Senior Director of Field Application Engineering

About Xaba

Xaba (https://www.xaba.ai/) is at the forefront of AI-driven robotic automation, pioneering cutting-edge solutions to enhance industrial processes. Headquartered globally, with a team of collaborative scientists, engineers, and designers, Xaba operates in a remote-first and distributed environment. Join us in shaping the future of AI in robotics.

The Role

We are looking for a Senior Director of Field Application Engineering to lead our field application engineering organization and drive the successful deployment of advanced robotic systems with customers and strategic partners.

This role combines technical leadership, customer engagement, robotics expertise, and organizational development. The Senior Director will lead a team of highly hands-on application engineers responsible for taking robotic technologies from concept and prototype through integration, commissioning, and production deployment.

The ideal candidate is an experienced robotics leader who understands both the technical depth of industrial robotics and the realities of deploying robotic systems in demanding production environments. You will work closely with customers, sales, product, R&D, and operations teams to identify application opportunities, develop solutions, remove technical barriers, and ensure successful customer outcomes.

What you will do

• Lead, mentor, and scale a high-performing global Field Application Engineering organization.
• Own the technical execution of customer deployments from initial discovery and feasibility through integration, commissioning, production ramp-up, and ongoing support.
• Serve as the senior technical leader and trusted advisor for strategic customers, partners, and complex robotic automation projects.
• Define and drive the organization's application engineering strategy, priorities, processes, technical standards, and best practices.
• Lead the design, integration, and deployment of advanced robotic systems across industrial manufacturing applications.
• Guide teams working with industrial robot platforms including ABB, FANUC, Universal Robots, KUKA, and other robotic systems.
• Provide technical leadership across robotic programming, motion planning, kinematics, controls, sensing, calibration, vision, lasers, actuators, tooling, and system integration.
• Oversee robotic applications including welding, machining, assembly, inspection, and other automated manufacturing processes.
• Partner closely with Sales and customers on technical discovery, solution development, demonstrations, proof-of-concepts, proposals, and strategic opportunities.
• Translate customer requirements and field learnings into product requirements, engineering priorities, and improvements to the company's technology and deployment methodology.
• Establish scalable processes, tools, software, documentation, and reusable solutions that reduce deployment time and increase engineering productivity.
• Drive the adoption and effective use of Python, C++, and AI-powered development tools such as Claude and AI coding assistants to accelerate the development, automation, troubleshooting, commissioning, and optimization of robotic workflows, while improving engineering productivity, software quality, and data-driven decision-making.
• Lead resolution of complex technical issues in the field, coordinating across robotics, software, hardware, product, and engineering teams.
• Develop strong relationships with robot manufacturers, technology partners, system integrators, and strategic customers.
• Establish and track KPIs for deployment success, engineering productivity, customer satisfaction, project execution, and technical quality.
• Represent the company with customers, partners, industry organizations, and at technical events.
• Regular national travel is expected, with occasional international travel to meet key stakeholders, partners and teams.

Nice to have

• 12+ years of relevant experience in industrial robotics, automation, robotic systems integration, or a related field, including significant technical leadership experience.
• Experience scaling robotic systems from prototype/POC to production deployment across multiple customer environments.
• Experience with advanced robotic applications, such as welding, machining, additive manufacturing, inspection, or complex fabrication.
• Experience with robot simulation/offline programming, computer vision, 3D sensing, or machine learning applied to robotics.
• Experience building or scaling a Field Application Engineering, Systems Engineering, or Solutions Engineering organization in a high-growth technology company.
• Experience developing strategic partnerships with robot manufacturers, system integrators, and technology providers.

Our Team and Perks

• We are an open, collaborative, and supportive culture including skill shares and design critiques
• We believe that employees should be owners, which is why we provide stock option grants for full-time employees
• As a remote-first team, we believe in the importance of having the right set up, which is why we offer a home office budget
• Learning and development is critical to us, which is why we have a self-directed learning budget

Our Hiring Process

• Discover: You discover the opportunity and apply to the role

• Talk: You take part in a 30-45 minute screening call with the HR team to chat about the role and the team.
• Deep dive: We have a 60 minute call to dive deep into your experience and the role.
• Hiring Manager call
• A final chat with our CEO – a chance to get to know each other, exchange ideas, and see if we're a great fit for the journey ahead.

• Offer: You receive an offer to join Xaba!

Accommodations and Accessibility

Inclusion and equity are the cornerstones of how we recruit, hire, and develop talent. We encourage applications from all candidates, especially those who identify as members of the BIPOC community, LGBTQ++ community, women, caregivers, immigrants, and people living with disabilities. We encourage candidates to include any accommodations you require in your application. We look forward to hearing from you.