Engineering Manager - Robotics & Software

Role Overview: As an Engineering Manager for Robotics & Software at Peppermint Robotics, you will be responsible for leading end-to-end engineering delivery for autonomous mobile robots. This includes overseeing tasks such as perception and SLAM/navigation stacks, embedded firmware, cloud connectivity, fleet management dashboards, and AI-driven features. Your role will involve scaling high-performing teams, driving technical excellence, ensuring reliable real-world deployments, and aligning engineering efforts with product and business goals in a fast-paced startup environment. You will have the opportunity to stay technically involved by contributing directly to key projects while building and scaling the team. This role is particularly suitable for individuals experienced in both early-stage creation (0 to 1) and structured scaling (10 to 100). Key Responsibilities: - People & Team Leadership (~40%) - Build, mentor, and grow a world-class team of robotics engineers, embedded/software developers, perception/AI specialists, and full-stack engineers - Conduct regular 1:1s, career growth discussions, performance reviews, promotions, and compensation planning - Foster a culture of ownership, psychological safety, rapid iteration, and ethical engineering - Hire top talent in Pune and potentially remote (India-focused initially) - Promote team well-being and sustainable pace to sustain long-term velocity - Delivery & Execution (~40%) - Own reliable, on-time delivery of robot features, firmware updates, software releases, and field performance improvements - Collaborate closely with Product, Operations, and Field Deployment teams to prioritize roadmap items - Manage cross-functional dependencies (mechanical, electrical, production, QA, customer success) - Remove blockers, protect the team from scope creep, and ensure sustainable pace - Technical Leadership & Strategy (~20%) - Guide architecture decisions across the full robotics stack: ROS/ROS2, embedded C/C++, computer vision (SLAM, object detection), path planning, fleet orchestration, cloud backend (data pipelines, analytics), and UI/UX for operators - Remain hands-on by contributing directly to high-impact projects, prototypes, critical fixes, or architectural spikes as needed - Drive reduction of technical debt, improve system robustness for harsh industrial environments, and ensure safety certifications - Participate in design reviews, code/architecture reviews, and critical debugging - Champion best practices: CI/CD for robots, simulation testing, versioned hardware/software integration Collaboration & Impact: You will partner directly with the CTO on engineering vision, tech roadmap, hiring bar, and scaling strategy. Additionally, you will work with global teams (USA, Europe) and support international deployments. Your contributions will be crucial to company OKRs around product reliability, customer satisfaction, and innovation velocity. Qualifications Required: Must-Have: - 812+ years of experience in software/embedded engineering, with 36+ years in people leadership - Proven track record leading robotics, autonomous systems, embedded software, or complex hardware-software products - Deep hands-on experience in at least one of: ROS/ROS2, C++/Python, computer vision/SLAM, navigation/path planning, embedded Linux, real-time systems, cloud (AWS/GCP/Azure), fleet management - Experience shipping production robotics or IoT products to real customers - Strong people leadership skills and ability to build inclusive teams - Comfortable in startup ambiguity with ability to define structure and processes while staying technically involved - Excellent communication skills across technical and non-technical stakeholders Nice-to-Have: - Prior experience in commercial/service robotics, cleaning/warehouse automation, or mobile manipulation - Familiarity with safety standards (IEC 60335, IEC 3691-4, or similar) - Exposure to AI/ML integration in robotics (perception, predictive maintenance) - Experience in the 0 to 1 journey (building/scaling engineering from early-stage/scratch through initial product validation and early growth) - Proven experience managing and scaling engineering teams of 15+ members - Background in manufacturing-adjacent domains (industrial automation) If you are passionate about scaling robotics teams and have the relevant leadership experience in robotics/software, Peppermint Robotics welcomes your application. Join us in shaping the future of commercial robotics and delivering autonomous systems that solve real-world problems. Role Overview: As an Engineering Manager for Robotics & Software at Peppermint Robotics, you will be responsible for leading end-to-end engineering delivery for autonomous mobile robots. This includes overseeing tasks such as perception and SLAM/navigation stacks, embedded firmware, cloud connectivity, fleet management dashboards, and AI-driven features. Your role will involve scaling h