--- title: 'Field Robotics Team Lead - UK at Gravis Robotics' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/field-robotics-team-lead-uk-gravis-robotics-oxford-yr7t24atgmj1' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-11-02' --- # Field Robotics Team Lead - UK at Gravis Robotics - **Company:** Gravis Robotics - **Location:** Oxford, United Kingdom - **Employment:** full-time - **Work type:** hybrid - **Posted:** 2026-09-28 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-11-02 - **Apply:** https://jobs.lever.co/gravisrobotics/32761f6c-5cf6-4af8-8d19-b16ca5096868 ## Job description Gravis Robotics is a high-growth Series A start-up backed by SoftBank, bringing Physical AI to the construction industry, turning heavy construction machines into autonomous robots. Gravis began as an ETH Zurich spin-out, and our unique combination of learning-based automation and augmented remote control lets one operator safely conduct a fleet of earthmoving machines in a gamified environment. Backed by deep robotics research and now deployed across multiple countries with leading construction and equipment partners, our team is rapidly growing to bring this technology to a trillion-dollar industry. The Gravis RACK is a machine-agnostic retrofit kit that adds autonomy to excavators and wheel loaders from 10 to 100+ tonnes: LiDAR and camera sensing, GNSS RTK, networking hardware and rugged edge compute that works offline. Paired with the Slate tablet and our Copilot software, it lets an operator run a machine manually, with AI assistance, or fully autonomously. ## About the role This is a high-ownership, high-visibility position. You'll lead the team responsible for deploying Gravis' autonomous machines across the UK, from initial site assessment through to live operations and support. You'll be the primary engineering point of contact for our UK customers, while working closely with our engineering teams in Zurich to shape how we scale deployments globally. This is not a purely managerial position. We expect our engineering leads to stay technically grounded, contributing to deployment architecture decisions, tooling improvements, and hands-on problem-solving in the field. You are a process builder that is a former firefighter: someone who has done the hands-on work in the robotics field, understands it deeply enough to make good decisions and earn team credibility, but whose primary mode now is building the system around them rather than being in it. At Gravis, we value close proximity to the work, and you'll regularly engage directly with field operations, customer sites, and the realities of deploying complex systems in the real world. We’re looking for an experienced and motivated Field Robotics Team Lead to build and guide our UK-based field robotics team that will deploy our autonomous machines on different sites. ## What you will do ## Team Leadership (40%) - Hire, onboard, and grow a high-performing team of field robotics engineers in the UK - Set clear goals, provide ongoing mentorship, and support each team member's professional development - Build a culture of technical rigor, ownership, and continuous improvement Deployment Ownership (40%) - Own end-to-end coordination and management of customer deployment, from scoping and planning through to live autonomous operations, enabling your team to execute on the ground - Define and continuously refine deployment processes, tooling, checklists, documentation and playbooks - Anticipate and resolve technical and operational risks before they become customer-facing issues Customer and Stakeholder Engagement (20%) - Serve as the primary technical interface for UK customers, building trusted relationships and managing expectations across the project lifecycle - Translate customer feedback and operational insights into concrete product improvements - Collaborate with Gravis leadership to align domestic strategy with global priorities - Partner with the teams in Switzerland to ensure field realities inform product roadmap decisions - Champion a feedback loop between field operations and R&D so deployment learnings drive platform improvements ## What we're looking for - Bachelor's degree or higher in Robotics, Mechatronics, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Construction Management, or a related field (or equivalent hands-on experience) - Hands-on experience with mobile robots, ideally in construction, agriculture, mining, or automotive sectors or similar fields - 5+ years of experience leading technical engineering teams, including hiring, mentoring, and performance management - Proven track record of delivering complex technical projects on time, with strong organizational and prioritization skills across multiple parallel workstreams - Excellent communication skills, with the ability to engage credibly with both engineers and non-technical stakeholders including customers and executives Additional Beneficial Skills - Background in customer-facing technical project or program management - ## Experience working across distributed, international teams - Familiarity with autonomous systems, sensor integration, or field deployment of hardware/software stacks - Knowledge and experience in heavy civil construction Location & Travel This role is based in the UK. You should expect frequent travel to deployment sites, especially in the London-Manchester corridor, as you build the team, get hands-on exposure to real customer environments and use cases, and establish operations on the ground. You will also spend several weeks at our headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland, at the start of your tenure, working closely with our engineering, product, and operations teams to deeply understand our technology, processes, and culture before taking full ownership of the UK operation. Don't meet every requirement? If you're enthusiastic about the role but your experience doesn't match every qualification, we still encourage you to apply. You may still be the perfect fit for another position - tell us about how you could accomplish your best at Gravis with a cover letter. This is an opportunity to join a dynamic and versatile team, and to be part of a rapidly expanding startup that will