Full-Time

Robot Operations Manager

Gecko Robotics

Gecko Robotics

201-500 employees

Robotic ultrasonic inspection with asset analytics

No salary listed

No H1B Sponsorship

Pittsburgh, PA, USA

In Person

Office-first culture; many employees work in the office five days per week.

US Top Secret Clearance Required

Bachelor's

Category
Operations & Logistics (1)
Required Skills
Inventory Management
Forecasting
Word/Pages/Docs
Salesforce
JIRA
Confluence
Robotics
Excel/Numbers/Sheets

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Requirements
  • At least 5 years of experience in robotics, electromechanical systems, or advanced manufacturing operations.
  • Demonstrated experience managing hardware build events or production operations.
  • A proven track record in fleet maintenance program development and execution.
  • Experience with inventory management systems and materials planning processes.
  • A strong understanding of logistics operations, including international shipping, customs, and trade compliance.
  • Experience managing multi-site operations across geographically distributed teams.
  • Effective verbal and written communication skills, including the ability to condense and successfully deliver complex messages.
  • Experience working in a manufacturing environment with electromechanical assemblies.
  • Must be able to obtain a United States government security clearance.
Responsibilities
  • Plan, schedule, and execute robot fleet build events to increase overall fleet capacity and align with business needs.
  • Coordinate cross-functional build teams, including engineering, quality, and supply chain, to deliver builds on time and within budget.
  • Develop and maintain standardized build procedures, work instructions, and checklists for consistent, repeatable assembly operations.
  • Manage tooling, fixtures, and test equipment required for fleet build operations.
  • Partner with engineering teams to support prototype build activities and provide operational feedback on build complexity, repairability, and serviceability.
  • Manage the transition from prototype to production fleet builds by establishing processes, documentation, and quality standards.
  • Work with Test and Reliability to oversee acceptance testing and release of prototype and first-production fleet units before deployment.
  • Oversee preventive and corrective maintenance programs across the active robot fleet.
  • Support hardware and software triage, root cause analysis, and resolution of field failures to minimize fleet downtime and maximize availability.
  • Plan and execute firmware, hardware, and software upgrades across units in coordination with field operations.
  • Develop repair depot capabilities at key locations, including staffing, tooling, spare parts provisioning, and documentation.
  • Maintain comprehensive service and equipment calibration records and maintenance histories for each fleet unit.
  • Oversee implementation of a Fleet Change Order Process and maintain accurate, up-to-date records for active fleet robots.
  • Enforce configuration management processes to track hardware versions, installed firmware, field modifications, and upgrade status across the fleet.
  • Oversee materials planning and inventory control for inspection equipment and tools, robot components, spare parts, and consumables across United States and United Arab Emirates locations.
  • Implement and maintain inventory management systems and processes to ensure accurate stock visibility and prevent shortages or overstock situations.
  • Work with procurement to forecast demand, establish safety stock levels, and manage supplier lead times for critical components.
  • Analyze regular cycle counts and reconciliations and drive corrective actions for inventory discrepancies.
  • Oversee Field Inspection Kit bills of materials, ensuring adequacy and accurate inventory of items.
  • Manage bill of materials accuracy and lifecycle for all fleet variants.
  • Manage inbound and outbound logistics operations across multiple United States and United Arab Emirates facilities, including receiving inspection, staging, packaging, and shipment of robots and components.
  • Ensure compliance with import/export regulations, including coordination of customs documentation, duty management, and trade compliance requirements for international shipments.
  • Establish and maintain relationships with freight carriers and customs brokers to ensure reliable, cost-effective logistics services.
  • Implement and maintain shipping and receiving procedures that ensure product integrity, accurate documentation, and on-time delivery.
  • Coordinate logistics planning for fleet deployments, returns, and cross-site transfers.
  • Support cross-functional projects necessary to improve operational efficiency.
  • Identify gaps and opportunities, develop practical resolutions, and drive them to completion with minimal oversight.
Desired Qualifications
  • A robotics or technical background.
  • An engineering degree.
  • In-factory manufacturing experience.
  • Proficiency with Salesforce or equivalent asset/configuration management platforms.
  • Familiarity and competence with project or program management software tools such as Jira, Confluence, Google Docs, and Excel.

