Head of Physical AI Programs

Centific•East Palo Alto, CA

3h•$300,000•Remote

About The Position

Centific is seeking a visionary and execution-oriented Head of Physical AI Programs to lead the development and scaling of its Physical AI practice. This executive will be responsible for defining strategy, building operational capabilities, establishing strategic partnerships, and delivering large-scale Physical AI programs for leading AI labs, robotics companies, autonomous systems providers, and enterprise customers. The ideal candidate combines deep expertise in robotics, embodied AI, autonomous systems, simulation, reinforcement learning, and large-scale program execution with a strong understanding of how AI data, human intelligence, and operational excellence come together to accelerate Physical AI development. This role will serve as the executive leader responsible for transforming Physical AI from an emerging capability into a strategic growth engine for Centific.

Requirements

12+ years of experience leading large-scale programs within robotics, autonomous systems, AI, industrial automation, or related fields.
Proven track record building and scaling new business units, programs, or operational organizations.
Deep understanding of Physical AI, robotics, embodied intelligence, simulation environments, and AI training ecosystems.
Experience managing executive customer relationships and strategic programs.
Strong operational leadership experience with globally distributed teams.
Demonstrated ability to translate emerging technologies into commercial offerings.

Nice To Haves

Experience at or working closely with organizations such as: NVIDIA, Amazon Robotics, Tesla, Scale AI, Waymo, Figure AI, Agility Robotics, Boston Dynamics, Aurora Innovation
Experience with: Robotics operations, Humanoid robotics, Autonomous systems, Reinforcement learning, Digital twins and simulation, Teleoperations, Human-in-the-loop workflows, AI data operations, Physical AI safety and validation

Responsibilities

Define and execute Centific’s Physical AI vision, roadmap, and growth strategy.
Build a differentiated Physical AI services and platform offering spanning data, simulation, training, validation, benchmarking, and reinforcement learning.
Establish Centers of Excellence focused on robotics, autonomous systems, humanoids, industrial automation, warehouse robotics, and embodied AI.
Identify emerging market opportunities and translate them into scalable business offerings.
Lead strategic customer engagements from concept through execution.
Own end-to-end delivery of complex Physical AI programs involving robotics data collection, simulation, teleoperations, RLHF, RLAIF, benchmarking, and validation.
Establish delivery frameworks, operating models, quality standards, and program governance mechanisms.
Drive operational excellence across globally distributed teams.
Develop strategic relationships with robotics companies, AI labs, autonomous systems providers, universities, and technology partners.
Collaborate with industry leaders across robotics, simulation, synthetic data, and AI infrastructure ecosystems.
Represent Centific at industry events, conferences, customer briefings, and executive forums.
Partner with Product, Engineering, and Research teams to shape the roadmap for Physical AI capabilities within AIDF.
Drive innovation across: Robotics Data Collection, Simulation Data Generation, Human-in-the-Loop Operations, Reinforcement Learning, Physical AI Benchmarking, Synthetic Data Pipelines, Safety & Validation Frameworks, Embodied Agent Evaluation.
Support strategic pursuits and executive-level customer engagements.
Develop solution frameworks and go-to-market strategies for Physical AI opportunities.
Build a multi-year pipeline across robotics, manufacturing, logistics, mobility, healthcare, defense, and industrial automation sectors.
Contribute to revenue growth and strategic account expansion.
Recruit and develop a world-class Physical AI organization.
Build multidisciplinary teams spanning robotics, simulation, AI data operations, program management, research, and engineering.
Foster a culture of innovation, operational rigor, and customer obsession.