Operations Lead

Watney; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Watney Robotics is seeking an Operations Lead to keep our autonomous robot fleet running across HQ and customer sites in San Francisco. You’ll own end-to-end operations, from site setup to on-site deployment, against live hardware and construction constraints.

You’ll design scheduling, coordinate logistics, and serve as the escalation point between technicians and engineering to deliver pilots on time while maintaining safety and quality standards.

Qualifications

• Experience running physical operations under hardware constraints.
• Proven ability to stand up new physical sites with vendors and permitting.
• Comfort with shift-based or 24/7 operations and ambiguity.

Responsibilities

• Own robot allocation and fleet readiness across competing internal demands.
• Stand up and run new customer sites through construction, security, and network build-out, and drive production-cycle pilots to a real, time-boxed conclusion.
• Build the scheduling and coordination processes.
• Be the escalation point between technicians, engineering, and site logistics.

Skills

Fleet management

Site deployment

Operational planning

Cross-functional collaboration

Job description

Our Mission

Expand human ambition in the physical world.

Critical infrastructure is constrained by labor shortages, hazardous working conditions, and operational complexity. Watney builds and deploys autonomous robotic systems that increase the speed and capacity of buildout, starting with data centers.

About the Role

At Watney, the Operations Lead keeps the robot fleet physically working, allocated, and deployed - at headquarters and at customer sites.

Sites are being built out under real construction, power, network, and security constraints. You'd own the operations end to end. This is a hands-on role against live hardware and live construction.

What You'll Do

• Own robot allocation and fleet readiness across competing internal demands
• Stand up and run new customer sites through construction, security, and network build-out, and drive production-cycle pilots to a real, time-boxed conclusion.
• Build the scheduling and coordination processes
• Be the escalation point between technicians, engineering, and site logistics.

You May Be a Good Fit If You:

• Have run physical operations under a hard hardware-availability constraint.
• Have stood up a new physical site from lease to operational, including the vendors and permitting in between.
• Have shift-based or 24/7 operations experience and are comfortable with ambiguity

We’re committed to building a diverse, inclusive team. At Watney Robotics, we welcome people of all backgrounds and identities, and we make hiring decisions based on skills, experience, and potential. If you’re passionate about robotics but don’t meet every requirement, we still encourage you to apply!

Curious to learn more?

Follow us here on X and LinkedIn