Anywhere in Europe
Principal - Robotics Deployment
This is a role for the operator who takes deployment capabilities that survive prototype to live use in factories - and who builds the deployment machine every future Cenotian robotics bet will run on.
We are not hiring a robotics researcher, and we are not hiring a project manager. We are hiring the person who sits where field engineering, service design, data and commercial execution meet - with personal accountability for making deployment capabilities work on live projects, and the judgment to design functions that do not yet exist.
Context
Cenotian is the market maker for robotics, restoring industrial sovereignty in the West. We provide capital and capabilities to back physical automation projects across the US and Europe. Today, the engineers who build and install robots, machines and systems on site are under immense financial pressure and unable to scale. We remove that bottleneck, giving them the customized financing and services they need to accelerate automation in Western production. Cenotian is now in hyper-growth: launching new bets, entering new markets, and building the organizational backbone to sustain it. The Special Missions Group is Cenotian's bet-taking machine: a small number of founder-grade generalists who turn the company's high-conviction bets into shipped products. The SMG now produces a new class of problem: deployment bets are surviving prototype. A capability that clears prototype must work in workshops and factories, be delivered repeatably and operate at a known cost. This role exists so that every deployment bet that earns the right to live use actually gets there.
Position overview
The Principal - Robotics Deployment owns deployment capabilities as their sandbox, with a special focus in the first months on Technical Qualification Services, field evidence, telemetry, simulation, procurement and partner-delivered services. The role sits at the intersection of the existing SMG, Platform & Infrastructure, Technical Qualification, Finance, Data and Engineering teams - one of the most field-intensive seats in the company. This is an execution role with design judgment.
- Reports to:
- Head of Special Missions
- Location:
- Anywhere in Europe
Key responsibilities
- 01
Own bets, the SMG way
- Own bets end-to-end in the same bets approach as every SMG principal: timeboxed, gated, kill-by-default.
- Your bets are robotics-deployment bets: taking capabilities from prototype to live use on real automation projects.
- 02
Provide centralized deployment support across bets
- Plug into bets when they reach the factory floor - potentially several at once.
- Co-own deployment with the principal who owns the bet. You supply a kit, not a takeover: the owning principal keeps end-to-end ownership.
- Work daily with SMG principals, the Technical Qualification team, Platform & Infrastructure, Finance, Data and Engineering.
- 03
Run field pilots and prove the operating model
- Spend substantial time with system integrators, OEMs and operators at workshops, integration sites and operating facilities.
- Productize Technical Qualification Services and build structured evidence for engineering discipline, system readiness, FAT and SAT, service capacity and project-execution risk.
- Test telemetry, simulation-data, procurement, cybersecurity, compliance, programming-capacity and continuity propositions on live projects.
- Define delivery model, service level, data rights, partner incentives and the operating cost of each capability.
- Carry personal accountability for adoption and operating performance, not process oversight.
- 04
Build products and services
- Spend a portion of your time building, like every SMG principal: tools, sensors, forms, workflows, automations and the products the deployment machine itself needs.
- Use AI coding tools, APIs and lightweight hardware to get to field evidence without waiting for a large team.
- 05
Design how deployment capabilities evolve, leave playbooks behind
- The whole playground of deployment capabilities sits under this role. As Cenotian gains traction, you define what comes next: what Technical Qualification should own, what Platform & Infrastructure should operate, which partners to use, where to build teams, and who to hire.
- Decide when a hacked-together capability should spin off into its own service or function, and design what it looks like.
- Every field pilot produces a playbook: replicable for the next project, the next partner and the next country.
You'll know it's working when
Deployment bets hit their live-use targets on the timeline set at the gate.
Owning principals describe you as a force multiplier, not a dependency.
Technical and operating evidence is reusable across financing, contracts and monitoring.
Each capability has a measured delivery cost, service level and customer value.
The second deployment runs faster than the first because the playbook exists.
Services spin off at the right moment: designed, staffed, controlled and documented.
Candidate profile
What we require
- A track record as a top operator: has taken technical products, services or field capabilities from zero to live and delivered on ambitious targets.
- Ships outcomes in ambiguous, thinly-resourced environments where the playbook does not exist yet - and writes it as they go.
- Direct experience in robotics, industrial automation, advanced manufacturing or another complex physical industry.
- Can work credibly across system integration, commissioning, field service, technical sales, manufacturing engineering or technical diligence.
- AI-fluent and shipping with AI tooling, collapsing what used to take a team into one person plus agents.
Nice to have
- Prior roles in robotics deployment, automation integration, IoT, simulation, technical services or industrial product operations.
- Experience with FAT, SAT, bills of materials, controls, telemetry, cybersecurity or service networks.
- Experience scoping, selecting and managing technical partners or contractors.
Personality
- Extremely powerful operator: strong can-do attitude, high agency and ownership.
- Thrives in ambiguity, complexity and ambitious targets.
- Ego-less by design: co-owns bets with other principals and feels as accountable for their success as the colleague who technically owns the bet.
- Prefers direct observation on the factory floor over abstract assumptions.
- High stamina, sound judgment, extreme resilience.
Organizational context
The Principal - Robotics Deployment will work most closely with:
- Head of Special Missions - sets the deployment-bet portfolio, gates missions and holds the Principal accountable for field outcomes.
- Other SMG Principals - own the products or bets entering deployment. This Principal supplies the deployment kit and co-owns live execution without taking over the bet.
- Head of Platform & Infrastructure - shapes the permanent operating model for Technical Qualification Services, procurement, continuity and other validated deployment capabilities.
- Technical Qualification - executes repeatable counterparty and project assessments once a method has been proven.
- Head of Finance and Underwriting - define the technical evidence required for transaction conditions, approval and portfolio monitoring.
- VP, Data and Head of Engineering - turn field evidence, telemetry and workflow prototypes into structured data and reliable systems.
Apply for this role
Tell us who you are and where to find you. A CV is welcome, not required.