revolutionize heavy construction. Gravis is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to building an inclusive and diverse team, and do not discriminate based upon race, color, ancestry, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, gender identity, gender expression, disability, veteran status, or other legally protected characteristics. We are an international team that is working to solve problems with a global impact: to facilitate efficient communication and collaboration, proficiency in English is a requirement for all roles. ## About Gravis Robotics ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: Gravis Robotics retrofits earthmoving machines with plug-and-play autonomy to enable safer, more productive, and predictable construction sites. - **Entity Type**: Private – Series A-II - **Headquarters**: Zurich, Switzerland (also offices in Austin, Texas, USA and Oxford, UK) - **Founded**: 2022 - **Founders**: Ryan Luke Johns, Hanspeter Fässler, Simon Kerscher, Burak Çizmeci, Marco Hutter ## Core Business - **Primary industry**: Automation Machinery Manufacturing / Construction Robotics - **Target customers**: B2B – heavy civil construction firms, earthwork contractors, and equipment rental companies - **Mission**: To turn any earthmoving machine into a robot, augmenting human crews with superhuman productivity, safety, and predictability. ## Products & Services - **[Gravis RACK]**: A hardware-and-software retrofit kit (sensors, control unit, intuitive touchscreen) that transforms standard excavators into autonomous or teleoperated machines. Includes features like terrain-aware excavation (30% throughput improvement), autonomous maneuvers, self-stabilization, and augmented vision. (Type: Hardware + SaaS) - **[Teleoperation Tools]**: Advanced remote control capabilities enabling operators to manage machines from outside the cab, reducing exposure to hazards. - **[Deployment & Integration]**: Full support for integrating the Gravis RACK onto existing fleet machines, with site‑setup and task management via a simple interface. ## Market Standing - **Valuation / Funding**: Total funding of **$227.58M** as of August 2026, including a recent **$200M Series A** led by SoftBank Investment Advisers (announced August 20, 2026). Prior rounds included a seed round led by IQ Capital and Zacua Ventures. *Note: Some earlier profiles list $23M total funding – this appears to be outdated data before the Series A.* - **Key Metric**: Annual Revenue not publicly disclosed; headcount of **57 employees** (51-200 range) with **+43.5% YoY growth**. - **Notable Investors / Partners**: SoftBank Group, Armada Investment Group, Sunna Ventures, Imad Ventures, IQ Capital, Zacua Ventures. Deployment partnerships include DEVELON Europe, AG für Baumaschinen Schmerikon, and KIBAG. - **Growth Signals**: Handed over first commercial autonomous excavator to KIBAG in April 2026; expanding from Zurich hub into Austin and Oxford; active jobsite deployments; Inc. Magazine feature on Series A. ## Competitive Advantages - **Deep tech moat**: Core technology spun out from ETH Zurich’s Robotic Systems Lab, with over a decade of research in legged and autonomous systems applied to heavy machinery. - **Plug‑and‑play retrofit**: Works on existing machine brands (e.g., Develon) without requiring OEM redesign, enabling rapid fleet conversion. - **Field‑proven reliability**: Operates in extreme, unstructured outdoor environments (dirt, mud, slopes) where other autonomous systems struggle. - **Full‑stack approach**: Integrates hardware (RACK), perception, planning, teleoperation, and fleet management into a single cohesive product. ## Strategic Focus - **Scale deployment**: Use the $200M Series A to accelerate production of the Gravis RACK, expand into new geographic markets (US, UK), and grow the engineering and field operations teams. - **Product roadmap**: Improve autonomy level (e.g., full excavation without human input), expand to other earthmoving machine types (dozers, loaders), and deepen machine learning for terrain modeling. - **Talent acquisition**: Aggressively hiring across autonomy, SLAM, systems engineering, field robotics, and infrastructure roles (8 open positions as of September 2026). ## Why Work Here - **Culture**: Rated **4.6/5.0** on employer reviews (5 reviews) with strong scores in Work-Life Balance (4.3), Culture (4.5), and Career Growth (4.5). Described as a team of “great engineers, creative minds, and awesome people.” - **Work Policy**: Hybrid and on-site roles depending on location: Zurich (mostly on-site/hybrid), Austin (on-site), Oxford (hybrid). Internships are on-site in Zurich. - **Engineering culture**: Heavy emphasis on robotics, simulation, ML, and real‑world systems. Tech stack includes ROS, PyTorch, TensorFlow, Unreal Engine, SolidWorks, C++, Python, and more. Team includes alumni from ETH Zurich, NASA JPL, ANYbotics, and other top robotics groups. - **Perks**: Work on physical AI that has a tangible impact on global infrastructure; see your code move dirt on real construction sites; small, fast‑moving team with direct access to founders. ## Sources 1. [gravisrobotics.com](https://www.gravisrobotics.com/) 2. [jobs.lever.co/gravisrobotics](https://jobs.lever.co/gravisrobotics) 3. [linkedin.com/company/gravisrobotics](https://linkedin.com/company/gravisrobotics) 4. [cbinsights.com/company/gravis-robotics](https://www.cbinsights.com/company/gravis-robotics) ## Other roles at Gravis Robotics - [Staff Software Engineer - Robotics Platform](https://feeny.ai/job/staff-software-engineer-robotics-platform-gravis-robotics-zurich-mz9bxcy5n3h3) — Zurich, Switzerland - [General Application Inquiry](https://feeny.ai/job/general-application-inquiry-gravis-robotics-zurich-zkm9ns5bj6na) — Zurich, Switzerland - [Senior Reinforcement Learning Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-reinforcement-learning-engineer-gravis-robotics-zurich-dg38zww2vz24) — Zurich, Switzerland - [Systems Engineer (Excavator Automation)](https://feeny.ai/job/systems-engineer-excavator-automation-gravis-robotics-zurich-qnk5z12ysf9f) — Zurich, Switzerland - [Field Robotics Engineer - US](https://feeny.ai/job/field-robotics-engineer-us-gravis-robotics-austin-t1m3yv52dsgj) — Austin, TX