Key Technology Manager - Intent-Based Robotics and Physical AI

KUKA; United States; On-site; USD 160,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

KUKA North America seeks a Key Technology Manager for Intent-Based Robotics and Physical AI to shape the next generation of AI-enabled automation. You will liaise with sales, product, and partners to commercialize advanced robotics solutions across North America, translating market needs into practical requirements.

The role requires deep robotics experience, strategic thinking, and the ability to drive cross-functional initiatives from concept through customer adoption.

Qualifications

• Proven experience in robotics, automation, AMRs/AGVs, product strategy, technical sales, or advanced technology commercialization.
• Strong understanding of automation environments including PLCs, vision systems, MES/WMS/ERP integration, and factory data.

Responsibilities

• Translate customer and market requirements into actionable roadmap input for product and engineering teams.
• Define requirements for intent-based workflows, orchestration, simulation validation, and telemetry.
• Identify high-value applications in AMRs, mobile manipulation, and flexible logistics to create measurable value.
• Capture customer and market feedback and convert it into product requirements and commercialization priorities.
• Track cognitive robotics and AI ecosystems, maintaining competitor differentiation for KUKA.
• Support sales with credible customer presentations, demos, pilots, and executive-level discussions.
• Help structure pilots and early-access engagements with defined success criteria and data needs.
• Collaborate with integrators, AI providers, software partners, and ecosystem developers.
• Ensure responsible deployment with validation, traceability, and human oversight.
• Develop white papers, briefs, competitive summaries, and training materials to explain concepts.

Skills

Robotics strategy

Technical sales

Product management

AI-enabled automation

Cross-functional leadership

Market & competitive intelligence

Education

Bachelor's degree in a technical field

Master's degree preferred

Tools

Industrial software

Job description

The Key Technology Manager - Intent-Based Robotics and Physical AI is a strategic customer-facing technology role responsible for shaping how KUKA North America defines, positions, and commercializes the next generation of AI-enabled automation. The role connects customer needs, market direction, and competitive intelligence to help translate high-level operational intent into scalable robotic execution. This position works across Sales, Business Development, Product Management, integrator partners, and selected AI ecosystem partners to identify priority use cases, define practical requirements, build market-facing narratives, and support early customer adoption of intent-based robotics and physical AI solutions across North America.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities including but not limited to:

• Technology Strategy and Roadmap: Serve as the North American technology lead for intent-based robotics, physical AI, and agentic automation. Translate customer, integrator, and market requirements into actionable roadmap input for product and engineering teams.
• Physical AI: Work closely with product management and global teams to define requirements for intent-to-action workflows, semantic task models, standardized action primitives, orchestration logic, simulation validation, telemetry, governance, and human oversight.
• Customer and Use-Case Discovery: Identify and prioritize high-value applications where intent-based robotics can create measurable value, including AMRs, AMMRs, mobile manipulation, flexible logistics, high-mix manufacturing, mixed-SKU palletizing, kitting, machine tending, and brownfield automation environments.
• Voice of Customer and Market Feedback: Capture structured feedback from customers, integrators, technology partners, and internal stakeholders. Convert field insights into clear product requirements, expected business outcomes, adoption barriers, and commercialization priorities.
• Competitive and Technology Intelligence: Track the evolution of cognitive robotics, agentic AI, robotic foundation models, humanoids, autonomous task planning, orchestration platforms, simulation/digital twin workflows, and relevant robotics software ecosystems. Maintain a clear view of competitor positioning, capability gaps, and KUKA differentiation.
• Commercialization and Go-to-Market Support: Help define how KUKA should package, explain, demonstrate, and sell intent-based robotics and physical AI solutions. Support sales plays, value propositions, pricing inputs, business cases, and customer-ready positioning.
• Pre-Sales and Executive Customer Support: Assist Sales, Business Development Managers, AMR teams, and Application Engineers in developing credible customer presentations, demos, pilots, technical narratives, and executive-level discussions around physical AI, and intent-based automation.
• Pilot and Early-Access Program Support: Help structure customer pilots and early-access engagements by defining use-case scope, operational success criteria, expected data inputs, validation needs, deployment assumptions, risk considerations, and expansion paths.
• Partner and Ecosystem Development: Support collaboration with system integrators, AI/model providers, software partners, component suppliers, and startup/developer ecosystems that may accelerate adoption of intent-based robotic workflows.
• Responsible Deployment and Governance: Partner with Product Management stakeholders to help ensure new AI-enabled automation concepts are positioned and deployed with appropriate validation, traceability, supportability, escalation paths, and human oversight.
• Content Development and Sales Enablement: Create white papers, technical briefs, competitive summaries, product positioning, use-case playbooks, FAQs, demo scripts, and training materials that explain intent-based robotics and physical AI in practical terms for customers and internal teams.
• Cross-Functional Alignment: Maintain regular communication with North America leadership, global product teams, AMR teams, portfolio management, and sales leadership to align priorities, communicate roadmap direction, and support execution.
• Quality and Continuous Improvement: Adhere to applicable Quality Systems and support continuous improvement in how KUKA evaluates, commercializes, and scales emerging automation technologies.

Key Qualifications:

• Proven experience in robotics, automation, AMRs, industrial software, product strategy, technical sales, product management, or advanced technology commercialization.
• Strong practical understanding of industrial automation environments, including robots, AMRs/AGVs, PLCs, vision systems, safety concepts, MES/WMS/ERP integration, factory data, and system integration workflows.
• Working knowledge of AI-enabled robotics concepts such as task planning, agentic workflows, LLMs/VLMs, perception, semantic understanding, digital twins, simulation, telemetry, orchestration, and human-in-the-loop exception handling.
• Ability to translate broad technology trends into specific customer use cases, product requirements, roadmap priorities, sales messages, and commercial opportunities.
• Strong analytical capability to evaluate market trends, customer needs, competitor strategies, technology readiness, and business impact.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to explain complex topics clearly to technical, commercial, and executive audiences.
• Demonstrated ability to work across global product teams, software teams, sales, engineering, partners, and customers without direct reporting authority.
• Strong customer orientation and ability to identify practical adoption barriers, not just future-state technology potential.
• 5 years of experience in robotics, automation, automation software, AMR, product management, advanced applications, or a related technology field. Experience with AI-enabled automation is strongly preferred.

Education and/or Experience

Bachelor’s degree from a four-year college or university in robotics, mechatronics, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, computer science, industrial engineering, automation, or a related technical discipline. A master’s degree or equivalent advanced experience in robotics, AI, automation software, product management, or technology strategy is preferred. An equivalent combination of education and experience may be considered.

KUKA is an Equal Opportunity Employer committed to building an inclusive and diverse workforce. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, age, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other factor protected by applicable federal, state or local laws.