Applications Engineering Manager (Boston)

About Standard Bots

Standard Bots is building the next generation of industrial robots -- hardware thats powerful affordable and designed to scale. Were the largest U.S. industrial robotics company by robots shipped and our robots are showing up on factory floors everywhere from independent machine shops to NASA and Lockheed Martin. Someone has to make sure those robots actually work -- and someone has to build the team that makes that happen at scale. Thats this role.

Note: This role requires up to 25% domestic travel. Youre still in the field -- just not living out of a suitcase 2-3 days a week.

Also note: Like every Applications Engineer at Standard Bots this is not a software engineering role. You are a hands-on industrial automation engineer who also happens to lead people. If youve never commissioned a robotic cell this isnt the right seat.

The Role

The Applications Engineering Manager is a player-coach. You still know your way around a factory floor -- fixtures I/O ladder logic robot programming all the things -- and you use that expertise every day both to stay sharp and to earn the respect of the team youre leading.

Youll manage a team of Applications Engineers across your territory owning their development their workload and the quality of every customer engagement they touch. Youll be the escalation point when installs get complicated the person who jumps on a plane when a customer situation needs senior eyes and the one who sets the standard for what great applications engineering looks like at Standard Bots.

This is still a hands-on role. Youre not managing from a desk. Youre leading from the front.

Youll report directly to the VP of Applications Engineering.

What Youll Do

Team Leadership & Development

- Manage and develop a team of Applications Engineers across your territory -- setting expectations coaching on technical and customer-facing skills and building a team that executes at a high level

- Own capacity planning and workload distribution across your team -- making sure the right engineer is on the right job and nobody is drowning

- Be the technical and cultural standard-setter for your team; the bar you hold yourself to is the bar your team rises to

- Conduct regular 1:1s performance conversations and development planning -- you invest in your peoples growth not just their output

Territory & Customer Ownership

- Own the applications engineering function for your territory -- from pre-sales POC support through post-install customer success

- Serve as the senior technical escalation point for complex integrations difficult customer situations or installs that arent going as planned

- Partner closely with your Regional Sales Manager on territory priorities pipeline and customer strategy -- youre the technical counterpart to their commercial leadership

- Maintain strong relationships with key customer accounts in your territory; they should know you by name and trust your judgment

Hands-On Technical Work

- Stay sharp and stay in it -- youre still designing solutions reviewing integrations commissioning cells and supporting installs when the situation calls for it

- Lead or co-lead technically complex or strategically important customer engagements yourself

- Review and sign off on solution designs POCs and integration plans produced by your team

- Travel to customer sites as needed -- up to 25% domestically -- for escalations key installs and customer relationship moments

Standards & Continuous Improvement

- Define and enforce the standard for how applications engineering work gets done in your territory -- documentation handoffs commissioning checklists customer training quality

- Feed territory-level learnings back to the broader applications engineering organization and to product and engineering teams

- Help build the playbooks templates and training materials that make every AE on your team better and every deployment more repeatable

What Were Looking For

- The same trifecta as our Applications Engineers -- youre genuinely fluent across mechanical electrical and software: PLC programming and ladder logic pneumatics DC power systems robot programming Python scripting CAD

- 5 years of hands-on applications engineering systems integration or automation engineering experience -- youve done the field work and done it well

- 2 years of people management or team lead experience -- youve led engineers given hard feedback and helped someone grow

- Strong customer-facing presence -- you can manage a difficult customer conversation set expectations clearly and represent Standard Bots credibly at a senior level

- Experience managing a distributed team or territory; you know how to lead people you dont see every day

- Comfort with up to 25% domestic travel for escalations key customer engagements and team support

- Bachelors degree in Mechanical Electrical Mechatronics or a related engineering discipline -- or equivalent hands-on experience that tells the same story

Nice to Have

- Prior experience with collaborative robots (UR Fanuc KUKA ABB or similar)

- Background scaling an applications engineering or field engineering function -- youve helped build something not just inherited it

- Experience with vision systems force/torque sensing or custom end-of-arm tooling

- Familiarity with machine tending palletizing welding or assembly automation applications

Compensation and Benefits

The salary range for this role is $140000 to $180000 depending on experience. We are open to a variety of seniority levels for this role and will build compensation packages that are commensurate with seniority and skill level. Base salary is just one part of the overall compensation at Standard Bots. All Full-Time Employees are eligible for Employee Stock Options. We also offer a package of benefits including paid time off medical/dental/vision insurance life insurance disability insurance and 401(k) to regular full-time employees.

Required Experience:

Manager