Manager, Applications Engineering

About this role:

Avidbots is seeking a passionate, self-driven Manager, Applications Engineering to lead our Applications Engineering team. The ideal candidate is an experienced engineering leader with a strong track record of bridging software development and real-world field applications. You have hands-on experience supporting production software at scale and excel at collaborating with cross-functional teams to deliver high-quality solutions.

If you thrive on solving complex technical challenges, working across teams, and driving issues to resolution in fast-paced environments, this role is for you. You will lead a team of Application Engineers to investigate field-reported robotic application issues, analyze robot usage behaviors, and lead engineering prototype trials.  You will create impact by ensuring Avidbots’ production software is optimally applied, sustained, and continuously improved across our growing global fleet of autonomous cleaning robots.

This position reports to the Senior Director, Software Engineering.

How you will make a difference: 

• Lead, build, and grow a team of Applications Engineers through technical direction, coaching, hiring, and performance management
• Lead the triage process and maintain backlog quality for robot software/system issues reported from the field and production
• Work closely with Engineering to help analyze robot field usage and performance metrics to support issue investigation and identify opportunities for product improvement
• Partner with Engineering, Product, Technical Services, Customer Success, and Production to ensure that field and production issues are resolved in a timely manner
• Work closely with engineering to conduct alpha and beta trials of new features across customer sites and verticals
• Build a continuous improvement culture by leveraging AI tools, automating workflows, leading root cause analysis and team retrospectives
• Communicate critical field issues to cross-functional stakeholders, conveying complex technical concepts to varying levels of the organization
• Deliver internal training on robot systems applications and field best practices to technical support and other operations teams

Required Qualifications: 

• BSc. or graduate degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent
• 5+ years of industry experience in Applications Engineering, Technical Support, or related
• 3+ years of people leadership experience (managing Applications engineering or QA teams) 
• Strong background in troubleshooting and resolving complex, production-scale application issues
• Demonstrated ability to critically analyze and make prioritization decisions in high-stakes, time-sensitive situations with minimal oversight
• Proven success partnering cross-functionally to support new product and feature rollouts
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, able to explain complex technical concepts to both technical and non-technical stakeholders
• Experience with robotics or autonomous systems, or a strong interest in the field
• Enjoys working in small teams with big dreams

Preferred Qualifications: 

• Proficiency with Linux-based operating systems 
• Familiar with programming in C++, Python, and Bash scripting
• Experience with incident and issue management via ticketing systems (Jira or similar) and collaboration tools (Confluence, Google Suite)
• Experience with Robot Operating System (ROS)
• Experience leading offshore or remote engineering teams
• Passionate about mobile robotics