Head of Software

About Our Team

Chef Robotics is on a mission to accelerate the advent of intelligent machines in the physical world. As the rise of LLMs like ChatGPT has shown, AI has the potential to drive immense change. However, we believe AI’s biggest impact will be in the physical world, given industries like manufacturing, food, and transportation represent 90% of global GDP. We're starting with food, with a goal to put an intelligent robot in every commercial kitchen in the world. We have signed multiple multi-year contracts with various large food companies and we are growing fast. We're backed by investors like Kleiner Perkins, Construct, Bloomberg BETA and Promus Ventures. We have a great team, where you will be surrounded by talented engineers and tech leaders from companies like Cruise, Zoox, Google, Verb Surgical, Tesla, Nuro, Vicarious, Amazon Robotics, Strateos, Built Robotics, Facebook, Plenty, Yelp, and Microsoft.

About the Role

Chef Robotics is hiring a visionary and experienced Head of Software to lead our software and autonomy team as we revolutionize the food manufacturing industry with AI-embodied robotics. In this role, you will oversee a team of experts in robotics, perception, and infrastructure, driving the development and scaling of our cutting-edge autonomy stack to support hundreds of deployed robots.

As a small team, we are focused on building a positive in-office culture. We are looking for individuals who are available to work onsite at the office five days a week and can work start-up-oriented hours.

In this role, you will:

• Lead, grow, and scale the Software/Autonomy team, fostering a culture of innovation and excellence.
• Drive the development and scalability of Chef’s autonomy stack to ensure reliable performance around key metrics like uptime and utilization across hundreds of deployed units.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with hardware, product, and operations teams to align software initiatives with company goals and deliver results.
• Set clear and achievable project timelines and ensure consistent execution and on-time delivery.
• Mentor, coach, and develop engineering talent, creating pathways for team growth and individual success.
• Ensure Chef robots achieve and maintain high performance and reliability in the field, addressing challenges proactively.
• Define and execute the technical vision and roadmap for Chef’s software and autonomy stack, aligning it with broader business objectives.
• Serve as a key member of the leadership team, contributing to the company’s strategy, culture, and overall success.
• Recruit, onboard, and retain top-tier engineering talent to build a world-class software team.

What You Bring:

• Degree in Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Physics, or equivalent industry experience that demonstrates comparable expertise.
• Over 10 years of hands-on production engineering experience, including roles as a technical lead, manager, or director with responsibility for software on hardware-based products.
• Proven experience managing managers and overseeing multi-tiered engineering teams.
• Demonstrated success in leading and scaling engineering teams at various levels.A track record of successfully launching and scaling at least two products to market.
• Expertise in developing and deploying production-level software systems.
• Experience scaling software deployed on hardware devices is preferred.
• In-depth understanding of key domains in robotics, including but not limited to:
• Mechanical Engineering
• Electrical Engineering
• Perception and Computer Vision
• Machine Learning
• Robotic Motion Planning and Control
• Cloud Infrastructure

Equal Opportunity Employer

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, citizen status, uniform service member and veteran status, marital status, age, pregnancy status, protected medical condition, genetic information, disability, or any other protected status.

Multiple studies have found that a higher percentage of women and BIPOC candidates won't apply if they don't meet every listed qualification. Chef values candidates of all backgrounds. If you find yourself excited by our mission but you don't check every box in the description, we encourage you to apply anyway!