Associate Manager, Robotics Lab

Role Overview

You own a shift. Not a zone of it, not a function within it — the whole thing. Roughly 140 operators, 13 Cell Leads, and 3 Operations Supervisors collecting robot demonstration data, and you are the single person accountable for what that shift produces, how good it is, and whether everyone goes home safe.

The shift you own runs whether or not the Production Manager is in the building. That's the job: your shift should be indistinguishable in output and quality from the one before it and the one after it.

• Own your shift's production plan end to end — accepted episodes, first-pass acceptance, utilization, and labor efficiency against target.
• Manage 2–3 Operations Supervisors; own their performance, their development, and the quality of the Cell Lead bench underneath them.
• Run shift start-up, mid-shift review, and a documented handoff — you receive the shift before yours and hand off cleanly to the shift after.
• Make the real-time calls: redeploying staff when a cell goes down, resequencing work when a task type stalls, flexing coverage when attendance comes in short.
• Own safety on your shift — daily walks, protocol enforcement, incident response, and the expectation that your supervisors use: their stop-work authority.
• Partner with Data Quality on your shift's acceptance rate; drive root cause into retraining and process rather than into a rework queue.
• Escalate equipment and rig issues to Lab Engineering and keep staffed-but-idle hours visible.
• Handle performance management and employee relations escalations from your supervisors, partnering with HR.
• Hold California meal, rest, and overtime compliance across every non-exempt employee on your shift.
• Report your shift's performance and variance daily, with the explanation and the fix, not just the number.

• Your shift hits plan without overtime surprises or last-minute heroics.
• Handoffs are clean enough that the next shift starts producing immediately.
• Your supervisors make decisions without calling you, and your Cell Leads are being prepared for supervision.
• Quality on your shift doesn't vary from the other shifts — consistency is the whole point of this layer.
• Problems reach the Production Manager as "here's what happened and here's what I did," not as an open question.

• 5+ years in production, manufacturing, warehouse, or lab operations, including 2+ years managing supervisors or team leads.
• Experience with full accountability for a shift or a production area of 75+ hourly employees.
• Track record owning daily output and quality targets, and explaining variance credibly.
• Experience with performance management, attendance, and employee relations for a non-exempt workforce.
• Working knowledge of California wage and hourly requirements for non-exempt employees.
• Available to own an assigned shift (day, swing, or night) onsite in Santa Clara.

• Robotics, hardware, AI data collection, advanced manufacturing, or technical lab background.
• Experience in a quality-gated operation where output is inspected before it counts.
• Promoted from a supervisor role, or has promoted supervisors from their own team.
• Comfort pulling and interpreting your own shift data from dashboards or spreadsheets.
• Continuous improvement background — Lean Six Sigma, or equivalent practical experience.
• Bilingual (English/Spanish).

• Onsite robotics lab and warehouse environment; the majority of your shift is spent on the floor.
• Assigned shift, with occasional cross-shift coverage during ramps, launches, and handoff issues.
• Must be able to stand and walk the floor for extended periods.
• Must be able to occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 lbs.