Gecko Robotics builds robotic ultrasonic inspection systems and enterprise software to inspect critical infrastructure. The robots collect ultrasonic data from assets in energy, public infrastructure, manufacturing, defense, and maritime, and software turns that data into maps, models, and digital twins with current and predictive insights. They stand out by providing an end-to-end hardware and software solution that scales data collection and translates it into actionable digital representations for heavy industries. Their goal is to improve reliability, safety, efficiency, and sustainability of asset operations by digitizing and optimizing asset lifecycles, typically sold to other businesses through purchases, subscriptions, or service contracts.

Company Size

201-500

Company Stage

Series D

Total Funding

$345.6M

Headquarters

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Founded

2013

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Simplify Jobs

Simplify's Take

What believers are saying

  • March 2026 Navy-GSA deal totals $71 million, starting on 18 Pacific Fleet ships.
  • May 2026 Ouster REV8 integration sharpens anomaly detection and strengthens Gecko’s inspection stack.
  • Sewickley’s 10,000-square-foot defense manufacturing facility expands production for 2026 contracts.

What critics are saying

  • Thrive Operations sued Gecko in March 2026 over cybersecurity contracts and termination fees.
  • Summit NDE litigation showed Gecko’s trade-secret claims lost preliminary-injunction protection.
  • If inspection hardware commoditizes, Cantilever becomes a services reseller by 2027.

What makes Gecko Robotics unique

  • Gecko’s wall-climbing robots collect asset data humans cannot reach safely.
  • Cantilever fuses robotics, sensors, and AI into digital twins for maintenance decisions.
  • Navy and ADNOC contracts prove dual-use hardware works across defense and energy.

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Benefits

Unlimited PTO

Stock options & equity

401k with company match

Medical, dental, vision coverages

Parental Leave

Growth & Insights and Company News

Headcount

6 month growth

-3%

1 year growth

0%

2 year growth

1%
Beaver County Radio
Jul 16th, 2026
Pittsburgh's Gecko Robotics opening manufacturing facility in the Sewickley area.

Pittsburgh's Gecko Robotics opening manufacturing facility in the Sewickley area. (Credit and Caption for Photo: Gecko Robotics, headquartered in Pittsburgh's North Side, plans to open a manufacturing facility in Sewickley, which will focus on defense manufacturing. (James Engel | TribLive) Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News Discover more Radio talk show Radio listener contests Online Media (Sewickley, PA) Gecko Robotics, a Pittsburgh-based robotics and defense firm, will open a new manufacturing facility in the Sewickley area soon. The company announced its plans for the 10,000-square-foot facility at the 2026 Pennsylvania Defense and Innovation Summit, which finished yesterday in Carlisle. This facility will sit at an industrial park in Aleppo Township about 3 miles from Sewickley's business district.

LNP | LancasterOnline
Jul 15th, 2026
Trump to address defense technology gathering as the Iran war has reduced US weapon stocks.

