Lead Autonomous Forklift Field Engineer

Third Wave Automation; Union City (CA); On-site; USD 125,000 - 165,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

401(k) matching

Meals provided

Flexible schedule

Job summary

Third Wave Automation is seeking a Sr. Field Engineer to lead deployment and maintenance of autonomous forklifts at customer sites. This role requires 50-70% travel and direct customer engagement during deployment and go-live.

You will work with the Robotics Deployment Operations team to ensure successful integration, require 6+ years of field experience, and prefer Python/C++ programming along with Linux networking skills. Forklift certification is required or company training is provided.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in robotics, engineering, computer science or related field.
• 6+ years field experience coordinating with customers in robotics or automation.
• Industrial automation experience with hardware, software, and networking.
• Forklift certification or ability to obtain certification.
• Programming experience in Python and C++ preferred.

Responsibilities

• Own the site as technical lead with the Field Engineering Manager and decide go/no-go for operations.
• Lead setup, integration, and maintenance of autonomous forklifts at customer sites.
• Report fleet adoption, utilization, deployment progress, and risks to teams.
• Debug on-site stack: Linux, networking, services, logs, telemetry; write root-cause reports.
• Perform on-robot hardware work: tools, replacements, and field upgrades.
• Manage site configuration and propose future improvements for configurations.
• Interface with customer WMS and be the face of the company on site.

Skills

Customer coordination

Hardware repair

Networking

Python

C++

Troubleshooting

Documentation

Tooling & scripting

Education

Bachelor's Degree in Robotics/Engineering/CS

Tools

Linux

Shell scripting

Job description

Third Wave Automation is seeking a Sr. Field Engineer to lead deployment and maintenance of autonomous forklifts at customer sites. This role requires 50-70% travel and direct customer engagement during deployment and go-live.

You will work with the Robotics Deployment Operations team to ensure successful integration, require 6+ years of field experience, and prefer Python/C++ programming along with Linux networking skills. Forklift certification is required or company training is provided.