--- title: 'Engineering Program Manager - Robotics at Watney' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/engineering-program-manager-robotics-watney-san-francisco-pw4pgcw5ttbz' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-09-05' --- # Engineering Program Manager - Robotics at Watney - **Company:** Watney - **Location:** San Francisco, CA - **Employment:** full-time - **Work type:** onsite - **Posted:** 2026-08-28 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-05 - **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/watney/dee72b23-5f50-4f01-afd6-43910e2fb6d9 ## Job description ## OUR MISSION Expand human ambition in the physical world. Critical infrastructure is constrained by labor shortages, hazardous working conditions, and operational complexity. Watney builds and deploys autonomous robotic systems that increase the speed and capacity of buildout, starting with data centers. ## About the Role At Watney, the Engineering Program Manager owns the hardware programs that teach our robots new tasks - the fixtures and rigs that generate the training data behind robot autonomy. This is a 0-to-1 role, and every program you run touches the robot itself. You build the schedule, the budget, and the cross-functional coordination starting with the first task. ## What You'll Do - Own schedule, budget, and cross-functional delivery for the hardware programs that teach robots new tasks. - Take a program from first build to validated, with no existing process to lean on. - Work directly with the engineers designing and building the hardware - enough to earn their respect, not to do their job. - Grow into owning robot build and manufacturing programs as they need one. You May Be a Good Fit If You: - Have run a hardware program at a large company through at least one 0-to-1 cycle. - Are technical enough that engineers trust your calls, without needing to design the hardware yourself. - Took what a big company taught you and proved it at a small one. - Are comfortable owning a program before anyone has defined what "done" looks like. We’re committed to building a diverse, inclusive team. At Watney Robotics, we welcome people of all backgrounds and identities, and we make hiring decisions based on skills, experience, and potential. If you’re passionate about robotics but don’t meet every requirement, we still encourage you to apply! CURIOUS TO LEARN MORE? Follow us here on X https://x.com/watneyrobotics/ and LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/watneyrobotics/about/ ## About Watney ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: Develops autonomous robotics systems to operate datacenter and supercomputing infrastructure, partnering with hyperscalers to accelerate compute scaling. - **Entity Type**: Private (Seed stage) - **Headquarters**: San Francisco, California, United States - **Founded**: 2024 - **Founders**: Ryan Gannon (Co-Founder), Sean Cheong (Co-Founder) ## Core Business - **Primary industry**: Robotics Engineering / Datacenter Infrastructure Automation - **Target customers**: Hyperscale cloud providers and large-scale data center operators (Enterprise B2B) - **Mission or purpose statement**: “Deploy an abundant, intelligent workforce” by enabling the growth of critical infrastructure through autonomous robots. ## Products & Services - **Autonomous Datacenter Robotics Platform**: A fleet of autonomous robots designed for datacenter buildout and breakfix operations. The system handles physical tasks such as server installation, cable management, maintenance, and repair, reducing human labor and accelerating deployment timelines. ## Market Standing - **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly available - **Key Metric** (Private): **$21.0M in total funding** (Seed round closed May 30, 2025) - **Notable Investors/Partners**: Conviction, Abstract, A* (A-star). Partners with the world’s largest hyperscalers (names not disclosed). - **Growth Signals**: - Headcount grew **183.3% year-over-year** to 11 employees (as of mid-2026) - Monthly headcount growth of **+6.2%** - Active job postings rose **+28.6% month-over-month** and **+350% quarter-over-quarter** - Currently hiring for 9 roles spanning engineering, operations, and strategy ## Competitive Advantages - **Deep domain focus**: Solely dedicated to datacenter and supercomputing infrastructure – a narrow, high-stakes vertical with massive scaling demand. - **Elite founding team**: Includes former GSM for iPhone, former founding engineer at Worldcoin, and a builder of the world’s fastest EV racecar (ETH Zurich). - **Early partnerships with hyperscalers**: Already working with the largest cloud providers, providing critical validation and a clear path to production. - **Full-stack ownership**: Company is moving from prototype to production fleets, offering engineers end-to-end impact from hardware to software. ## Strategic Focus - **Scale from prototype to production fleets**: Transitioning from small-scale deployments to large autonomous fleets. - **Deepen hyperscaler partnerships**: Expand contracts and joint development roadmaps with major cloud providers. - **Grow engineering and operations teams**: Aggressively hiring across robotics, software, facilities management, and deployment strategy to support production scaling. ## Why Work Here - **In-Office culture**: All roles are based in San Francisco (HQ); the company emphasizes in-person collaboration. - **Ground-floor opportunity**: With outsized ownership and visibility, employees shape the “rollout playbook” for a category-defining robotics company. - **Technical challenge**: Work on real systems that combine robotics, AI, hardware, and infrastructure at scale. - **Notable peers**: Colleagues include alumni from Scale AI, Amazon Web Services, Tools for Humanity, Warburg Pincus, and the US Army Corps of Engineers. - **Growth trajectory**: A very young company (founded 2024) with rapid hiring and clear product-market fit, ideal for early-stage career builders. ## Sources 1. [watneyrobotics.com](https://watneyrobotics.com/) 2. [linkedin.com/company/watneyrobotics](https://www.linkedin.com/company/watneyrobotics) 3. [builtin.com/company/watney-robotics-inc](https://builtin.com/company/watney-robotics-inc) 4. [startups.gallery/companies/watney](https://startups.gallery/companies/watney) ## Other roles at Watney - [Robotics Technician](https://feeny.ai/job/robotics-technician-watney-san-francisco-a9smm1vdp9nt) — San Francisco, CA - [Technical Sourcer](https://feeny.ai/job/technical-sourcer-watney-san-francisco-69nx7ehb2msa) — San Francisco, CA - [Software Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/software-engineer-watney-san-francisco-5atphnf4bd8r) — San Francisco, CA - [Staff Embedded Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/staff-embedded-engineer-watney-san-francisco-fnm21f6f26sw) — San Francisco, CA - [Senior Recruiter](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-recruiter-watney-san-francisco-16w939mnbr4j) — San Francisco, CA - [Staff Software Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/staff-software-engineer-watney-san-francisco-qny2cyfawjgp) — San Francisco, CA - [Software Engineer - Perception](https://feeny.ai/job/software-engineer-perception-watney-san-francisco-2jet9z7rsebw) — San Francisco, CA - [Staff Software Engineer - ML Infrastructure](https://feeny.ai/job/staff-software-engineer-ml-infrastructure-watney-san-francisco-nmcgm2sxr4wm) — San Francisco, CA - [Senior Controls Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-controls-engineer-watney-san-francisco-p03qb2ej7a7b) — San Francisco, CA - [Staff Embedded Engineer - Rust](https://feeny.ai/job/staff-embedded-engineer-rust-watney-san-francisco-r9hshqtsvc3a) — San Francisco, CA