Sr Business Development & Ops Lead, Robotics & Physical AI

Socket.dev; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 250,000 - 350,000; Full time

Job summary

World Labs is seeking a Sr Business Development and Operations Lead to shape how its robotics technology is brought to market. You will own the full lifecycle of strategic customer engagements—from discovery to commercial close—working with research, engineering and product teams in a hands-on, technical environment.

You will develop market strategies, build partnerships, and establish an operational foundation for early commercial activity, with a focus on scalable solutions and evidence-driven

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in robotics, Physical AI, or related frontier tech.
• Proven ability to close complex B2B deals.
• Ability to translate technical capabilities into commercial value.
• Strong collaboration with research, engineering, and product teams.

Responsibilities

• Develop customer engagement strategies and close strategic partnerships.
• Identify customer problems and shape solutions with R&D and product teams.
• Own end-to-end deal lifecycle from discovery to close.
• Build operational processes for an early commercial function.

Skills

Robotics

Physical AI

B2B sales

Strategic partnerships

Customer discovery

Job description

About World Labs

World Labs is a frontier AI research and product company advancing spatial and physical intelligence. We build world models that perceive, generate, reason, and interact with virtual and physical worlds - transforming seeing into doing, perceiving into reasoning, and imagining into creating. Our vision is to empower and augment humanity through science and technology. We do so by advancing spatial and physical intelligence by building models, products and business solutions that can truly augment humanity's capabilities for better living and work. When spatial intelligence becomes physical, the north star goal is to advance the field of robotics. Many laboratory demonstrations of robots today show promising progress, but the real challenge is making them work reliably in the real world, where objects shift, clutter accumulates, lighting changes, and physical interactions vary from one trial to the next. This gap between a compelling demo and reliable operation is a major barrier to putting robotic systems to work at scale.

The Role

We are looking for a Sr Business Development and Operations Lead to help shape how World Labs brings its robotics technology to market. This is a highly technical, hands-on business development role at the intersection of Physical AI, simulation, spatial intelligence and enterprise customers. You will be part of our world-class teams partnering closely with research and engineering groups to understand what our technology can do today, where it is heading, and where it can create meaningful value for robotics teams in the real world. You will own the full lifecycle of strategic and operational customer engagements—from identifying the right problems and shaping the solution to building the commercial relationship and closing the deal.

What You Will Do

• Market + Technical Understanding: Develop a deep understanding of our robotics technology, its capabilities and limitations, and how the broader robotics and Physical AI ecosystem is evolving. Identify the customers, use cases, and problems where our technology can create differentiated value, and develop a strong point of view on where the market is heading.


• Customer Discovery + Feedback Loop: Spend meaningful time with customers to understand their workflows, technical constraints, deployment environments, and unmet needs firsthand. Build a tight feedback loop between customers and the team: translate problems back to research and engineering, synthesize patterns, and help distinguish scalable product opportunities from one-off customization.


• Commercialization + Closing: Shape and execute early customer engagements, pilots, and partnerships in close collaboration with research, engineering, and product teams. Own strategic opportunities end to end—from prospecting and discovery through technical evaluation, commercial structure, negotiation, contracting, and close.


• Operating + Building the Function: Build the operational foundation for an early commercial function: maintain customer and opportunity pipelines, establish lightweight processes, drive follow-through, unblock dependencies, and make sure commitments get delivered.

What We Are Looking For

8+ years of experience in related industries. Deep experience in robotics, Physical AI, autonomous systems, simulation, or an adjacent frontier technology, with firsthand exposure to customers, products, or deployments. Technical fluency to engage credibly with researchers and engineers, with strong curiosity to understand how the technology works and draw connections between technical capabilities and market opportunities. Strong understanding of the different generations of robotics technology - from traditional automation, through the computer-vision-driven wave of robotics, to today’s frontier in imitation learning, reinforcement learning, robot foundation models, and sim-to-real. Demonstrated ability to develop and close complex B2B relationships, from ambiguous early conversations through signed agreements. Strong market and adoption judgment: you understand where new robotics capabilities will find pull first, which customers and use cases to prioritize, and how to sequence entry across markets. You can reason across environments including logistics and warehousing, industrial and scientific labs, electronics manufacturing, automotive, defense, and emerging consumer/home applications. Ability to turn technical capability into repeatable commercial value: identify the right wedge, business model, pricing, and channel strategy, and build a path from demo to paid PoC to production deployment while avoiding bespoke work that does not scale. Exceptional execution and ownership. You turn conversations into actions, close loops, and drive outcomes without requiring significant structure around you. Builder mentality. You thrive in the ambiguity of early commercialization, creating the processes, tools, and operating cadence needed while figuring out what works. Hunger and ambition to help build something category-defining, with a high bar for yourself and the work around you. Low ego and highly collaborative. You seek the best ideas regardless of where they come from, build closely with the team, and do what is needed to deliver results.

How You Operate

• Pursuit of Greatness: You have a high bar for the work and the ambition to help build a category-defining business. You are not satisfied with the obvious answer, are willing to take bold swings, and go beyond what is required to create an exceptional outcome.


• Intellectual Honesty: You are deeply curious about customers, technology, and the market. You seek what is true rather than what validates an existing thesis, listen closely to users, and are willing to change your point of view when the evidence changes.


• Deliver Results: You own outcomes end to end. You turn conversations into actions, close loops, unblock yourself and others, and get things done—even when the path, process, or ownership is not perfectly defined.


• Build Together: You work side by side with research, engineering, product, and operations. You communicate constructively, seek the best idea rather than your idea, and can disagree, commit, and move forward as one team.

Equal Opportunity & Pay Transparency

Equal Employment Opportunity World Labs is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected under applicable law. We welcome all qualified applicants and are committed to providing reasonable accommodations throughout the hiring process upon request.

California Pay Transparency

In accordance with California law, we disclose the following: Pay Range $250-$350k base salary (good-faith estimate for San Francisco Bay Area upon hire; actual offer based on experience, skills, and qualifications) Total Compensation Base salary plus equity awards Salary History We do not request or consider prior compensation in making offers Compliance: Cal. Lab. Code Sec.432.3 (pay scale disclosure & salary history ban); Cal. Lab. Code Sec.1197.5 (Equal Pay Act); Cal. Gov. Code Sec.12940 (FEHA); 42 U.S.C. Sec.2000e (Title VII); 29 U.S.C. Sec.621 (ADEA); 42 U.S.C. Sec.12101 (ADA)