Head of Academic Partners & Programs

Description

Fauna Robotics is building the future of personal robotics — and we want it to be the best platform for researchers and developers to build on. We’re looking for a leader to build and scale our academic segment: the programs, partnerships, and mechanisms that put Fauna robots into the hands of the world’s top robotics researchers and turn them into a thriving, self-reinforcing community.
You'll own the strategy, the relationships, and the sales channel end-to-end — from a researcher's first pilot to institution-wide adoption. You will own how labs evaluate, acquire, and expand their Fauna fleets. You'll design the grant and phased-access programs that put robots in researchers' hands, and run the pilots that prove them out. You'll represent Fauna where researchers gather — ICRA, RSS, CoRL, IROS, HRI — and cultivate a community of people building on our platform.
You will be Fauna’s primary point of engagement with the robotics research community. You’ll own the strategy and the relationships end-to-end — from qualifying a priority lab to scaling adoption across an entire institution. You’ll design the grant and phased-access programs that put robots in researchers’ hands, and run the pilots that prove them out. You’ll represent Fauna where researchers gather — ICRA, RSS, CoRL, IROS, HRI — and cultivate a community of people building on our platform. And you’ll own the sales channel for the segment — the paths by which labs evaluate, acquire, and expand their Fauna fleets.
Just as importantly, you’ll be the bridge between that community and our product org — translating what researchers discover into a clearer roadmap, better robots, and a stronger talent pipeline. This is a role for someone who works shoulder-to-shoulder with scientists and AI researchers, knows the rhythms of academic life, and wants to build the definitive research robotics platform with them.
This role owns the research/academic segment end-to-end as its relationship, program, sales, and customer-success lead. You’ll work hand-in-hand with partner functions — product, fleet operations & logistics, data/telemetry engineering, and our broader ecosystem team — who own the shared infrastructure, so you can stay focused on strategy, relationships, and impact.


Key job responsibilities
Segment Strategy & Sales
- Own the strategy for Fauna’s academic segment: map and prioritize target institutions and labs, define what makes Fauna the platform of choice for researchers, and set the adoption plan.
- Manage our pipeline of funded labs, principal investigators, and technical champions — qualifying opportunities on research value, funding path, influence, and expansion potential.
- Own the sales channel for the research segment — the paths by which labs and institutions acquire, deploy, and grow their Fauna fleets, always grounded in research fit.
- Partner with fleet operations, finance, and legal to structure the grant, sponsored-research, pricing, and purchase options that fit how universities actually buy.
- Build repeatable paths and clean handoffs from an individual researcher to lab- and institution-wide adoption.
- Serve as the connection between Amazon-internal research and academic teams and Fauna product/engineering, coordinating with Amazon Robotics and Amazon Science on shared interests.
University Partnerships & Grants
- Own the university grant program end-to-end: application, evaluation, awarding, and reporting.
- Design and operate the access mechanisms that get robots into researchers’ hands — grant, phased-access, and fellows-style programs, including eligibility, selection, onboarding, and program goals.
- Run pilots end-to-end; remove trust, funding, and technical blockers; drive real activation, retention, and expansion.
- Partner with Fauna Science and Scholars on program design and relationships with target universities.
- Support the Fauna intern program, linking academic partnerships to the talent pipeline.
External Engagement & Community
- Represent Fauna at key conferences (ICRA, RSS, CoRL, IROS, HRI) — sponsorships, workshops, talks, and demos.
- Convene and manage a Research Advisory Board to guide program design and the hardware/software roadmaps.
- Amplify state-of-the-art partner research and results on Fauna robots, in partnership with our marketing team.
Research Experience & Product Feedback
- Own the researcher relationship and experience for the university/research fleet — onboarding, enablement, and satisfaction.
- Partner with product and leadership to define what we want out of research: which capabilities it pressure-tests, what feedback should shape the hardware and software roadmaps, and how it strengthens Fauna.
- Translate community requirements into prioritized input for product and engineering.
- Turn early usage into product feedback, case studies, peer proof, and repeatable enablement.
- Partner with fleet operations and data/telemetry teams to keep researchers productive and their robots healthy.
Metrics & Reporting
- Define the program’s KPIs — robots deployed and utilization, researcher activation / retention / expansion, researcher NPS, publications on Fauna robots, community engagement, and grant pipeline health — and use them to inform strategy and leadership reviews.


About the team
Fauna Robotics, an Amazon company, is building capable, safe, and genuinely delightful robots for everyday life. Our goal is simple: make robots people actually want to live and interact with in everyday human spaces.
We believe that future won’t arrive until building for robotics becomes far more accessible. Today, too much effort is spent reinventing the fundamentals. We’re changing that by developing tightly integrated hardware and software systems that make it faster, safer, and more intuitive to create real-world robotic products.
Our work spans the full stack: mechanical design, control systems, dynamic modeling, and intelligent software. The focus is not just functionality, but experience. We’re building robots that feel responsive, expressive, and genuinely useful.
At Fauna, you’ll work at the frontier of this space, helping define how robots move, manipulate, and interact with people in natural environments. It’s an opportunity to solve hard problems across hardware and software with a team focused on making robotics accessible and joyful to build.
If you care about making robotics real for everyone and building systems that are as delightful as they are capable, we’re interested in hearing from you.

Basic Qualifications

- 7+ years of developing, negotiating and executing business agreements experience
- 7+ years of Go-To-Market, Business Development, Sales, or Consulting experience
- Experience developing strategies that influence leadership decisions at the organizational level
- Bachelor’s degree in engineering, computer science, robotics, or a related field.
- 8+ years in program management, business development, partnerships, or research/developer relations.
- History of working tightly with scientists, AI researchers, and academic institutions — and fluency in academic motions (conferences, labs, grant and sponsored-research cycles).
- Experience navigating complex institutions — researchers, research IT, procurement, funders, and administrators.

Preferred Qualifications

- PhD or funded-lab research experience; established credibility with R1 researchers.
- Experience managing university grant or sponsored-research programs.
- Consultative or technical sales experience selling into higher-education or research institutions, including their procurement and funding cycles.
- Advanced degree (MS or PhD) in robotics, AI, engineering, or a related technical field.
- Experience in robotics or with robotic systems.
- Experience with sales, channel, or go-to-market motion — bringing a new product to new customers and growing adoption through direct and partner-led paths.
- Experience building developer/research communities or programs.
- Product experience — comfortable translating user needs into roadmap input.

Amazon is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of protected veteran status, disability, or other legally protected status.

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The base salary range for this position is listed below. Your Amazon package will include sign-on payments and restricted stock units (RSUs). Final compensation will be determined based on factors including experience, qualifications, and location. Amazon also offers comprehensive benefits including health insurance (medical, dental, vision, prescription, Basic Life & AD&D insurance and option for Supplemental life plans, EAP, Mental Health Support, Medical Advice Line, Flexible Spending Accounts, Adoption and Surrogacy Reimbursement coverage), 401(k) matching, paid time off, and parental leave. Learn more about our benefits at https://amazon.jobs/en/benefits.