Lead Robotics Field Engineer, Autonomous Forklifts

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

Benefits offered by this job

Health, Dental, Vision

401(k) matching

Flexible schedule

Meals provided

Snacks and team culture

Supportive teammates

Job summary

Third Wave Automation is seeking a Sr. Field Engineer to lead on-site deployment of autonomous forklifts at customer sites.

You will coordinate setup, integration, and maintenance, acting as the primary technical contact from deployment through Go Live, while working with the offsite engineering team. You will diagnose issues across Linux, networking, and telemetry, perform on-robot hardware work when needed, and help train customers on operating the TWA fleet.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in a technical field.
• 6+ years field experience coordinating with customers in robotics/automation.
• Strong customer relationship management skills.
• Experience with change management processes.
• Industrial automation experience and forklift knowledge beneficial.
• Linux experience and scripting ability (Python/C++ preferred).
• Excellent written and interpersonal communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Own the site as technical lead with the Field Engineering Manager.
• Lead and coordinate setup, integration, and maintenance of autonomous forklifts at customer sites.
• Report on fleet adoption, deployment progress, and technical risks to internal teams.
• Debug on-site stack: Linux, networking, services, logs/telemetry, integrations.
• Perform on-robot hardware work when fastest path to solution.
• Interface with customer WMS and provide training for operating the TWA fleet.
• Be the face of the company to customers during deployment and Go Live.
• Create implementation playbooks and optimization notes for future runs.
• Develop tools/scripts to automate setup and diagnostics; draft first-pass fixes.
• Occasional weekends and odd hours may be required.

Skills

Field engineering

Linux

Networking

Python

C++

Customer relations

Communication

Problem solving

Education

Bachelor’s Degree in Robotics, Engineering, Computer Science

Tools

Linux

Networking

Forecasting tools

Job description

Third Wave Automation is seeking a Sr. Field Engineer to lead on-site deployment of autonomous forklifts at customer sites.

You will coordinate setup, integration, and maintenance, acting as the primary technical contact from deployment through Go Live, while working with the offsite engineering team. You will diagnose issues across Linux, networking, and telemetry, perform on-robot hardware work when needed, and help train customers on operating the TWA fleet.