Senior Technical Product Manager

Instawork Robotics Labs is seeking a Senior Technical Product Manager to lead product direction and execution for robotics data collection and management. This role involves building a global data collection app for high-quality video and metadata, developing a robust and scalable data QA and management platform, and working closely with ML Researchers, Engineers, and Data teams. The manager will translate model breakthroughs into reliable systems, drive execution across complex CV pipelines and ML infrastructure, and influence long-term AI strategy. This foundational role defines the future of robotics data.

Must Have

• Own product direction and execution for robotics data collection and management products.
• Build a global data collection app for high-quality videos and metadata.
• Develop payments and QA infrastructure for pros.
• Build a robust, scalable, crowdsourceable data QA and management platform.
• Measure data quality and benchmark model performance.
• Work closely with ML Researchers, Engineers, and Data teams.
• Translate model breakthroughs into usable, reliable systems.
• Drive execution across CV pipelines, data workflows, training loops, and inference infra.
• Influence long-term AI strategy.
• 7–12 years of experience with a strong engineering foundation.
• Prior experience as a Software Engineer before moving into Product.
• Proven track record of building and shipping AI / ML / Computer Vision products.
• Deep technical understanding of AI models, CV pipelines, data workflows, training loops, ML infrastructure, and deployment systems.
• Comfort reasoning about model performance metrics, failure modes, scalability, and cost trade-offs.
• Ability to influence senior technical stakeholders with clarity and credibility.

Good to Have

• Exposure to robotics, perception systems, or real-time CV applications.
• Advanced degree in CS, AI, or related fields.

Perks & Benefits

• Zero legacy systems
• Real ownership
• Work directly with world-class researchers and engineers
• High visibility, high-impact role
• Learn faster than anywhere else in AI product
• Opportunity to shape the future of work

Instawork is on a mission to create meaningful economic opportunities for skilled hourly professionals in communities around the globe. Our AI-powered labor marketplace helps local businesses scale, and enables global technology companies to push the frontiers of robotics and AI. Backed by world-class investors like Benchmark, Spark Capital, Craft Ventures, Greylock, Y Combinator, and others, we’re looking for exceptional talent to reimagine the way the world works.

Why this role exists (read this first)

Instawork Robotics Labs is a new initiative within Instawork. We work with the world’s leading robotics and AI labs to collect, manage, and deliver high-quality training data at scale - using a worker network of 10M+ professionals across the US and six countries. This is early. This is foundational. What we build now will define the next decade of robotics.

What you’ll actually do

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You will own the product direction and execution for our suite of products powering robotics data collection and management. That means:

• Data collection app
• Building a global product which allows our pros to collect high quality videos
• Collecting all possible kinds of metadata along with these videos
• Building payments+QA infra to ensure pros get fairly rewarded for great work.

• Data QA and management platform
• Building a robust QA tool following the best practices
• Make it scalable to be crowdsourceable to our pros.
• Measure data quality across multiple parameters and benchmark model performance against each of them

• Sitting at the intersection of research and reality
• Working closely with ML Researchers, Engineers, and Data teams
• Translating model breakthroughs into usable, reliable systems

• Driving execution across complex systems
• CV pipelines, data workflows, training loops, and inference infra
• Research, applied ML, infra, and business teams moving in lockstep

• Influencing long-term AI strategy
• Partnering with leadership to shape where we invest - and where we don’t
• Ensuring product decisions compound over time

What makes this role hard (and fun)

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• There are no clean problem statements - you’ll define them
• Model behavior is probabilistic - certainty is rare
• Research velocity can’t break production reliability
• Small product decisions can have massive cost implications
• You’ll constantly balance ambition with feasibility

If that sounds uncomfortable - this isn’t the role. If it sounds energizing - you’ll thrive here.

What we’re looking for (beyond the résumé)

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We’re looking for engineers-turned-PMs who think in systems. You’re likely a strong fit if you have:

• 7–12 years of experience, with a strong engineering foundation
• Prior experience as a Software Engineer before moving into Product
• Proven track record of building and shipping AI / ML / Computer Vision products
• Deep technical understanding of:
• AI models & CV pipelines
• Data workflows & training loops
• ML infrastructure & deployment systems

• Comfort reasoning about:
• Model performance metrics
• Failure modes
• Scalability and cost trade-offs

• Ability to influence senior technical stakeholders with clarity and credibility
• Nice to haves:
• Exposure to robotics, perception systems, or real-time CV applications
• Advanced degree in CS, AI, or related fields

Why join now

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• Zero legacy systems — real ownership
• Work directly with world-class researchers and engineers
• High visibility, high-impact role
• Learn faster than anywhere else in AI product

Our Values

• Empathy, Trust & Candor

We put ourselves in the shoes of our colleagues and customers and don’t shy away from uncomfortable conversations, instead building trust through honest and direct feedback.

• Bias for Action

We practice high-velocity decision-making, clear-eyed that we often operate with incomplete information. Growing quickly means it’s OK to be wrong, so long as we learn from our mistakes and course correct!

• Always Be Learning

We’re a curious bunch, and with AI transforming our workplace we encourage everyone to learn from each other, compounding our knowledge and experience to help us change an entire industry.

• Act Like an Owner

We work long, hard, and smart, building products that delight our users and drive growth. Your ability to impact Instawork is limited only by your courage and conviction, not your job description.

About Instawork

Founded in 2015, Instawork

is the nation’s leading online labor marketplace for food services, hospitality, light industry, and logistics, connecting more than 7M skilled workers with local restaurants, hotels, warehouses, stadiums, and more. Our AI-powered platform serves thousands of businesses across more than 50 major markets in the United States and Canada. We're not just helping fill shifts, we're supporting local economies—and we're just getting started!

Instawork has been featured by CBS News, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and the Associated Press. Forbes included us on their Next Billion Dollar Startups list; RetailTech Breakthrough named us Workforce Hiring Solution of the Year for 2025; and Inc. 5000 recognized us as one of the country's top 10% fastest-growing companies two years in a row. But what matters most is our impact. We're solving real problems for real people, and we’re doing it at scale.

Join our team to help us build something that matters! We’re looking for superstars who want to help us shape the future of work. With hubs in San Francisco, Bangalore, and Chicago, city offices in New York, Phoenix, and Singapore, we're back to working together in-person five days a week because we believe the best ideas happen when great people collaborate face-to-face. We also value diverse perspectives and encourage applications from candidates of all backgrounds.

Ready to make an impact? Learn more at www.instawork.com/about

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