---
title: 'Customer Success & Operations Leader at Third Wave Automation'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/customer-success-operations-leader-third-wave-automation-union-city-n94n5qrwz29b'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-08'
---

# Customer Success & Operations Leader at Third Wave Automation

- **Company:** Third Wave Automation
- **Location:** Union City, CA
- **Posted:** 2026-02-24
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-08
- **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/thirdwaveautomation/jobs/7643676003

## Job description

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.

## About Third Wave Automation

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Third Wave Automation provides an intelligent, autonomous warehouse automation platform combining a hybrid fleet of autonomous forklifts with a fleet management system and remote operation capabilities.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Series C)
- **Headquarters**: Union City, California, USA
- **Founded**: 2018
- **Founders**: Arshan Poursohi (CEO) and Julian Mason

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Warehouse Automation, Robotics, Physical AI
- **Target customers**: B2B, focusing on warehouse, distribution, and manufacturing operations of all sizes (SMB to Enterprise), particularly those with existing forklift fleets.
- **Mission or purpose statement**: To alleviate increasing supply chain stress using intelligent physical AI products and services that bring people and automated systems together to improve throughput, efficiency, and safety.

## Products & Services
- **Shared Autonomy Platform**: The core technology—a software-defined system that combines autonomous forklifts, intelligent fleet management, and remote operation/assistance. It is designed to improve over time through continuous learning.
- **ArmadaFMS (Fleet Management System)**: The software platform for operators to manage the entire forklift fleet, execute and monitor workflows, respond to system requests, and configure warehouse zones dynamically.
- **TWA Reach**: A fully autonomous reach truck that can be deployed on-site within weeks without requiring additional infrastructure changes.
- **Remote Exception Handling & Remote Operation**: Allows a single operator to manage up to 10 forklifts, intervening only when the autonomous system encounters an issue, which it learns from over time.
- **Robots-as-a-Service (RaaS)**: A pay-as-you-go subscription model with a fixed monthly fee, requiring no large capital outlay and offering flexible terms.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly disclosed.
- **Key Metric**: Total funding of **$97M** across 4 rounds (Seed, Series A, B, C).
    - Series C (Oct 2024): $27M led by Woven Capital (Toyota's growth fund).
    - Series B (Aug 2021): $40M led by Norwest Venture Partners.
    - Series A (Jun 2020): $15M led by Innovation Endeavors.
    - Seed (Jun 2018): Led by Eclipse.
    - Venture Round (Feb 2023): $15M led by Zebra Technologies and Qualcomm Ventures.
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Woven Capital (Toyota), Norwest Venture Partners, Innovation Endeavors, Eclipse, Zebra Technologies, Qualcomm Ventures, and The Raymond Corporation (technology partnership).
- **Growth Signals**: 
    - Annual revenue estimated at **$3.5M** (LinkedIn data).
    - Headcount of **33 employees**, with a -10.6% yearly growth but a +2.4% monthly growth, and **5 active job postings** (monthly posting growth of +66.7%).
    - Claims a **2-week go-live time** and full deployment in 1-4 months.
    - Reports **100% inventory accuracy**, **zero safety incidents**, and **zero racking damage** across thousands of operating hours.
    - Presence in Japan.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Shared Autonomy**: The unique hybrid model where a single remote operator manages a fleet of autonomous forklifts, intervening only for exceptions. The system continuously learns from these interventions, improving its autonomy over time.
- **No Infrastructure Upgrades**: The system is software-defined and requires no changes to existing warehouse racks, floors, or infrastructure, enabling rapid deployment.
- **RaaS Model**: Lowers the barrier to entry for automation by avoiding large capital expenditures (CapEx) with a predictable monthly subscription fee.
- **Safety-First Design**: Designed to comply with ANSI/ITSDF B56.5 and ISO 3691-4 standards, with a proven track record of zero injuries.
- **Single Source Provider**: Provides the entire stack—hardware, software, and support—as one integrated solution.

## Strategic Focus
- **Scaling Deployment**: Moving from pilot programs to rapid, large-scale deployments with a focus on a payback period of under 12 months for customers.
- **Continuous Improvement**: The core differentiator is a system that gets smarter with every shift, improving efficiency, safety, and accuracy over time.
- **Partnerships**: Deepening ties with key partners like The Raymond Corporation and Toyota (via Woven Capital) to expand market reach and integrate with existing material handling ecosystems.
- **Global Expansion**: Establishing a presence in Japan, a key market for automotive and logistics automation.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: Rated **4.1/5.0 on LinkedIn** (11 reviews) with a Culture score of **4.7/5.0**. Employees describe the culture as inclusive, supportive, and driven by innovation, with cross-functional collaboration and weekly demos.
- **Work Model**: Flexible work hours and partial remote work options. The HQ is in Union City, CA.
- **Benefits**:
    - Comprehensive health, dental, vision, life insurance, FSA/HSA, telemedicine, and mental health support (Spring Health, EAP).
    - 401(k) with up to a 4% company match.
    - **$4,000 annual professional development budget** for training, courses, and certifications.
    - Daily lunches, snacks, and dinner for late workers.
    - Flexible vacation with no accrual, plus paid holidays and a company-wide break.
- **Engineering Focus**: High concentration of technical talent (33% of staff) with talent sourced from Toyota Research Institute, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and top robotics companies. Open roles include Senior Perception, Robotics, and SRE engineers.
- **Impact**: Opportunity to work on a physical AI product that directly improves warehouse safety and efficiency, with a clear mission and real-world impact.

## Sources
1. [thirdwave.ai](https://thirdwave.ai/)
2. [thirdwave.ai/about-us](https://thirdwave.ai/about-us)
3. [thirdwave.ai/join-our-team](https://thirdwave.ai/join-our-team)
4. [LinkedIn Company Page](https://www.linkedin.com/company/thirdwaveautomation)
5. [Greenhouse Careers Page](https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/thirdwaveautomation)

## Other roles at Third Wave Automation

- [Senior Software Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-software-engineer-third-wave-automation-union-city-95vd770226dx) — Union City, CA
- [Technical Lead Manager - Robotics Software Engineering](https://feeny.ai/job/technical-lead-manager-robotics-software-engineering-third-wave-automation-h7ydtndk0jgt) — Union City, CA
- [Senior Software Engineer - Robotics](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-software-engineer-robotics-third-wave-automation-union-city-ks0d539dphbe) — Union City, CA
- [Staff Technical Product Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/staff-technical-product-manager-third-wave-automation-union-city-y3kdgj2azrky) — Union City, CA
- [Sr. Data Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/sr-data-engineer-third-wave-automation-union-city-182sw5btxtzn) — Union City, CA