Back to jobs

Customer Success & Operations Leader

Union City, Ca

Company Description

Third Wave Automation is a rapidly growing startup that has demonstrated its core technology components, proven its market fit, and just closed its Series C funding. If you are excited about cutting edge machine learning, robotics that affects the real world, and want to join a company where your skills can have a huge impact, you’ll fit right in. 

Third Wave Automation is applying modern machine learning to materials handling—delivering site-specific forklift navigation and infrastructure-free pallet handling that continuously adapts to changing floor configuration and warehouse demand. 

Job Description

The Mission: Driving ROI & Operational Excellence for Physical AI

At Third Wave Automation, we are applying modern machine learning to materials handling—deploying Level 4 autonomous, 3,000 lbs reach trucks that deliver infrastructure-free pallet handling in the world’s most chaotic warehouse environments.

We are looking for a highly strategic Customer Success & Operations Leader to take over core operational oversight from our executive team. You will own the long-term ROI of our deployed robotic fleets, acting as the definitive bridge between the concrete warehouse floor, our customers' executive boardrooms, and our internal product roadmap. You will oversee the activities of our Field Engineering team, guide our Tier-1 OEM operational engagement, and ensure that our physical deployments consistently translate into business value for our 

How You Can Make an Impact

  • Executive Engagement & Trust Building: You are the face of TWA to our customers' executive leadership. You will earn trust through frequent, transparent communication, keeping them apprised of our progress toward their specific operational objectives and the overarching vision of our company.
  • QBRs & ROI Ownership: You will lead Quarterly Business Reviews (QBRs) with VP-level and C-suite customer executives, translating fleet telemetry and operational data into clear business outcomes.
  • Field Engineering Oversight: You will oversee the strategic activities of the Field Engineering team. When we introduce new software changes, hardware updates, or operational experiments in the field, you will drive the alignment and change management required with the customer to ensure smooth execution.
  • Tier-1 OEM Operational Engagement: You will run point on the operational and CS aspects of our Tier-1 OEM engagement, ensuring that as we scale, the customer onboarding, deployment standards, and knowledge-sharing pipelines are world-class.
  • Data & Metrics Architecture: You don't just read dashboards; you define them. You will deeply understand the throughput and efficiency metrics our customers actually care about, write the proposals for how TWA should measure them, and partner directly with the Data team to build those metrics into our platform.

What You'll Do (Your First 90 Days and Beyond) 

  • The Voice of the Customer: You will own the internal Customer Success operating rhythm. Through weekly documentation and cross-functional meetings, you will synthesize the voice of the customer and the reality of the Field Engineering team, forcing visibility across the organization.
  • Navigate Product Tradeoffs: You will sit at the intersection of customer demands and engineering reality. You will actively discuss and negotiate the tradeoffs between immediate customer needs and our long-term product roadmap, ensuring we build what scales.
  • Design the Scale Blueprint: Codify our deployment and success best practices, building the foundational knowledge-transfer pipeline that will eventually empower our OEM partner’s dealer network to support autonomous vehicles.

Qualifications

  • 10+ Years of High-Stakes Leadership: Proven experience in Customer Success, Technical Account Management, or Field Operations within the robotics, industrial automation, or complex hardware/software space.
  • The "Technologist-Communicator": You possess the technical credibility to understand localization, perception, and autonomy concepts, and the executive polish to present ROI metrics to a Fortune 500 Board of Directors.
  • Cross-Functional Influence: A strong track record of managing internal mechanisms and forcing alignment between Field Operations, Product, Engineering, and Data teams.
  • Change Management Expert: You know how to drive adoption in traditional, heavy-industry environments, bridging the gap between cutting-edge AI and legacy supply chain operations.
  • Operational Grit: This role requires up to 50% travel. You are at your best when you are on-site, and walking the warehouse floor to truly understand the customer's physical operations and pain points before stepping into the boardroom.

Preferred 

  • Bachelor’s degree or higher in Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field.
  • Deep experience with supply chain logistics, robotics and automation, WMS integration, and high-volume warehouse environments.
  • Outstanding customer relationship management and interpersonal communication skills in high-pressure scenarios

The pay range for this position is $166,000 - $249,000/yr+ benefits+equity; however, base pay offered may vary depending on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience.  Base pay information is based on market location.

