Full-Time

Head of Software

Posted on 3/4/2025

Chef Robotics

Chef Robotics

51-200 employees

Robotic solutions for food production automation

Compensation Overview

$185k - $280kAnnually

Expert

San Francisco, CA, USA

Onsite work required five days a week.

Category
Embedded Engineering
Software Engineering
Required Skills
Machine Learning
Computer Vision
Requirements
  • Degree in Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Physics, or equivalent industry experience that demonstrates comparable expertise.
  • Over 10 years of hands-on production engineering experience, including roles as a technical lead, manager, or director with responsibility for software on hardware-based products.
  • Proven experience managing managers and overseeing multi-tiered engineering teams.
  • Demonstrated success in leading and scaling engineering teams at various levels.
  • A track record of successfully launching and scaling at least two products to market.
  • Expertise in developing and deploying production-level software systems.
  • In-depth understanding of key domains in robotics, including but not limited to: Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Perception and Computer Vision, Machine Learning, Robotic Motion Planning and Control, Cloud Infrastructure.
Responsibilities
  • Lead, grow, and scale the Software/Autonomy team, fostering a culture of innovation and excellence.
  • Drive the development and scalability of Chef’s autonomy stack to ensure reliable performance around key metrics like uptime and utilization across hundreds of deployed units.
  • Collaborate cross-functionally with hardware, product, and operations teams to align software initiatives with company goals and deliver results.
  • Set clear and achievable project timelines and ensure consistent execution and on-time delivery.
  • Mentor, coach, and develop engineering talent, creating pathways for team growth and individual success.
  • Ensure Chef robots achieve and maintain high performance and reliability in the field, addressing challenges proactively.
  • Define and execute the technical vision and roadmap for Chef’s software and autonomy stack, aligning it with broader business objectives.
  • Serve as a key member of the leadership team, contributing to the company’s strategy, culture, and overall success.
  • Recruit, onboard, and retain top-tier engineering talent to build a world-class software team.
Desired Qualifications
  • Experience scaling software deployed on hardware devices is preferred.

Chef Robotics develops robotic solutions for the food industry, focusing on addressing labor shortages and high turnover rates faced by food companies. Their robots utilize machine learning to adapt to various tasks and environments, allowing for increased production volume and reduced waste. This flexibility sets Chef Robotics apart from traditional automation methods, which often lack adaptability. The company's goal is to help food companies improve efficiency and cost savings while tackling the impending food shortage crisis in the United States.

Company Size

51-200

Company Stage

Seed

Total Funding

$24.6M

Headquarters

San Francisco, California

Founded

2019

Simplify Jobs

Simplify's Take

What believers are saying

  • Chef Robotics surpassed 10 million meals in production with AI-enabled robots.
  • The company raised $14.75M for expansion, indicating strong investor confidence.
  • Growing demand for flexible automation due to labor shortages benefits Chef Robotics.

What critics are saying

  • Emerging competitors like Miso Robotics threaten Chef Robotics' market share.
  • Rapid AI advancements may require costly updates to Chef Robotics' systems.
  • Supply chain vulnerabilities could impact component availability for Chef Robotics.

What makes Chef Robotics unique

  • Chef Robotics offers flexible robots adaptable to various food production tasks.
  • The company uses machine learning to enhance robot dexterity in complex environments.
  • Chef Robotics' solutions address labor shortages in the food industry effectively.

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Growth & Insights and Company News

Headcount

6 month growth

4%

1 year growth

0%

2 year growth

6%
PR Newswire
Sep 20th, 2024
Chef Robotics Launches New Container Placement Quality Assurance Feature for Meal Assembly

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 20, 2024 /PRNewswire/ - Today, Chef is launching a new food placement quality assurance feature, Placement QA.

IoT World Today
Jul 16th, 2024
Chef Robotics Unveils Versatile AI Robot for Food Manufacturing

Chef Robotics unveils versatile AI robot for food manufacturing.

AgFunder News
Jul 12th, 2024
Chef Robotics Ceo: ‘A Lot Of Robotic Companies Have Made Grandiose Promises, But They Haven’T Really Shipped Any Robots. We’Re Much More Practical’

Robotics and automation are hardly new in food production, says Chef Robotics founder Rajat Bhageria. “The issue with traditional automation is that it’s not flexible.”. Historically, observes Bhageria, who has been keeping a low profile since founding his AI-powered robotics startup in 2019, robots have been designed to automate specific tasks in ‘low mix’ production lines optimized for mass production of a single product. But they do not suit ‘high mix’ environments where companies are handling hundreds of SKUs or producing customized meals. In these more complex environments, or in situations where products are too delicate to be handled by traditional dispensers, he says, “traditional automation simply doesn’t work” and companies still rely heavily on manual labor

The Robot Report
Jul 11th, 2024
Automating Food Production, One Serving At A Time

Listen to this articleChef Robotics food automation pods assemble ready-to-cook meals for leading food manufacturers. | Credit: Chef Robotics. The path to success in food robotics is littered with interesting concepts that failed to deliver. Chef Robotics is a young startup that has built a healthy portfolio of clients and iterated quickly over the last two years to mature the capabilities of its autonomous meal assembly solution. The company is crossing the chasm from early adopters to gain its initial foothold in what promises to be a huge market for food manufacturing automation

The Robot Report
May 31st, 2024
The Inside Scoop On Food Manufacturing With Chef Robotics

The inside scoop on food manufacturing with Chef Robotics. By The Robot Report Staff | May 31, 2024In episode 152 of The Robot Report Podcast, Steve Crowe and Mike Oitzman discuss the news of the week. Our featured guest on the show this week is Rajat Bhageria, founder and CEO of Chef Robotics. Rajat takes us through the inception of Chef Robotics and how he’s broken down the various workflows in the commercial kitchen. Chef Robotics is focused on food manufacturing, deploying automation to the tasks of filling ready to cook, prepared meals with individual food items. The second feature on the show today is an interview hosted by Meaghan Ziemba, host of Mavens of Manufacturing and Joyce Sidopoulos, cofounder and COO at MassRobotics