Job Description

About the role

LionsBot is seeking a VP of AI and New Product Development to build and lead an AI-enabled

engineering system for robot development. You will own this system as an internal product, making it

practical for engineers to use across design, testing and production, and improving it through evidence

from each programme.

You will build and lead a core team of four to five specialists and coordinate with product engineering,

supply chain, validation, overseas field teams and New Product Introduction (NPI). The role combines

hands-on technical architecture with leadership of assigned robot development programmes.

Key responsibilities

Design and maintain the development workflow from product requirements and competitive benchmarking through component selection, design, simulation, engineering and design validation, fabrication, field trials and production validation.
Architect and deploy multi-agent AI workflows that integrate engineering tools and data. Provide usable interfaces, appropriate human approvals, evaluation, access controls, monitoring and recovery so engineers can use the system reliably.
Build a knowledge graph linking requirements, component and supplier specifications, design revisions, decisions, test results and field feedback. Maintain traceability and turn validated findings into reusable engineering knowledge.
Lead the engineering execution of assigned new robot programmes. Target approximately 3.5-month development cycles for agreed programmes using established platforms and available supply chains, while meeting approved performance, quality, safety, cost and production-readiness requirements.
Work with mechanical, electrical, electronics, firmware and software teams to connect simulation with physical testing, resolve integration issues and improve designs using field evidence.
Partner with supply chain, manufacturers and NPI on supplier readiness, design for manufacture, tooling, assembly, testing and production handover. Support overseas build and trial activities when required.
Recruit, coach and develop the core team, establish clear ownership and build the documentation and support practices needed for other engineering teams to adopt the system.
Manage the platform roadmap, budget and operating costs. Measure engineering effort, development time, quality, adoption and reuse, and demonstrate sustained improvements across successive programmes.

Requirements

A PhD in robotics, artificial intelligence, computer science, engineering or a closely related discipline.
More than five years of recent, relevant experience in robotics or comparable autonomous or intelligent physical systems, including hands-on product development and deployment.
Experience in both a robotics startup and a large multinational corporation, with substantive engineering or product development responsibilities in each.
An active, advanced user of AI coding assistants, agent tools and AI-enabled engineering workflows in daily work, with demonstrable productivity gains and disciplined validation of outputs.
Hands-on ability to architect, build and evaluate AI applications and agent workflows, including model integration, tool use, data retrieval, APIs and failure handling.
Experience designing structured engineering data, knowledge graphs or comparable systems with source traceability, version control, access management and reliable integration.
Experience leading multidisciplinary development involving software and physical systems through testing, validation and production or operational deployment.
A record of recruiting and developing engineers, leading cross-functional delivery, managing budgets and resolving technical and commercial trade-offs.
Ability to translate engineering needs into usable internal products, communicate technical decisions clearly and demonstrate improvement through measurable results.

Additional experience valued

Experience with robotics simulation, digital twins, hardware-in-the-loop testing or field telemetry.
Experience integrating design, product lifecycle, supplier or manufacturing systems into engineering workflows.
Experience supporting supplier fabrication, design for manufacture, tooling or manufacturing ramp-up.

What success looks like

A reliable AI development platform that product engineers adopt and can use with clear documentation and support.
Assigned robot programmes delivered against agreed schedule, cost, validation and production-readiness targets.
A capable core team and measurable improvements in engineering productivity and quality, supported by knowledge successfully reused on subsequent programmes.