About the JobFieldAI is seeking a Field Operations Lead to drive the mission of our Large Autonomy Group and Federal Team. You will lead the effort to operate large autonomous systems in complex, remote, and challenging environments, covering developmental and operational testing, customer deployments, hardware integration, by-wire installation, and field test execution strategy.
The ideal candidate combines strong people leadership with hands-on technical judgment and field operations experience. You are comfortable working directly with Field Application Engineers, Technical leads and customer stakeholders and you know how to create structure in a fast-moving, high-growth environment.
What You Will Get To Do- Lead day-to-day field operations, including test planning, experimentation, and execution.
- Manage the ground vehicle fleet to maximize uptime, including preventative and operational maintenance and equipment recovery.
- Own safe operations in the field, setting and enforcing safety practices.
- Plan and manage parts inventory for anticipated repairs, with particular attention to long-lead and hard-to-source components.
- Organize field equipment and coordinate logistics for deployments.
- Lead integration of hardware components onto customer vehicles, including complex by-wire development, testing, and installation.
- Support customer deployments in the field.
What You Have- Bachelor's degree in robotics, engineering, computer science, or a related technical discipline, or equivalent professional experience.
- Significant experience in field applications engineering, robotics deployment, systems integration, technical operations, or a comparable customer-facing engineering function.
- Demonstrated experience leading, developing and managing technical field teams.
- Experience building or scaling field operations across multiple customers, sites, or geographic regions.
- Strong understanding of complex hardware and software systems, ideally involving robotics, autonomous systems, industrial automation, technical infrastructure or other deployed advanced technology.
- Proven ability to manage multiple concurrent deployments and balance customer urgency, technical complexity, staffing constraints, and business priorities.
- Strong troubleshooting and systems-thinking skills, with the ability to lead teams through ambiguous and high-pressure field situations.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to communicate effectively with technical teams, frontline operators, customer executives, and internal leadership.
- Strong organizational and operational discipline, including experience developing processes, documentation, training programs, and performance metrics.
- Willingness and ability to travel domestically and internationally as business needs require.
What Will Set You Apart- Experience deploying robotic or autonomous systems in challenging, complex environments.
- Experience supporting customers in industries such as energy, manufacturing, construction, mining, agriculture, logistics, aerospace, defense, or infrastructure.
- Familiarity with Linux, networking, sensors, robotic hardware, autonomy software, and system-level diagnostics.
- Experience managing distributed or international technical teams.
- Experience operating within a high-growth technology company where products and processes are evolving rapidly.
- Knowledge of industrial site safety, commissioning practices, and customer acceptance procedures.
- Experience supporting the transition from early-stage pilots and demonstrations to repeatable, production-scale deployments.
$190,000 - $240,000 a year
This position is for our FieldAI Federal Team. This team works on projects connected to the U.S. government which requires U.S. Person eligibility. A U.S. Person as defined by 22 C.F.R 120.62 includes U.S. Citizen, U.S. National, lawful permanent residents (green card holders) refugee or asylee.Our salary range is generous and we consider each individual's background and experience when determining final compensation. Base pay may vary based on role scope, job-related knowledge, skills, experience, and the Irvine, California market.
