Technical Support Group lead (Mobile Robotics)

TECHNICAL SUPPORT GROUP LEAD (TSG)Scope and Key ResponsibilitiesThe role has five distinct responsibility areas, listed in order of priority for the first 180 days.A. TSG / L2 Leadership — Building the function– Define the TSG — what it is, what it is not, what L2 means in the MR context. Communicate clearly internally.– Design and agree the TSG headcount plan with Manish and Biren — initial team size, skill profiles, hiring timeline.– Own the work prioritisation for TSG. Define and enforce the triage decision tree: what TSG resolves, what goes to back-office SWAT (Ashfaq's team), what goes to NPD only under exception.– Build a skilling and certification path for the team — what does an L2-certified TSG engineer look like? Define, publish, and track.– Set performance standards and review cadence for the TSG team. The leader is accountable for the group's output, not just their own technical contribution.– Eventually transition the TSG under Shailesh Sule (Customer Success / Ops Head) as the function matures.B. Running Lane — Immediate recovery (first 30–90 days)– Take immediate ownership of L2 technical support for live accounts: TEPL, Visteon, DICV, CAT.– Conduct issue classification: product-defect vs site-execution. Route each correctly and confirm routing with PMO (Sameer) within 30 days.– Provide direct L2 field support for I&C escalations — be present at site when required.– Build and deploy the dispatch software support capability within TSG — this is a specific gap identified in the value stream.– Complete deferred validation at live accounts under controlled conditions — document what was skipped and run the protocols.– Deploy customer-confidence communication protocol with Site Incharges — time-bound recovery plans that rebuild trust.C. NPD Firewall — Guardian of the platform franchise– Own and enforce the NPD Firewall from day 1. The rule: Physical-AI NPD engineers are not available for site firefighting except under a controlled, senior-approved, time-capped, and logged exception.– Negotiate the firewall boundary with NPD leadership and engineering — get explicit agreement on what constitutes an 'exception' and what the approval chain is.– Log every NPD-to-site pull, every exception, every time the firewall holds. Report drain visibility to Manish and Shailesh monthly.– Be the person who says 'no' on behalf of NPD — absorb the escalation pressure so NPD does not have to.– Over time, build TSG capability so the number of legitimate exceptions declines to near-zero.D. Validation Capability — Two-tier gate contribution– Partner with Anand (V&V / Quality gate owner) to understand the standard-track validation requirements for the two-tier pre-ship gate.– Build TSG as the execution arm of standard-track validation — the team that conducts fast incoming checks vs known-good baseline for all standard products.– Ensure TSG engineers are certified to run standard-track validation for each robot family they support.– Feed custom-track validation gaps (where product fell outside standard paths) back to Design (Adrian) and Controls (Sourabh) for root-cause correction.E. New Lane — Process and lifecycle support– Represent TSG in the I-C-R-H lifecycle RACI — define clearly where L2/TSG sits in the Install, Commission, Ramp-up, and HyperCare phases.– Partner with Chetan Sharma (I&C) to define the L1 → L2 escalation protocol: what triggers escalation, expected response time, and resolution ownership.– Build knowledge management within TSG — structured capture of field issues, resolutions, and root causes. Feed recurring patterns to Design, Controls, and Quality for prevention.– Develop TSG SOPs and resolution playbooks for the most common field scenarios. Reduce dependency on individual knowledge.Education– B.E. / B.Tech in Electronics, Electrical, Mechatronics, Computer Science, or a related engineering discipline.– Post-graduate qualification in engineering or management is a plus but not required.Experience– Total experience: 8–14 years in industrial automation, robotics, or complex electromechanical systems integration.– Field engineering / technical support: minimum 4–5 years in an L2 or L3 escalation management, field applications engineering, or complex system commissioning role.– Team leadership: minimum 3 years leading an engineering team — hired people, set standards, managed performance.– Product knowledge: deep familiarity with AMR or AGV systems, or equivalent complex automation (PLC/SCADA/motion control). Robotics-specific knowledge strongly preferred.– Customer-facing experience: managed technical relationships with industrial customers under delivery pressure. Has delivered a credible recovery plan to a dissatisfied customer.– NPD / engineering interface: has experience working at the boundary between field support and product development — knows how to escalate correctly without pulling the whole team.– Ticketing: has experience working with tickets management systems — knows how to manage a team under kanban process.