Robotics Operations Lead

Location: Chicago, IL Headquarters

Type: Full-time, in office & in the field at customer sites

Company Stage: Early-stage / startup

This role is a full-time opportunity to make a meaningful impact as we continue building and scaling our business. We believe this position offers strong ownership, growth potential, and the chance to contribute directly to Autopilot’s next phase of growth.

At Autopilot, our mission is to free people up to do what they do best by automating everything else. We are building the infrastructure layer that powers autonomy in motion across the physical world — including sports, fitness, logistics, healthcare, and more. Our systems help robots move, record, deliver, train, and connect in real-world environments that have historically lacked modern tooling. Our values are simple and non-negotiable: Do Good. Have Fun. Make Money. We believe these are mutually reinforcing, and we work hard to uphold them as we grow.

We move fast, operate scrappy, and care deeply about building something that works.

You will be eligible to participate in company benefits and perks, which currently include:

• Base Salary + Annual bonus potential  
• 100% Employer-covered Health, Dental, and Vision Insurance
• 401(k) – Company-administered plan
• Flexible PTO – Time off as needed, coordinated with your team
• Travel Reimbursement – Reimbursed in accordance with company policy, where role-related travel is required (up to 50%  travel) 
• Team & Culture Events – Team offsites, social events, and company-sponsored activities

Benefits and policies may be updated from time to time at the company’s discretion.

As the Lead Robotics Field Concierge at Autopilot, you play a critical role in delivering our Robotics experience in the field. Ensuring customers receive seamless, reliable autonomous cleaning through our all-inclusive subscription model. You are responsible for maintaining robot uptime, supporting deployments, and serving as the front line of customer success, translating our promise of outcomes—not equipment—into consistent, high-quality performance on-site. This role combines hands-on operations, proactive communication, and continuous improvement to ensure every customer realizes immediate value from their robot solution, reinforcing trust, retention, and long-term success with Autopilot’s autonomous systems.

• Typical Workweek: 40 hours per week (full-time).
• Scheduling: Standard daytime schedule subject to site needs; role routinely requires early morning, late evening, and/or on-call weekend shifts when supporting outdoor robots or customer windows (e.g., pre-9:00 AM or after 10:30 PM service windows). 
• Travel: Up to 50% travel required. Local and out-of-state customer site visits. Must have reliable personal transportation.

• Lead, coach, and develop a team of Field Robotics Concierges — setting the standard for operational excellence, professionalism, and customer delivery.
• Establish and enforce team best practices, field protocols, and quality benchmarks across all customer deployments.
• Conduct regular 1:1s, team standups, and performance reviews to ensure team growth, accountability, and morale.
• Own shift scheduling and on-call rotations, ensuring coverage across all active customer sites.
• Act as the primary escalation point for team members facing complex field or customer issues.
• Work cross-functionally with the operations and engineering teams to keep deployments running smoothly.

• Oversee the end-to-end logistics of robot deployments — from equipment staging, transportation, and site readiness to go-live execution.
• Coordinate with operations and outside vendors to ensure robots, accessories, and support materials are properly inventoried, staged, and delivered on schedule.
• Develop and maintain deployment checklists, site readiness assessments, and pre-launch runbooks.
• Manage equipment tracking, storage, and rotation across multiple customer sites.
• Proactively identify logistical risks (site access, power/connectivity constraints, timing conflicts) and resolve them before they impact deployment.

• You are the subject matter expert for the robot installs and enablement 
• Dispatch for routine maintenance to guarantee uptime for indoor autonomous robots (scheduled and on-call shifts) 
• Conduct site visits to ensure robots are operating effectively and safely (local and out of state travel required) 
• Document robot performance, report issues, and collaborate with the team on troubleshooting and improvements.
• Capture on-site insights (photos, notes, logs) to support product iteration and customer reporting.
• Assist in building long-term trust and operational excellence with our partners and clients.
• Serve as a friendly, reliable point of contact for customers — ensuring their satisfaction with robot performance and service quality.

• Serve as the subject matter expert for robot commissioning, configuration, and field enablement.
• Lead pre-deployment testing protocols — validating robot performance, connectivity, mapping accuracy, cleaning coverage, and safety compliance before going live with any customer.
• Develop and maintain technical testing standards and acceptance criteria for indoor and outdoor autonomous robots.
• Troubleshoot hardware and software issues in the field; document root causes and escalate to engineering with clear reproduction steps and supporting data.
• Capture performance data, photos, and field logs during site visits to support product iteration and quality improvement.
• Collaborate with engineering on firmware updates, configuration changes, and feature rollouts — ensuring smooth field adoption.

• Maintain accurate records of site visits, performance reports, robot logs, incident reports, and team activities.
• Own the development and continuous improvement of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for all field operations, deployment logistics, and technical testing workflows.
• Contribute to internal tooling, dashboards, and reporting systems that improve visibility across the field operations function.
• Identify inefficiencies and lead process improvement initiatives that improve team efficiency, robot uptime, and customer satisfaction.
  

• Deeply data-driven and systems-oriented
• Energized by early-stage ambiguity and ownership
• Convinced that robot adoption is inevitable
• Comfortable working cross-functionally with product, ops, and leadership
• Hungry to grow into larger roles as the company scales
• Must have reliable transportation and access to a personal vehicle
• Comfortable traveling to customer sites when needed
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills
• Comfortable interacting with customers in operational environments
• Interest in robotics, automation, technology, or operations
• Self-starter who can work independently
• Organized and able to document observations clearly