Sr. Robotics Field Engineer

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

Company Description

Third Wave Automation is a rapidly growing startup that has demonstrated its core technology components, proven its market fit, and just closed its Series C funding. If you are excited about cutting edge machine learning, robotics that affects the real world, and want to join a company where your skills can have a huge impact, you’ll fit right in.

Third Wave Automation is applying modern machine learning to materials handling—delivering site-specific forklift navigation and infrastructure-free pallet handling that continuously adapts to changing floor configuration and warehouse demand.

Job Description

Third Wave Automation is looking for a Sr. Field Engineer. Our Robotics Deployment Operations team is responsible for the setup, integration, and maintenance of our autonomous forklifts at customer sites. The team works directly with customers at every stage of the process, serves as a first point of customer contact during deployment through product support, and works closely with the offsite TWA engineering team to ensure customer success. This role includes 50-70% travel.

How You Can Make an Impact

• Own the site as technical lead with the Field Engineering Manager: plan, risks, and the go / no-go call when the system is not ready for operations.
• Lead and coordinate the setup, integration, and maintenance of our autonomous forklifts at customer sites.
• Report on fleet adoption and utilization issues and metrics, including deployment progress, and effectively elevate technical risks by working closely with the Third Wave Customer Success, Product, and Engineering teams to improve product reliability and performance.
• Debug the on-site stack from first principles — Linux, networking, services, logs/telemetry, and integrations — and leave a root‑cause write‑up engineering can act on, not a workaround that fails when you leave.
• Do your own on‑robot hardware work when that is the fastest path: hand tools, parts replacement, retrofits, and field upgrades.
• Manage and maintain the site system configuration while also providing improvements for future system configurations.
• Interface and integrate with the customer warehouse management system (WMS).
• Be the face of the company to our customers.
• Work directly with the customer, serving as a first point of contact during product deployment through Go Live.
• Be a subject matter expert on how our system is deployed and operated.
• Engage with pertinent internal stakeholders to ensure clear and comprehensive training on operating the TWA fleet and best practices are provided to the customer.
• Turn what you learn on site into the system of record: implementation playbooks, optimization notes, and best practices other engineers can run without calling you.
• Support on‑site product testing and provide detailed feedback.
• Write tools and scripts that remove repetitive setup and debug work, and use LLMs and coding assistants to triage logs, draft diagnostics, and generate first‑pass fixes.
• Weekends and odd hours may be required.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree or higher in Robotics, Engineering, Computer Science or related technical field.
• 6+ years of field experience coordinating with customers, being well‑versed in various robotics expertise including hardware, software, and network.
• Outstanding customer relationship management skills.
• Understanding and experience with change management processes.
• Industrial automation experience. Experience working with and repairing industrial machinery.
• Linux experience (command‑line tools, networking, administration).
• Programming experience (Python, C++) preferred.
• Excellent written and interpersonal communication skills.
• Experience with standard office productivity tools (Google suite, Slack, etc.).
• Ability to write tools and scripts to automate repetitive tasks.
• Experience working in a full‑scale warehouse environment.
• Must be able to obtain and maintain forklift certification (company‑provided training and certification available).

Physical Requirements

• Bending & Stooping: Bending body downward and forward by bending spine at the waist.
• Climbing: Ascending or descending ladders, scaffolding, ramps, poles, and other devices using feet and legs and/or hands and arms. Body agility is emphasized.
• Crawling: Moving about on hands and knees or hands and feet.
• Moderate Carrying: Physically transporting items weighing 15 to 44 pounds.
• Hearing: Ability to hear enough to be able to detect specific noises, proper equipment operation; understand what employees/clients are saying in normal conversation.
• Kneeling: Bending legs at knees to come to rest on one or both knees.
• Moderate Lifting: Raising objects 15-44 pounds.
• Mobility Requirement: Be able to move throughout the warehouse facilities.
• Sitting: Particularly for sustained periods of time.
• Standing: Particularly for sustained periods of time.
• Visual Requirement: Be able to see and read PC screens; detect color coding, read fine print, and/or normal type size print.
• Walking: Moving about on foot, particularly for long distances.

The pay range for this position is $125,000 - $165,000/yr+ benefits+equity; however, base pay offered may vary depending on job‑related knowledge, skills, and experience. Base pay information is based on market location.

More About Working Here

Our Core Values:

• Safety. We consider safety in everything we do.
• People. We care about our teammates as people.
• Encouragement. We encourage teaching, asking questions, and sharing opinions.
• Transparency. We are transparent and sincere in our actions.

A robust set of benefits and perks:

• Comprehensive benefits. Health, Dental, Vision, and a 401k matching program, to boot!
• Flexible working schedule. Be productive when you work best.
• Show & Tell. We love to learn from one another, and see the cool stuff everyone is working on!
• Meals are covered. Lunch is provided every day, and dinner for those evenings that run long.
• Stacks of snacks. Donuts are a main food group, and the snack shelf is always stocked with a wide variety of items.
• Great teammates. One of the best parts of working here!

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We value each person's expertise and experiences. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.

All qualified applicants able to work in the United States are encouraged to apply. We are unable to sponsor H-1 visas subject to fees required by the ‘Restriction on Entry of Certain Nonimmigrant Workers’ Presidential Proclamation dated September 21, 2025.