Trump to address defense technology gathering as the Iran war has reduced US weapon stocks. President Donald Trump is headlining a defense summit at the U.S. Army War College. * By WILL WEISSERT - Associated Press * Jul 15, 2026 Updated 5 hrs ago President Donald Trump speaks as he meets with Iraq's Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi in the Oval Office of the White House, Tuesday, July 14, 2026, in Washington. * Julia Demaree Nikhinson - AP President Donald Trump waiting to greet Iraq's Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi at the White House, Tuesday, July 14, 2026, in Washington. * Alex Brandon - AP WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump is headlining a defense summit at the U.S. Army War College on Wednesday, planning to tout major investments in battlefield technology at a time when the war in Iran has reduced the U.S. supply of Tomahawk cruise missiles and Patriot and THAAD interceptors. The gathering in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, is organized by Republican Sen. David McCormick. It has also featured Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth; Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Army Secretary Dan Driscoll; CIA Director John Ratcliffe; and Mike Waltz, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Trump has been a frequent visitor to the critical swing state of Pennsylvania, including last month, when he went to a Mack Trucks facility in Macungie, outside Allentown - hoping to boost Republican Rep. Ryan Mackenzie's reelection chances. Trump carried Pennsylvania in 2016 and 2024, and McCormick is not up for reelection this cycle, but Republicans are increasingly concerned about the war and persistently high cost of living as well as the president's low approval ratings as they look to maintain control of Congress during November's midterm elections. The White House said the summit is bringing together key leaders in defense and some of the largest global investors to spotlight the importance of national security and identify investment opportunities. Summit attendees include JPMorgan's Jamie Dimon, Blackstone President Jon Gray, Lockheed Martin CEO Jim Taiclet, General Dynamics CEO Phebe Novakovic, Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg, SpaceX director Antonio Gracias, and Shyam Sankar, chief technology officer of analytics and artificial intelligence firm Palantir, McCormick's office said. Trump spoke at a similar gathering organized by McCormick last year in Pittsburgh that sought to make the city a hot spot for advancement in energy technology and robotics. Then, the senator announced $90 billion in pledged investments in those sectors across Pennsylvania. This year's summit began on Tuesday. Before Trump's arrival, multi-analytics threat detection leader ZeroEyes, which is based in Conshohocken, outside Philadelphia, announced a planned $10 million investment in artificial intelligence and machine learning research and development. Nonprofit local news isn't free! It takes reporters, editors, and resources to do this work right. Your donation keeps that work alive. Pittsburgh-based Gecko Robotics also says it plans to open a new 10,000-square-foot (930-square-meter) manufacturing facility designed to boost integration of robotics into defense manufacturing processes and better expand the nation's defense industrial base. An analysis released in May found that U.S. military contractors will need at least three years to replenish stockpiles of Tomahawks - used to strike targets deep inside enemy territory - as well as Patriots and THAAD interceptors, which defend against incoming missiles and drones. Stocks have dwindled as the U.S. has repeatedly fired strikes on Iran, adding to concerns that American forces would have limited firepower in any potential future conflict with China. China has a stated goal of ensuring its military is capable of taking Taiwan by force if necessary by 2027, which experts see as more aspirational than a hard deadline. But Chinese President Xi Jinping warned during Trump's recent visit to Beijing that if Washington mishandles its relations with the self-governing island, the U.S. and China could end up clashing or even find themselves in open conflict. Trump also recently pledged to give Ukraine a license to produce Patriot air-defense systems which could be a major development in its war with Russia - though turning the idea into real weapons is also likely to take years. Trump has sought to correct the shortfall by seeking a historic $1.5 trillion defense budget proposal for 2027. But a package authorizing such spending levels is stalled in Congress, and, even if it eventually moves forward, loads of additional time will still be required to expand production capabilities to accommodate such weapons systems. Jake Loosararian, co-founder and CEO of Gecko Robotics, said U.S. defense companies have "got to supercharge supply chains" to reduce how long it takes for new technology to be ready for widespread production. "President Trump uniquely understands the importance of pragmatic impact today," Loosararian said. "He also understands big, beautiful things for tomorrow."

Business Wire
May 21st, 2026
Gecko Robotics tests Ouster's REV8 color lidar for advanced infrastructure inspection

Gecko Robotics is exploring Ouster's new REV8 digital lidar sensors to enhance its Cantilever operating platform for industrial asset inspection. The technology combines native colour capabilities with 3D mapping to improve structural anomaly detection in critical infrastructure. Gecko currently uses Ouster's lidar to navigate industrial environments and create digital twins of assets. The REV8 sensor outputs colorised, structured 3D data alongside ambient infrared and intensity data, enabling Gecko's AI software to detect structural issues more reliably. The sensors support Gecko's "detect and repair" missions across energy, oil and gas, and manufacturing sectors, as well as work with the US Air Force and Navy on nuclear submarines and aircraft carriers. Ouster, a San Francisco-based sensing and perception company, provides lidar solutions for industrial, robotics, automotive and smart infrastructure applications.

The Next Web
Mar 17th, 2026
US Navy awards Gecko Robotics $71M deal to digitally map Pacific Fleet warships

Gecko Robotics has secured a five-year contract with the US Navy and General Services Administration worth up to $71 million, with an initial award of $54 million. This marks the Navy's largest-ever robotics deal. The Pittsburgh startup will deploy its wall-climbing robots and AI platform Cantilever to inspect 18 Pacific Fleet vessels over nine months, creating digital twins to accelerate maintenance. The technology can identify necessary repairs up to 50 times faster than manual inspections, enabling pre-staging of parts before ships reach dry dock. Roughly 40% of the Navy's fleet is unavailable at any time, with maintenance backlogs costing up to $20 billion annually. Only 41% of ships completed repairs on time in 2025. Valued at $1.25 billion following its June 2025 Series D round, Gecko has raised $173 million in total funding.

Fox News
Mar 12th, 2026
WATCH: wall-climbing robot swarms crawl US Navy warships as China's fleet surges.

