Head of Robotics Systems

The Role

At Config, we're on an ambitious mission: to accelerate the deployment of automated robots that are truly useful in the real world.

To achieve this, the robotics systems used for data collection, evaluation, and deployment must themselves be capable of executing real-world tasks reliably, precisely, and with high fidelity. Doing so requires a tightly integrated robotics systems stack — spanning low-latency and high-frequency robot control, end-effector integration, embedded sensing, teleoperation, and reliable robot execution systems — that generates the precise, high-quality data our foundation models depend on.

We are thoughtfully designing and integrating this stack end to end.

Our Robotics Systems team focuses on building a production-grade, tightly integrated systems layer around selected off-the-shelf robot platforms — combining off-the-shelf and custom components across end-effectors, sensing, control, calibration, and teleoperation — to enable reliable robot learning, evaluation, and deployment.

We are looking for a Head of Robotics Systems to lead the development of this stack. This is a deeply hands-on leadership role for someone who wants to build the physical backbone of a frontier robotics company. You will own the architecture, execution, and evolution of Config's robotics systems layer across robot platforms, end-effectors, low-latency and high-frequency control, teleoperation systems, and sensing layers.

This is not a purely managerial role. We are looking for a technical leader and executor who can set direction, make hard architecture decisions, raise the engineering bar, mentor exceptional builders, and still jump into the system when execution is required.

As Head of Robotics Systems, you will help define how Config turns real-world robot data into reliable robot intelligence. You will work closely with data, model, product, and customer-facing teams to build systems that are robust, scalable, and capable of operating under real-world variation.

If you're excited about shaping the physical backbone of next-generation robotic intelligence, we'd love to talk.

Areas You May Contribute To

• Robotics Systems Architecture & Technical Direction
  • Define the technical roadmap for Config's robotics systems stack across robot platforms, end-effectors, control, sensing, and teleoperation.
  • Own architecture decisions that allow Config's robots to execute manipulation tasks reliably, precisely, and repeatedly under real-world variation.
  • Establish engineering standards for reliability, repeatability, debugging, safety, calibration, and system performance.
  • Identify the highest-leverage robotics systems improvements needed to accelerate robot foundation model development.
  • Build the physical systems foundation that allows Config to turn real-world robot data into reliable robot intelligence.
• Low-Latency & High-Frequency Robot Control
  • Lead the development of low-latency and high-frequency robot control systems for reliable real-world manipulation.
  • Build accurate end-effector / Cartesian-space control systems, including pose tracking, trajectory execution, inverse kinematics, and controller-policy integration.
  • Develop execution pipelines that translate model outputs into smooth, stable, and precise robot motion.
  • Improve control robustness under real-world variability, including object shifts, workspace changes, deformable objects, execution noise, and human interaction.
  • Drive system-level debugging across robot control, hardware, sensing, software, and model-policy interfaces.
• End-Effectors, Sensing & Teleoperation
  • Lead the integration, control, and customization of robotic end-effectors, including grippers, multi-DoF hands, fingers, and task-specific manipulation hardware.
  • Engineer sensing systems across vision, depth, LiDAR, tactile/force sensing, inertial sensing, and position tracking.
  • Build teleoperation systems that enable intuitive, scalable, and high-quality human demonstration capture while minimizing the human–robot perception gap.
  • Design time-synchronized, multimodal sensing and execution systems that support robot learning and evaluation.
  • Reduce the gap between human demonstration, robot execution, and model-learnable action data.
• System Reliability & Real-World Execution
  • Turn experimental robotics systems into reliable execution systems for repeated real-world task performance.
  • Improve the robustness and repeatability of robotics systems at deployment scale.
  • Work closely with product and research teams to ensure robotics systems produce high-fidelity action data and reliable evaluation signals.
  • Support customer-facing demos and technical evaluations by ensuring robot systems are stable, debuggable, and execution-ready.
  • Diagnose real-world failure modes and translate them into actionable improvements in control, sensing, calibration, teleoperation, or hardware integration.
• Team Leadership & Execution
  • Lead, mentor, and grow the Robotics Systems team across three core pillars: Sensing Systems, End-Effector Systems, and Robot Platform & Control.
  • Help recruit and build a world-class robotics systems team.
  • Translate ambiguous technical and customer needs into clear engineering priorities.
  • Raise the team's execution bar across design, implementation, debugging, testing, and system reliability.
  • Stay close to the robots, the code, and the real-world failure modes while scaling the robotics systems function.

What We're Looking For

• A hands-on technical leader who is deeply motivated to build robotics systems that work in the real world
• Someone who can own system-level architecture while moving with startup urgency
• A builder who is energized by debugging across control, hardware, sensing, software, and model interfaces
• A leader who can mentor engineers, set direction, and raise the execution bar of the team

Technically, we're looking for:

• 9+ years of hands-on experience building, integrating, or deploying real robotic systems, or equivalent evidence of exceptional technical ownership
• Strong experience with robot manipulation, robot control, sensing, calibration, and hardware-software integration
• Demonstrated ownership of a major robotics platform, robotic manipulation system, control stack, teleoperation system, or end-to-end robotics system architecture
• Experience leading robotics projects, mentoring engineers, or managing technical execution across a team
• Strong Python skills and working knowledge of C++
• Experience with ROS or ROS2
• Deep understanding of kinematics, dynamics, control, calibration, trajectory execution, and system-level debugging
• Strong experience with end-effector / Cartesian-space control, inverse kinematics, trajectory tracking, or controller-policy integration
• Experience integrating robotic end-effectors, sensors, and control systems into reliable robot platforms
• Ability to make practical architecture decisions under ambiguity and resource constraints
• Willingness to remain deeply hands-on while scaling the robotics systems function

Beyond Technical Skills

• Strong problem-solving mindset, with a passion for tackling difficult, high-impact problems that do not have ready-made answers
• Ownership mentality, with the ability to adapt and learn quickly in a fast-paced environment
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills in Korean and written English
• Strong technical judgment, first-principles thinking, and the drive to turn complex robotics systems into reliable real-world infrastructure

Bonus Points

We'd be especially excited if you have:

• Prior experience leading a robotics systems, manipulation, controls, platform, or teleoperation team
• Experience with robotic platforms such as OpenArm, Nero, FR3, UR series, RB-Y1, Vega, or similar systems
• Experience with bimanual manipulation, deformable-object manipulation, dexterous manipulation, or industrial manipulation tasks
• Experience integrating or controlling multi-DoF robotic end-effectors, such as 3- to 5-finger dexterous robotic hands
• Experience with multimodal robotic sensing systems, including tactile/force sensing, LiDAR, depth perception, inertial sensing, and position tracking
• Expertise in low-level control, real-time systems, embedded systems, impedance control, or high-reliability robotics infrastructure
• Familiarity with teleoperation systems, haptic interfaces, or master–slave setups
• Experience building systems for large-scale robot demonstration capture, synchronization, or robot data generation
• Experience deploying robots in customer-facing, factory, lab, or semi-structured real-world environments
• Experience with robotics simulation tools such as MuJoCo, Isaac Sim, Gazebo, or similar platforms
• Understanding of how robotic control systems interface with AI/ML models, including imitation learning, Vision-Language-Action models, robot foundation models, or world models
• Prior startup leadership experience, including hiring and team building