Director of Engineering, Physical AI

Director of Engineering, Physical AI

The Director of Engineering will lead a multi-disciplinary engineering organization, reporting to the General Manager of Physical AI. You will own the execution of the Physical AI Data Engine, collaborating with Operations and GTM to guide product direction and solve the data bottleneck in robotics research.

Key Responsibilities:

• Set and drive the technical vision across data collection infrastructure, teleoperation systems, ML training pipelines, model evaluation frameworks, annotation tooling, and research
• Lead a multidisciplinary engineering organization, designing the organizational structure, talent strategy, and culture required to scale rapidly
• Maintain exceptional technical and operational excellence, understanding team deliverables, identifying slipping standards early, and stepping in when necessary
• Drive cross-functional alignment across Engineering, Operations, and GTM on platform architecture, release processes, and shared priorities
• Collaborate with researchers and clients to architect and deliver scalable, production-grade data infrastructure for complex robotics workloads

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Robotics, Computer Science, or a related technical field
• 8+ years of engineering experience in fast-paced environments, including 4+ years direct people management
• Experience leading technical execution for complex hardware-software systems, with deep domain knowledge in Robotics, Autonomous Vehicles, Computer Vision, and/or Machine Learning strongly preferred
• Deep fluency in the ML development lifecycle , training pipelines, data flywheels, and evaluation frameworks
• Comfortable leading teams across Python, C++, and TypeScript/Node stacks, distributed systems, cloud infrastructure (AWS, Kubernetes), and workflow orchestration (Temporal, Airflow)
• Proven ability to independently navigate, execute effectively amidst ambiguity, and strong attention to detail
• Strong operator and communicator to create tight feedback loops between teams, surface problems early, and drive decisions with clarity

Nice to Have

• MS or PhD is a plus, though strong practical experience is equally valued
• Hands-on experience with teleoperation systems, robotic hardware platforms, or imitation learning
• Background in sensor fusion, SLAM, or 3D data processing
• Experience scaling data collection systems globally

Compensation

The base salary range for this full-time position in San Francisco is: $302,400-$378,000 USD. You'll also receive benefits including comprehensive health, dental and vision coverage, retirement benefits, a learning and development stipend, and generous PTO.