WATCH: wall-climbing robot swarms crawl US Navy warships as China's fleet surges. Pennsylvania-based Gecko Robotics develops AI-powered machines that scale hulls and flight decks to scan for structural problems. See how advanced robotics are scaling destroyers and amphibious ships to detect structural problems faster than traditional methods - part of a new $71 million Navy initiative to boost readiness and cut maintenance delays. (Credit: Gecko Robotics) FIRST ON FOX: Swarms of wall-climbing robots will soon be crawling across U.S. Navy warships in a $71 million effort to slash repair delays and boost fleet readiness as China continues expanding its naval power. Under the five-year contract, Gecko will begin work on 18 ships in the U.S. Pacific Fleet, with the initial award valued at up to $54 million. The contract vehicle is structured to allow other military services to access the technology as well. The push comes at a critical moment. Only about 60% of U.S. Navy ships are operational at any given time as maintenance backlogs sideline a significant share of the fleet, according to industry estimates. Meanwhile, China now fields roughly 370 to 390 warships and submarines compared with about 300 in the U.S. Navy - and its state-backed shipbuilding industry can produce vessels at a dramatically faster pace. Some independent analyses estimate China's shipbuilding capacity exceeds America's by more than 200 times when measured by tonnage output. Against that backdrop, the Navy is turning to artificial intelligence and robotics not for weapons - but for repairs. The AI-powered machines, developed by Pittsburgh-based Gecko Robotics, scale hulls, flight decks and other hard-to-reach steel surfaces, scanning for corrosion, metal fatigue and weld defects. Instead of relying on sailors or shipyard workers suspended on ropes or scaffolding to inspect ships point by point, the robots collect millions of data points and feed them into a digital platform designed to flag structural problems early. "Where value hasn't improved, that's where opportunity lives. Cracking the cost equation is just as important as cracking the physics equation," said Justin Fanelli, Chief Technology Officer for the Department of the Navy said in a statement on the new deal. "MyBasin - Basin Mediactive LLC is now seeing solutions that make innovation adoption easier and in doing so save time, money and risk. "It's no good having 300 vessels if 40% of them are in a dry dock somewhere," Gecko Robotics CEO Jake Loosararian told Fox News Digital. Swarms of wall-climbing robots will soon be crawling across U.S. Navy warships in a $71 million effort to slash repair delays and boost fleet readiness as China continues expanding its naval power. (Gecko Robotics) The inspections will focus on destroyers, amphibious warships and littoral combat ships - vessels that form a core part of U.S. naval operations in the Indo-Pacific. The chief of naval operations has set a goal of reaching 80% fleet readiness by 2027, a benchmark Navy leaders say is critical as competition with China intensifies. Gecko says its robotic systems can identify structural issues far faster than traditional manual inspections, helping planners reduce maintenance delays and return ships to sea more quickly. Ships often sit in drydock for months as unexpected structural issues are discovered after work has already begun - reducing the number of vessels available for deployment while Navy leaders push to raise readiness toward 80% in the coming years. Compounding the problem is a shortage of trained shipyard personnel. U.S. shipbuilders have struggled to recruit and retain enough skilled welders, electricians and technicians to keep pace with demand, contributing to both construction delays and maintenance backlogs. Industry reports show many new hires leave within their first year, slowing workforce growth even as shipbuilding needs rise. Under the five-year contract, Gecko will begin work on 18 ships in the U.S. Pacific Fleet, with the initial award valued at up to $54 million. The contract vehicle is structured to allow other military services to access the technology as well. (Gecko Robotics) Automation and AI are increasingly viewed as part of the solution. By reducing the amount of dangerous, labor-intensive inspection work required and accelerating defect detection during both maintenance and construction, robotic systems can help yards do more with a constrained workforce. Loosararian said the technology is designed to identify structural problems before ships enter major repair cycles, helping planners prioritize repairs and reduce delays. "First destroyers we were on, we saved about three months worth of time to create a plan of action and execute on it," he said. "It reduces the amounts of dangerous and hazardous work hours that humans have to have, it also increases speed." The inspections will focus on destroyers, amphibious warships and littoral combat ships - vessels that form a core part of U.S. naval operations in the Indo-Pacific. (Gecko Robotics) The company says similar technology is being deployed during ship construction, scanning welds and structural components early in the build process to prevent costly rework later - an effort aimed at easing strain across a shipbuilding enterprise already under pressure. While the United States cannot easily match ChinaChina ship-for-ship in raw production speed, improving the availability of the fleet already in service may be one way to narrow the operational gap. In an era of intensifying maritime competition, the battle may hinge not only on how many ships are built - but how many are ready to sail.