More About Working Here

Our Core Values:

  • Safety. We consider safety in everything we do.
  • People. We care about our teammates as people.
  • Encouragement. We encourage teaching, asking questions, and sharing opinions.
  • Transparency. We are transparent and sincere in our actions.

A robust set of benefits and perks:

  • Comprehensive benefits. Health, Dental, Vision, and a 401k matching program, to boot!
  • Flexible working schedule. Be productive when you work best.
  • Show & Tell. We love to learn from one another, and see the cool stuff everyone is working on!
  • Meals are covered. Lunch is provided every day, and dinner for those evenings that run long.
  • Stacks of snacks. Donuts are a main food group, and the snack shelf is always stocked with a wide variety of items.
  • Great teammates. One of the best parts of working here!

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We value each person's expertise and experiences. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. 

All qualified applicants able to work in the United States are encouraged to apply. We are unable to sponsor H-1 visas subject to fees required by the ‘Restriction on Entry of Certain Nonimmigrant Workers’ Presidential Proclamation dated September 21, 2025.

 

Create a Job Alert

Interested in building your career at Third Wave Automation? Get future opportunities sent straight to your email.

Apply for this job

*

indicates a required field

Resume/CV*

Accepted file types: pdf, doc, docx, txt, rtf

Cover Letter

Accepted file types: pdf, doc, docx, txt, rtf

Select...

Voluntary Self-Identification

For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey. Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiring process or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in a confidential file.

As set forth in Third Wave Automation’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

Select...
Select...
Race & Ethnicity Definitions

If you believe you belong to any of the categories of protected veterans listed below, please indicate by making the appropriate selection. As a government contractor subject to the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), we request this information in order to measure the effectiveness of the outreach and positive recruitment efforts we undertake pursuant to VEVRAA. Classification of protected categories is as follows:

A "disabled veteran" is one of the following: a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service-connected disability.

A "recently separated veteran" means any veteran during the three-year period beginning on the date of such veteran's discharge or release from active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service.

An "active duty wartime or campaign badge veteran" means a veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized under the laws administered by the Department of Defense.

An "Armed forces service medal veteran" means a veteran who, while serving on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service, participated in a United States military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order 12985.

Select...

Voluntary Self-Identification of Disability

Form CC-305
Page 1 of 1
OMB Control Number 1250-0005
Expires 04/30/2026

Why are you being asked to complete this form?

We are a federal contractor or subcontractor. The law requires us to provide equal employment opportunity to qualified people with disabilities. We have a goal of having at least 7% of our workers as people with disabilities. The law says we must measure our progress towards this goal. To do this, we must ask applicants and employees if they have a disability or have ever had one. People can become disabled, so we need to ask this question at least every five years.

Completing this form is voluntary, and we hope that you will choose to do so. Your answer is confidential. No one who makes hiring decisions will see it. Your decision to complete the form and your answer will not harm you in any way. If you want to learn more about the law or this form, visit the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) website at www.dol.gov/ofccp.

How do you know if you have a disability?

A disability is a condition that substantially limits one or more of your “major life activities.” If you have or have ever had such a condition, you are a person with a disability. Disabilities include, but are not limited to:

  • Alcohol or other substance use disorder (not currently using drugs illegally)
  • Autoimmune disorder, for example, lupus, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, HIV/AIDS
  • Blind or low vision
  • Cancer (past or present)
  • Cardiovascular or heart disease
  • Celiac disease
  • Cerebral palsy
  • Deaf or serious difficulty hearing
  • Diabetes
  • Disfigurement, for example, disfigurement caused by burns, wounds, accidents, or congenital disorders
  • Epilepsy or other seizure disorder
  • Gastrointestinal disorders, for example, Crohn's Disease, irritable bowel syndrome
  • Intellectual or developmental disability
  • Mental health conditions, for example, depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder, schizophrenia, PTSD
  • Missing limbs or partially missing limbs
  • Mobility impairment, benefiting from the use of a wheelchair, scooter, walker, leg brace(s) and/or other supports
  • Nervous system condition, for example, migraine headaches, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis (MS)
  • Neurodivergence, for example, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder, dyslexia, dyspraxia, other learning disabilities
  • Partial or complete paralysis (any cause)
  • Pulmonary or respiratory conditions, for example, tuberculosis, asthma, emphysema
  • Short stature (dwarfism)
  • Traumatic brain injury
Select...

PUBLIC BURDEN STATEMENT: According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless such collection displays a valid OMB control number. This survey should take about 5 minutes to complete.