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Instawork Robotics (IRL) is building the core video and data platform infrastructure for the physical AI era. Researchers at UC Berkeley have identified a "100,000-year data gap" between what AI language models know and what physical robots must learn from real-world environments. IRL closes that gap by deploying skilled workers into commercial and residential settings—kitchens, warehouses, hotel floors, homes—to capture high-fidelity task data that leading robotics labs use to train foundation models. The platform currently processes 50+ petabytes of data and 600,000+ hours of video, scaling across multiple cloud providers.
You will lead and grow a high-performing engineering team building this core platform at the intersection of robotics, AI, and the future of work. You'll drive technical execution from concept to production, partnering closely with Engineering, Operations, Product, and Business teams to translate customer and business requirements into scalable technical solutions.
Your responsibilities include:
- Lead, mentor, and develop a team of 5+ engineers, fostering ownership, collaboration, and continuous learning
- Drive technical execution across the full software development lifecycle, from architecture and design to production
- Partner with Product, Operations, Robotics, and Business teams to translate requirements into scalable solutions
- Coordinate initiatives across Ops, QA, ML, and platform teams; maintain context across workstreams and ensure delivery
- Stay hands-on (~20% of time) contributing to architecture, design reviews, technical discussions, and complex engineering problems
- Collaborate with ML teams on data quality, throughput, and training data formats
- Build and scale engineering teams through proactive hiring, interviewing, onboarding, and talent development
- Establish strong engineering practices around code quality, system reliability, observability, and operational excellence
- Protect team focus by setting priorities, pushing back on unplanned requests, and maintaining delivery commitments
- Act as a technical pillar, guiding mid- and senior-level engineers through code reviews, pair programming, and architectural discussions
- Help shape engineering culture and technical direction as Instawork Robotics scales
You thrive in ambiguous, fast-moving environments, are proactive and hands-on when needed, and have strong product and business instincts. You'll play a key role in shaping both the technology and engineering culture.
Instawork, founded in 2015, is the nation's leading online labor marketplace for food services, hospitality, light industry, and logistics, connecting 7M+ skilled workers with local businesses across 50+ major markets in the US and Canada. The company is backed by world-class investors including Benchmark, Spark Capital, Craft Ventures, Greylock, and Y Combinator. Instawork operates hubs in San Francisco, Bangalore, and Chicago, with city offices in New York, Phoenix, and Singapore, and works in-person five days a week.
**Requirements:**
- 8+ years of software engineering experience, with 2+ years in engineering management or people leadership
- Deep backend and distributed-systems background, with range across the stack including frontend and ML infrastructure
- Production experience running Kubernetes, ideally across multiple clouds, with attention to storage and compute cost optimization
- Proven track record managing and mentoring engineering teams, building high-performing teams from the ground up or at scale
- Strong hiring and team-building skills: sourcing, interviewing, and closing strong technical talent
- Strong technical depth with ability to engage in architecture and system design discussions and make sound technical decisions
- Strong communication and collaboration skills across Engineering, Product, Operations, Robotics, and Business teams
- AI-first mindset and experience with data-intensive systems such as video, computer vision, or ML training data (robotics experience is a plus)
- Thrive in ambiguous, fast-paced, 0-1 environments; act like an owner; practice high-velocity decision-making; ship product quickly without sacrificing quality
