Senior Operations Manager

About Instawork Robotics Labs 

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.

Why this role exists (read this first)

At Instawork Robotics Labs, we’re building the operational backbone that powers robotics and AI labs across the world. Not dashboards. Not pilots. Real data, at real scale, in real environments.This role is for someone who doesn’t only want to run ops. They want to build the operating system.
If you’ve ever looked at chaos and thought “give me 30 days and a mandate” - keep reading.

What you’ll actually do 

You will own and execute end-to-end robotics data collection programs in the APAC region. That means:

• Launching new data collection programs from zero
• Setting up residential homes, offices, Airbnbs, and field locations from scratch
• Designing workflows that work in the real world, not slides

• Running multi-city, multi-country operations
• Recruiting, onboarding, training, and managing large worker cohorts across APAC
• Ensuring diversity, quality, speed, and safety at scale
• Leading leaders
• Managing Team Leads, Trainers, QA Leads, and Ops Managers running parallel programs
• Holding the bar on output, quality, and velocity
• Working with external muscle
• Partnering with BBOs, staffing firms, logistics vendors to rapidly scale capacity
• Knowing when to build in-house vs. augment externally
• Executing under ambiguity
• Client requirements will change, Data specs will evolve
• Timelines will compress
• You will adapt fast and still deliver
• Being on the ground
• Travel is part of the job
• You’ll see operations where they actually happen, not just through reports

What makes this role hard (and fun)

• No playbooks exist — you’ll write them
• Scale will come before perfection
• Every project looks different
• Failure is fast, learning is faster
• Quality is non-negotiable

If that excites you, you’re in the right place.

What we’re looking for (beyond the résumé)

We don’t care about fancy titles. We care about operators. You’re likely a fit if you have:

• 15 years of operations experience
  (10 years acceptable for IIT/IIM grads with strong execution depth)
• Experience running large, distributed, real-world operations
  E-commerce, logistics, marketplaces, fast-scaling startups, field ops, or hardware-adjacent orgs
• A highly analytical mindset
• You think in throughput, yield, SLAs, cost curves, and failure modes
• You’re comfortable living inside dashboards and ground reality at the same time
• Extreme agility and resilience
• Plans change - you don’t freeze
• Pressure rises - you get clearer
• Strong people leadership
• You build teams people want to run through walls for
• You demand a lot, and you give more
• Comfort working across cultures and time zones
• India, US, and 6+ countries
• Clear communication, zero ego
• Bonus (not required): exposure to robotics, hardware, AI data, or supply chain ops

Why join now

• Zero legacy, full ownership
• Direct exposure to global AI & robotics leaders
• Build something that hasn’t been built before
• High visibility with leadership
• Learn faster than anywhere else