Senior Manager, Release and Issue Management

Agility’s commercially deployed humanoids operate alongside teams in warehouses, manufacturing facilities, and distribution centers—tackling physically demanding and repetitive tasks while enabling workers to focus on higher-value work. With industry-leading safety standards and years of proven deployment data, we're pioneering a new era of automation that enhances human potential.

Role Overview

We are seeking a Sr. Manager, Release & Issue Management to lead and scale a high-impact organization responsible for software issue triage, technical investigations, root cause analysis, release management and closure of software issues affecting the humanoid robot fleet.

This role owns the strategy, execution, and evolution of the organization's software issue and release management capabilities. You will lead a team of triage & root cause analysis engineers and release management, establishing the frameworks, processes, and technical rigor required to rapidly diagnose complex software issues through alignment with software development teams on prioritization and resolution, and ensure fixes are appropriately incorporated into release.

The ideal candidate combines strong technical depth in software debugging, diagnostics, root cause analysis, and release processes with proven leadership experience, enabling them to set technical direction, drive cross-functional execution, develop tooling and processes, and build a high-performing team that improves fleet reliability and accelerates effective software releases.

Key Responsibilities

Organizational Leadership & Strategy

• Build and lead a high-performing Release & Issue Management organization, including triage, RCA, and release management.
• Define the strategy, operating model, and technical direction for software issue and release management.
• Mentor engineers and foster technical rigor and ownership.
• Communicate risks, defect trends, and release recommendations to stakeholders.

Software Issue Management

• Lead triage and technical investigation of complex software issues escalated from Field Operations, Release Validation, and Engineering.
• Drive root cause analysis, issue classification and ownership to individual software components.
• Collaborate with the software development team to prioritize fleet-impacting defects based on severity, recurrence, and release risk.
• Standardize issue investigation and closure practices to ensure all issues are technically resolved and verified.
• Leverage deep-dive analysis of issue and release data to pinpoint systemic risks, failure modes, and defect trends, driving continuous improvements in software quality and release efficacy.

Diagnostic Tooling & Analytics

• Identify and close gaps in observability, logging, and telemetry; partner with platform teams to maximize fleet issue visibility.
• Architect diagnostic tools, workflows, and dashboards that reduce time-to-root-cause while empowering Field Operations with self-service capabilities for identifying and resolving known issues, minimizing engineering escalations.
• Establish scalable tooling and data-driven workflows that improve issue investigation, fleet monitoring, and software release efficacy.

Release Management

• Own the end-to-end software release management process, including release planning, scope, readiness criteria, issue tracking, and deployment coordination.
• Align Software Development, System Validation, and Field Operations teams on release scope, defect prioritization, validation strategy, and deployment readiness.
• Ensure fixes for fleet-impacting issues are validated with appropriate regression, integration, and field-relevant testing before release and continuous improvement of release processes and tooling

Qualifications

Experience

• 10+ years of experience in software engineering, systems engineering, diagnostics, release management, or related engineering disciplines supporting complex robotic or autonomous systems
• 5+ years of experience leading and managing engineering teams, including senior and staff-level engineers and technical leaders
• Experience in robotics, autonomous vehicles, aerospace, industrial automation, or similar high-complexity software and systems environments
• Proven track record leading complex software investigations, root cause analysis, and cross-functional issue resolution.
• Experience establishing or scaling release management processes for software deployed to production or customer fleets

Technical Expertise

• Strong expertise in software debugging, root cause analysis, fault isolation, diagnostics, and technical investigations across complex robotic or autonomous system
• Deep understanding of software development lifecycle, software validation, release processes, configuration and version management, and defect management
• Experience with telemetry, observability, logging, issue tracking, engineering analytics, and tooling used to diagnose and resolve fleet issues
• Experience defining release quality gates, acceptance criteria, validation strategies, and processes for safely deploying software to production systems.
• Proven ability to build and lead high-performing engineering teams while establishing scalable processes and operational rigor
• Excellent systems thinking, analytical problem-solving, and cross-functional leadership skills
• Effective communicator capable of influencing technical and executive stakeholders and driving alignment across software development and operations teams.
• Ability to balance technical depth with strategic leadership in fast-paced, ambiguous environments
• Ability to incorporate and use AI tools to enhance productivity and efficiency.

Education

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Systems Engineering, Robotics, or a related field (Master's or PhD preferred)

Location

This a hybrid position based out of our Fremont office.

The final salary offered to a successful candidate will be dependent on several factors that may include but are not limited to: job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. Agility Robotics is a multi-state employer and this salary range may not reflect positions who work in other locations. These ranges may be modified in the future.

Anticipated Salary Range $217,000 — $281,000 USD

In addition to base pay, our competitive total rewards package consists of the following for full-time employees:

• 401(k) Plan: Includes a 6% company match.
• Equity: Company stock options.
• Insurance Coverage: 100% company-paid medical, dental, vision, and short/long-term disability insurance for employees.
• Benefit Start Date: Eligible for benefits on your first day of employment.
• Well-Being Support: Employee Assistance Program (EAP).
• Time Off:
  • Exempt Employees: Flexible, unlimited PTO and 12 company holidays, including a winter shutdown.
  • Non-Exempt Employees: 10 vacation days, paid sick leave, and 12 company holidays, including a winter shutdown, annually.