Head of Field Operations

Chef Robotics's goal is to put a robot in every commercial kitchen around the world. As part of our team, you will help design, manufacture, test, deploy, and scale the world’s first-ever Chef systems. We want a self-starter who can work in an early-stage environment without much or any supervision. Chef is a well-funded company (backed by funds like Kleiner Perkins) out of San Francisco with a mission to put a dent in the global malnutrition and we’re looking to work with the most ambitious people in the world.

Our team is comprised of all Senior / Staff Engineers, Tech Leads, and Engineering Managers ex Cruise, Google, Verb Surgical, Built Robotics, Vicarious AI, Nuro, Lockheed Martin, Strateos, Ripcord, and Plenty.

Chef has taken a unique approach to food automation by 1) targeting b2b businesses vs a b2c restaurant, 2) selling the product before building it, 3) choosing a customer segment where there's a real problem that robots can help with, and 4) building a solution that is sufficiently constrained and yet flexible.

More about our goal: https://chefrobotics.ai/manifesto
More about our principles: https://chefrobotics.ai/principles
More about benefits: https://chefrobotics.ai/careers

We are looking for an exceptional engineer to lead the field support operations team. The candidate’s primary responsibility will be to build and manage an operation that can provide nationwide support to the logistics industry 24/7/365. The field support operations team will commission new robotic systems at customer facilities, train customer personnel to operate those systems, provide on-site maintenance, repair, and a combination of remote and on-site technical support and troubleshooting. The field support team will also work closely with the systems engineering team to continuously improve the quality and reliability of robotic systems in the field, reducing the effort required to support and operate them.

Note that this role will require onsite travel up to 50%.

Responsibilities (including but not limited to):

• Work with engineering to deploy, commission, manage site acceptance, and operate robotic systems throughout the country.
• Develop processes and manage a team of engineers to provide 24/7/365 support.
• Coordinate and monitor daily operations.
• Communicate schedules, progress and operational performance metrics to stakeholders at both Chef and the customer.
• Tailor support model to meet specific customer SLAs.
• Serve as a single point of customer contact for issue resolution and escalation.
• Develop and deliver robotic system operator training to customer’s employees.
• Execute the validation and on-site commissioning of new robotic systems.
• Work closely with clients to guarantee success on initial deployments.
• Hire, train and mentor a world-class field support and operations team.
• Balance staffing requirements to ensure proper staffing and coverage for all deployments.
• Collaborate with developers, fellow engineers, product teams, clients, and other stakeholders to continuously improve the product.
• Work with the Systems Test team to improve quality and reliability.
• Promote safety processes and best practices throughout the organization.

Experience, Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• B.S. in engineering (M.S. preferred)
• 10+ years deploying and supporting h/w, s/w systems at customer sites.
• 5+ years of experience leading teams providing around-the-clock support and managing multiple shifts
• Previous experience deploying systems solutions at customer facilities.
• Project management skills, leading and directing complex engineering projects
• Excellent customer-facing communication skills with the ability to communicate complex issues to diverse audiences (e.g., operations, engineering, or leadership).
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

Work Environment & Physical Requirements:

• Food factory (ex. Walking/standing long hours, expose to loud environment/machine, refrigerated enviornmnets)
• Office/Desk Physical work requirements

Equal Opportunity Employer

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