hardware, manufacturing, logistics, or other complex physical operations.

• Experience supporting research or engineering teams.

• Experience building training and career development programs.

• Experience with data collection, eval, or deployment operations.

Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.