AI Robotics Lead

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• Posted on October 20, 2026

Showing 1 location

Bellingham, WA 98226, USA

• On-site
• Travel Required :
  Yes
• Pay or shift range: $120,000 USD to $170,000 USD The estimated range is the budgeted amount for this position. Final offers are based on various factors, including skill set, experience, location, qualifications and other job-related reasons.
• Technical
• Full-Time
• Requisition #: AIROB
  002427

At Janicki Industries, we turn complex ideas into real-world solutions through advanced engineering and manufacturing. Our teams design and build innovative structures, tooling, and systems that support industries including aerospace, space, defense, marine, and architecture.

Across every role, from engineers and technicians to operations and support teams, our people help solve challenging problems, push the limits of design and manufacturing, and create solutions that make a lasting impact.

Lead a new, high-impact Robotics & AI team chartered with deploying next-generation intelligent automation. You will set the technical direction for AI-enhanced robotic systems (manipulators, mobile platforms, cobots) that perform manufacturing tasks with increasing levels of autonomy, while building and developing the team that delivers them.

This is a hands-on leadership role. You’ll manage and mentor a team of AI robotics engineers, own the team’s project roadmap, and stay close to the technical work: architecting solutions, reviewing designs and code, and getting hands-on on the floor when it counts. You’ll partner closely with mechanical, electrical, and manufacturing engineering leadership in a fast-moving production environment where prototypes go live on the shop floor in days or weeks not months.

The following essential job functions are performed as an AI Robotics Lead :

• Lead, mentor, and develop a team of AI robotics engineers, including hiring, goal setting, performance management, and career development
• Define and own the team’s technical roadmap, balancing rapid prototyping with scalable, production-ready solutions
• Prioritize and manage a portfolio of automation projects in partnership with manufacturing, engineering, and operations stakeholders
• Set technical standards and architecture for perception systems (2D/3D vision, point clouds, force/torque), AI model pipelines, and robot integration
• Guide the training, deployment, and continuous improvement of object-detection, segmentation, pose estimation, and anomaly-detection models in real manufacturing settings
• Direct the application of reinforcement learning and other advanced techniques to improve robot dexterity, path planning, and error recovery
• Oversee on-edge AI development on NVIDIA Jetson platforms (Orin, Xavier, etc.) and integration of industrial robots (Fanuc, ABB, KUKA, Universal Robots, etc.) with vision and AI pipelines
• Establish software engineering best practices across the team, including code review, Git workflows, containerization with Docker, and CI/CD
• Contribute hands-on to architecture, prototyping, and troubleshooting of complex technical challenges
• Drive the transition of validated solutions from prototype to sustained operations, including documentation, support models, and handoff
• Communicate project status, risks, and results to leadership and cross-functional partners
• Evaluate emerging AI and robotics technologies, tools,…