Senior Robot Test Operations Manager

About the Role

As a Senior Test Operations Manager at Agility Robotics, you will own the operational heartbeat of our robot validation program. This is not a role for someone who waits for test plans to arrive - it is for someone who sees an idle robot and immediately asks why it is not running, who finds problems that no one else is looking for, and who treats every test result as data that should improve the product.

You will be responsible for maximizing robot fleet uptime, designing and driving endurance and validation testing, and serving as the strategic conduit between Commercial, Software, and Systems Engineering teams to continuously evolve our test strategy. Your work will directly influence the quality and reliability of Digit in customer warehouses.
 

About the Work

Fleet Uptime and Test Operations

• Own end-to-end robot uptime across the validation fleet - define uptime targets, track actuals, and drive rapid recovery when robots are out of commission
• Build and maintain a structured fleet management system (scheduling, status tracking, maintenance windows) to ensure robots are always available for the right test at the right time
• Establish and enforce first-line triage protocols so that every robot issue is diagnosed, classified (hardware vs. software vs. environment), and routed to the right engineering team with clear, evidence-backed Jira tickets
• Develop and maintain preventative maintenance schedules in partnership with hardware engineering and repair technicians to reduce unplanned downtime

Longevity and Validation Testing

• Design, build, and continuously evolve longevity test programs - multi-robot, multi-mission, extended-duration test campaigns that mirror real customer deployment conditions, not sanitized lab scenarios
• Move the fleet beyond functional smoke tests toward scenario-based, customer-representative validation: object avoidance in cluttered environments, human co-presence, payload variation, stair and terrain diversity, thermal stress, and extended uptime cycles
• Define test success criteria and acceptance thresholds collaboratively with Systems Engineering.
• Run release validation cycles - execute a comprehensive battery of tests before any major software or hardware release reaches customers, and hold the go/no-go authority on test completion
• Track issues by release label so that regressions are visible, persistent failures are escalated, and the history of what was found when is always available

Reporting and Metrics

• Publish weekly leadership reports covering: robot fleet uptime, tests executed, pass/fail rates by release, open issues by severity, and trends across longevity runs
• Define and own the metrics that matter -  intervention rates, mission success rates, MTBI (mean time between interventions), and issue escape rates - and flag when metrics are misleading or need to be retired
• Build dashboards that give engineering and product leadership real-time visibility into validation health and release readiness

Testability and Debuggability Improvement

• Partner with SW engineering to improve log structure, telemetry accessibility, and diagnostic tooling so that any member of the team can triage a robot failure - not just the person who built the logging system
• Champion the creation and maintenance of robot diagnostic runbooks: if-then decision trees that route failures to the right owner with the right supporting evidence
• Provide structured, data-driven input to SW and HW teams on user experience friction - what is operationally hard, what breaks under real-world conditions, what customers will notice before engineers do
• Create and maintain reusable test protocols, onboarding guides, and operational playbooks so that institutional knowledge scales with the team

About You

Experience

• 5+ years of hands-on experience in test operations, system validation, or field operations for complex electromechanical or robotic systems
• Demonstrated experience managing and sustaining a fleet of hardware-software integrated systems - robots, autonomous vehicles, or comparable platforms - in an operational test environment
• Previous experience in high-growth, fast-paced environments where self-direction and bias for action are essential
• Strong instincts for customer-representative testing: designing scenarios that reflect real deployment conditions, not idealized lab conditions
• Proficiency with log analysis and telemetry tools; ability to correlate hardware, software, and sensor data to identify root cause
• Experience with structured issue management (Jira or equivalent) including release labeling, triage workflows, and escalation protocols
• Familiarity with reliability engineering concepts: MTBI, intervention rate analysis, wear pattern identification in integrated mechanical systems

Why Join Agility Robotics?

• Play a key role in ensuring that humanoid robots deployed at customer sites are safe, reliable, and ready - not just functional in a lab
• Work in a fast-moving, highly collaborative environment where your findings directly shape engineering decisions and product quality
• Be part of cutting-edge development at the intersection of hardware, software, and AI at a pivotal moment in the industry
• Competitive salary, equity, and benefits package

Location

• This is an onsite position based out of our Pittsburgh, PA office with some travel to Salem, OR during onboarding/ramp up

The final salary offered to a successful candidate will be dependent on several factors that may include but are not limited to: job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. Agility Robotics is a multi-state employer and this salary range may not reflect positions who work in other locations. These ranges may be modified in the future.

Anticipated Base Salary Range

$136,000 - $176,000 USD

In addition to base pay, our competitive total rewards package consists of the following for full-time employees:

• 401(k) Plan: Includes a 6% company match.
• Equity: Company stock options.
• Insurance Coverage: 100% company-paid medical, dental, vision, and short/long-term disability insurance for employees.
• Benefit Start Date: Eligible for benefits on your first day of employment.
• Well-Being Support: Employee Assistance Program (EAP).
• Time Off:
  • Exempt Employees: Flexible, unlimited PTO and 12 company holidays, including a winter shutdown.
  • Non-Exempt Employees: 10 vacation days, paid sick leave, and 12 company holidays, including a winter shutdown, annually.
• On-Site Perks: Catered lunches four times a week and a variety of healthy snacks and refreshments at our Salem and Pittsburgh locations.
• Parental Leave: Generous paid parental leave programs.
• Work Environment: A culture that supports flexible work arrangements.
• Growth Opportunities: Professional development and tuition reimbursement programs.
• Relocation Assistance: Provided for eligible roles.
• Annual Discretionary Bonus: Provided for eligible roles.

All of our roles are U.S.-based. Applicants must have current authorization to work in the United States.

Agility Robotics is committed to a work environment in which all individuals are treated with respect and dignity. Each individual has the right to work in a professional atmosphere that promotes equal employment opportunities and prohibits unlawful discriminatory practices, including harassment. Therefore, it is the policy of Agility Robotics to ensure equal employment opportunity without discrimination or harassment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, marital status, citizenship, national origin, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by law. Agility Robotics prohibits any such discrimination or harassment.