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Slip Robotics is a B2B Robotics-as-a-Service company deploying autonomous loading and unloading robots at warehouse and fulfillment sites across North America. The Associate Field Robotics Engineer owns the fleet-wide reliability function for all deployed products, establishing root cause analysis infrastructure and preventative maintenance programs that keep the deployed fleet performing at specification as the company scales enterprise accounts.
This role combines investigative and building responsibilities. You will receive initial failure characterization from Diagnostic Engineers and conduct deeper analytical and hands-on investigation to identify true root causes. You will form and test hypotheses through bench-level and field validation, design test protocols, and execute them directly or in coordination with other teams. You will produce formal RCA (Root Cause Analysis) reports documenting failure evidence, causal chains, validated root causes, and corrective action recommendations. Critically, you drive RCA findings to verified closure in partnership with Quality — an RCA is not complete until corrective action has been validated.
You will also own development and deployment of the preventative maintenance program for all deployed Slip Robotics products, defining schedules, procedures, and intervals across SlipBot and SlipLift ALRs. This includes defining PM schedules based on field failure history and product knowledge, validating procedures in the field before full deployment, managing rollout across all active customer sites, tracking PM compliance, and updating procedures as new failure modes emerge. The PM program is a living document, not a one-time deliverable.
Cross-functional work is essential. You will serve as the primary reliability partner to the Diagnostic Engineering team, partner with Quality on RCA closure, surface confirmed systemic findings to stakeholders with structured documentation, support the Field Engineering Manager in building reliability infrastructure, and contribute to Diagnostic Engineer development by sharing failure knowledge and explaining analytical methods.
Key responsibilities include: owning fleet-wide root cause analysis for systemic failures; receiving structured failure characterization and conducting deeper investigation; forming and testing hypotheses through validation; producing formal RCA reports; driving RCA findings to closure; distinguishing systemic patterns from one-off incidents; maintaining the failure knowledge base; defining PM schedules, procedures, and intervals; validating PM procedures in the field; managing PM rollout and compliance; updating PM procedures as new failure modes emerge; serving as reliability partner to Diagnostic Engineering; partnering with Quality on corrective action validation; surfacing systemic findings to stakeholders; supporting Field Engineering Manager in building reliability infrastructure; and contributing to Diagnostic Engineer development.
Requirements: 3–6 years of experience in reliability engineering, sustaining engineering, field service engineering, or closely related technical role with strong failure analysis component. Demonstrated experience conducting structured root cause analysis using formal methodologies (8D, FMEA, fishbone/Ishikawa, 5-Why, or equivalent); able to produce formal RCA documentation. Hands-on electromechanical troubleshooting experience with ability to understand physical systems and perform bench-level validation independently. Ability to form, design, and execute hypothesis-driven test plans and move from observation to structured investigation without waiting for direction. Strong technical writing skills for RCA reports, preventative maintenance procedures, and failure documentation. Comfortable operating without established processes and able to build structure where none exists. Ability to travel up to 50%.
Preferred: Experience in robotics, industrial automation, warehouse automation, EV systems, or hardware-as-a-service environment where assets are deployed and operated at customer sites. Prior experience building or formalizing a preventative maintenance program. Familiarity with fleet monitoring tools, telemetry data, or operational dashboards. Experience in reliability or sustaining function absorbed by operations or field services team. Proficiency with Jira, Zendesk, Confluence, or similar platforms.
