Associate Manager, Robotics Lab (AI)

Location: On-site in Santa Clara, California, United States. Assigned day, swing, or night shift; occasional cross-shift coverage may be required during ramps, launches, and handoff issues.

Company

Welo Data, a hirify.global brand, provides multilingual data creation and evaluation systems for foundation labs and enterprises developing generative AI, robotics, and other AI applications.

What you will do

• Own the full production plan for an assigned shift, including accepted episodes, first-pass acceptance, utilization, labor efficiency, and daily variance reporting.
• Manage 2–3 Operations Supervisors and develop the Cell Lead pipeline across a workforce of approximately 140 operators.
• Run shift start-ups, mid-shift reviews, documented handoffs, and real-time staffing or work-sequencing decisions.
• Own shift safety through floor walks, protocol enforcement, incident response, and stop-work authority.
• Partner with Data Quality to improve acceptance rates through retraining and process changes; escalate equipment and rig issues to Lab Engineering.
• Handle performance management, attendance, employee-relations escalations, and California meal, rest, and overtime compliance.

Requirements

• 5+ years of experience in production, manufacturing, warehouse, or lab operations, including 2+ years managing supervisors or team leads.
• Experience with full accountability for a shift or production area of 75+ hourly employees.
• Proven ownership of daily output and quality targets, including credible variance analysis.
• Experience with performance management, attendance, and employee relations for a non-exempt workforce.
• Working knowledge of California wage and hourly requirements for non-exempt employees.
• Ability to work an assigned shift onsite in Santa Clara and spend most of the shift standing or walking on the floor; occasional lifting or moving of up to 25 pounds is required.

Nice to have

• Robotics, hardware, AI data collection, advanced manufacturing, or technical laboratory experience.
• Experience in quality-gated operations where output is inspected before acceptance.
• Experience being promoted from supervision or developing supervisors within a team.
• Ability to interpret shift data from dashboards or spreadsheets.
• Continuous improvement experience, including Lean Six Sigma or equivalent practical experience; bilingual English/Spanish capability.

Culture & Benefits

• Onsite robotics laboratory and warehouse work environment.
• Operational emphasis on safety, consistent quality, clean handoffs, and continuous improvement.
• Benefits are included in the offer.