Description
Fauna Robotics is looking for a Technical Program Manager to own quality for robot behavior and data collection. You will write and maintain the test suite that every release and every new policy goes through. That suite has two layers. The first is a core set of regression tests that confirms, every time, that the robot's locomotion, manipulation, mode transitions, and autonomy hand-offs still behave as expected. The second, and harder, layer goes looking for the subtle problems a routine pass will miss: failures that appear only in particular sequences of events, under particular loads, or in the interaction between the operator, the teleoperation stack, and the robot. You will run these tests yourself on experimental hardware, write clear and reproducible reports, and work with the engineering teams until each issue is understood and resolved.
You will also help keep the data we collect at a high quality through hands-on, on-site work with the robots: supporting benchmark collections, reviewing recorded episodes, and tracking data problems back to their root cause, whether that's the operator, the teleoperation stack, the robot, or the pipeline. As new collection tasks come out of research, you'll pilot them on hardware with the data scientists who designed them, validate the tools and methods they depend on, and say whether they're ready to run at scale. You'll be the go-to person for bringing new data collectors and QA team members up to speed on our teleoperation stack, our data collection management and ingestion tools, and the basics of finding, triaging, and reporting bugs.
Key job responsibilities
- Own the release test suite for robot behavior and teleoperation. Write, maintain, and run test plans for updates to the teleoperation stack, internal and external software releases, and new robot policies.
- Maintain a repeatable core regression suite that every change must pass, and extend it with deeper, adversarial test cases designed to surface subtle, intermittent, or interaction-dependent failures across the operator, the teleoperation stack, and the robot.
- Run tests hands-on with experimental robots and in simulation. Write detailed, reproducible test reports and bug reports, and give clear go/no-go recommendations for each release and each new policy.
- Track issues through to resolution with software, controls, hardware, and ML teams. Keep a record of known issues, how to reproduce them, and workarounds.
- Support data quality through hands-on, on-robot testing: help run benchmark collections, review recordings against task requirements, flag problem episodes, and feed the failure patterns you find back to the teams that own the process and tooling.
- Pilot new data collection tasks alongside data scientists and research engineers: translate research intent into an executable protocol, run the first sessions yourself, and report back on feasibility, throughput, and data quality.
- Validate the data collection tools and methods behind each task before they're relied on at scale - define acceptance criteria, quantify failure modes, and make the go/no-go call. Iterate on task setups, scene design, and annotation schemas where the data doesn't hold up.
- Onboard and mentor new data collectors and QA team members on our teleoperation stack, the data collection management system, the ingestion and annotation tools, and how to report bugs well.
- Coordinate the day-to-day test and benchmark activities that data collectors take part in. Work with the data collection program manager, who owns the data collectors' work and priorities, to schedule robot time, sessions, and test coverage.
- Assess the spaces and resources that testing and collection depend on - lab and home-like environments, robot availability, headsets and peripherals, fixtures and props - and flag what's missing before it becomes a bottleneck.
Keep test documentation, checklists, SOPs, and run books up to date as the robot, the app, and our policies change.
Work safely around experimental hardware, and hold the people you train to the same standard.
About the team
Fauna Robotics, an Amazon company, is building capable, safe, and genuinely delightful robots for everyday life. Our goal is simple: make robots people actually want to live and interact with in everyday human spaces.
We believe that future won’t arrive until building for robotics becomes far more accessible. Today, too much effort is spent reinventing the fundamentals. We’re changing that by developing tightly integrated hardware and software systems that make it faster, safer, and more intuitive to create real-world robotic products.
Our work spans the full stack: mechanical design, control systems, dynamic modeling, and intelligent software. The focus is not just functionality, but experience. We’re building robots that feel responsive, expressive, and genuinely useful.
At Fauna, you’ll work at the frontier of this space, helping define how robots move, manipulate, and interact with people in natural environments. It’s an opportunity to solve hard problems across hardware and software with a team focused on making robotics accessible and joyful to build.
If you care about making robotics real for everyone and building systems that are as delightful as they are capable, we’re interested in hearing from you.
Basic Qualifications
- 3+ years of technical product or program management experience
- Experience managing programs across cross functional teams, building processes and coordinating release schedules
- 3+ years of experience in quality assurance, test, or validation of hardware or hardware-plus-software products (robotics, consumer electronics, automotive, aerospace, XR, or similar), or in technical program management for such products
- Experience writing and running structured test plans and SOPs, and producing detailed, reproducible test and bug reports with logs, timestamps, media, and system context
- Experience working hands-on with physical robots or other experimental hardware in a lab or test environment, including diagnosing failures that span hardware, firmware, and software
- Experience teleoperating robots, or extensive hands-on use of VR/XR headsets
- Linux and command-line proficiency - able to run scripts and terminal tooling to drive, inspect, and debug hardware directly
- Able to work in a VR headset for extended sessions (multiple hours at a time) and to work safely around experimental robots, which includes standing, moving, and occasionally lifting equipment
- Able to lift up to 10 lbs and wear equipment weighing up to 30 lbs; continuous hand/eye coordination, fine manipulation, and kinesthetic awareness
- Experience training, onboarding, or mentoring others on technical tools or processes
- Ability to write technical documentation precise enough for an operator or support agent to follow without the author present
Preferred Qualifications
- 3+ years of working directly with engineering teams experience
- Experience teleoperating robots with a Meta Quest 3 (or a similar VR teleoperation setup)
- Experience with robot learning data collection, such as demonstration data, episode annotation, or dataset quality review
- Experience validating robot control or learned policies on hardware before release
- Experience leading QA across a hardware, firmware, and software product ecosystem, including fleet-level validation testing and catching performance regressions before release
- Python scripting for hardware control; firmware flashing and diagnostic interfaces; electromechanical diagnostics (motors, sensors, thermal systems)
- Experience using LLMs or AI coding tools to build simple internal tools such as dashboards, web UIs, or report generators to speed up QA work
- Familiarity with issue trackers and test management tools, and with reading logs or telemetry to narrow down a failure
- Experience coordinating the daily work of operators or test technicians without being their direct manager
- Experience owning production incidents or executive escalations end-to-end in unfamiliar system architecture
- Experience running observational research or usability studies and translating interaction data into product direction
- Background in robotics, HRI, data operations, or games
Amazon is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of protected veteran status, disability, or other legally protected status.
Our inclusive culture empowers Amazonians to deliver the best results for our customers. If you have a disability and need a workplace accommodation or adjustment during the application and hiring process, including support for the interview or onboarding process, please visit https://amazon.jobs/content/en/how-we-hire/accommodations for more information. If the country/region you’re applying in isn’t listed, please contact your Recruiting Partner.
The base salary range for this position is listed below. Your Amazon package will include sign-on payments and restricted stock units (RSUs). Final compensation will be determined based on factors including experience, qualifications, and location. Amazon also offers comprehensive benefits including health insurance (medical, dental, vision, prescription, Basic Life & AD&D insurance and option for Supplemental life plans, EAP, Mental Health Support, Medical Advice Line, Flexible Spending Accounts, Adoption and Surrogacy Reimbursement coverage), 401(k) matching, paid time off, and parental leave. Learn more about our benefits at https://amazon.jobs/en/benefits .
USA, NY, New York - 139,900.00 - 189,200.00 USD annually