Head of Robotics

Conduit; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 240,000 - 400,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive pay

Equity pool

Early leadership track

No bureaucracy

Growth to senior operator

Job summary

Conduit is building the system of record for modern factory floors. We are growing fast and seeking a Head of Robotics to own the roadmap, team, and outcomes, driving reindustrialization in the United States.

You will sit with the founders on strategy, lead deployments with enterprise customers, and make hard technical calls that set how fast Conduit can grow. The role offers high impact and equity as you build a best‑in‑class robotics organization.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in robotics with real production deployments.
• Shipped robotics systems at scale in production environments.
• Led engineering teams through launches and owned outcomes.
• Experience engaging enterprise customers in technical and business discussions.

Responsibilities

• Own the robotics roadmap end-to-end: what we build, buy, deploy, and prioritize.
• Set the technical direction for turning standard production hardware into scalable systems.
• Lead deployments on customer floors with senior client stakeholders and executives.
• Build and lead the robotics engineering team and set high shipping standards.
• Direct the use of AI where it adds value and guide the production software strategy.
• Partner with founders on company strategy; robotics decisions shape product and fundraising.

Skills

Robotics leadership

Production deployments

Team leadership

Enterprise engagement

Systems thinking

Job description

Conduit has built the system of record for the modern factory floor. We move manufacturers from one-off automation projects to holistic production systems where robots, machines, operators, sensors, and factory software synchronize. We are live with top manufacturers, are well capitalized, and are growing quickly. We are hiring the rare research-depth roboticist who wants their thesis ideas to run on a real production line instead of in a paper.

The Role

As the Head of Robotics, you own the roadmap, you own the team, and you own the outcome. You've run robotics at scale before, and now you want to take on the mission of reindustrializing the United States, building Conduit's best in class robotics division alongside our founders. The industry knows your work, and the people we want to hire will follow you here.

You’ll sit with the founders on strategy, lead deployments alongside enterprise customers, and personally make the hard technical calls that set the ceiling on how fast Conduit can grow. At Conduit, the work you and your team ship is what rewrites the American manufacturing story.

What you’ll do

• Own the robotics roadmap end to end: What we build, what we buy, how we deploy, and how we prioritize.
• Set the technical direction for how Conduit turns standard production hardware into systems that deploy across many customers without rebuilding each time.
• Lead deployments on customer floors. You'll be in the room with VPs of Manufacturing and plant managers, and they should leave the meeting confident their project is in the best hands in the industry.
• Build the team. Hire and lead the robotics engineers under you, and set the bar for how fast and how well they ship.
• Make the call on where modern AI belongs and where it doesn't. You don't need to be the deepest ML researcher in the room, but you need the judgment to direct the people who are.
• Partner with the founders on company strategy. Robotics decisions shape product decisions, customer decisions, and fundraising decisions, and you'll be in all three rooms.

Who You Are

• A recognized leader in the field. You've shipped robotics systems and/or conducted research that is recognizable.
• 10+ years in robotics with real production deployments behind you.
• Someone who has led teams of engineers through hard launches and is ready to do it again with more ownership.
• Comfortable in front of enterprise customers with previous deployment experience. You can hold a technical conversation with their engineering team and a commercial one with their executives in the same visit.
• Credible across the full stack: controls, perception, planning, modern ML for robotics, and the production software around it. You don't have to be the deepest in any single layer, but you can hold the whole system in your head and tell when a piece is wrong.
• Decisive with incomplete information. You make the call, ship, and adjust.
• Drawn to the work of rebuilding American manufacturing.

Bonus Points

• Prior experience leading robotics at a company that shipped at scale — startup, scaleup, or a clearly-owned division at a larger company.
• A track record of hiring world-class robotics engineers who followed you to your next role.
• Background commissioning and deploying robots in regulated or safety-critical environments.
• Public work, including talks, open source, papers, products. Social media is a fun addition.

Benefits & Compensation

• Top tier pay and equity: We want to make it easy to join Conduit.
• Generational opportunity. Be early at a company defining the software layer for industrial automation.
• American re-industrialization is happening. We’re building the platform to make it real — faster.
• Zero bureaucracy. High impact. You’ll be on the front lines, solving real problems for real factories.
• You will level up. You’ll work directly with the founder and exec team — and grow into a senior operator.

Conduit is an equal opportunity employer. We welcome applications from all qualified candidates.