Learning & Development Lead, Operations
Physical Intelligence
Summary
The Learning & Development Lead owns training and readiness for Physical Intelligence's robot operator workforce.
Job description
Role Overview
The Learning & Development Lead owns training and readiness for Physical Intelligence's robot operator workforce.
This person is responsible for designing and running the systems that take a new operator from candidate work trial through their first 30–60 days, with the goal of getting people productive quickly while maintaining a high quality bar.
They also own ongoing training as the work changes. When researchers introduce new robot workflows, tasks, tools, or operating procedures, the Learning & Development Lead translates those changes into training that can be rolled out quickly and consistently across the operation.
This is a highly operational training role. We are looking for someone who has built or owned training programs for hourly or frontline employees and knows how to turn complex work into a simple, repeatable learning process.
Responsibilities
Operator Trials & Readiness
- Own the operator work-trial program and ensure candidates are evaluated consistently.
- Maintain clear trial standards, evaluator guidance, and scoring criteria.
- Partner with recruiting and operations to continuously improve what the trial predicts about future operator success.
New-Hire Onboarding
- Build and run onboarding from day one through the first 30–60 days.
- Define what an operator should know and be able to do at each stage of ramp.
- Create training plans, checklists, certification steps, and readiness milestones.
- Identify struggling operators early and create clear paths for remediation.
- Continuously improve time-to-productivity for new hires.
New Workflow Training
- Partner with researchers and operations teams when new robot tasks, systems, or processes are introduced.
- Learn new workflows quickly and translate them into clear training materials and operating instructions.
- Design the rollout plan needed to train a large operator population quickly.
- Track who has been trained and verify that the training actually resulted in correct execution.
- Maintain consistency as training expands across shifts, teams, and locations.
Training Operations
- Maintain a clear training calendar and ensure training happens when required.
- Coordinate trainers, operators, shift leads, and researchers.
- Keep training materials current as workflows change.
- Build repeatable processes so training does not depend on tribal knowledge.
- Track training completion, readiness, and performance metrics.
Continuous Improvement
- Use operator performance data and feedback to identify gaps in training.
- Work with operations leaders to understand recurring quality or productivity issues.
- Determine whether problems are caused by training, instructions, process, tooling, or something else.
- Continuously simplify and improve how operators learn.
What We're Looking For
- Experience owning training, onboarding, or workforce development programs for hourly or frontline employees.
- Demonstrated ability to get new employees productive quickly.
- Experience building structured ramp programs with clear milestones and standards.
- Strong operational organization and follow-through.
- Able to turn ambiguous or technical workflows into simple, teachable processes.
- Comfortable managing trainers, who are responsible for training large groups of people on new procedures under tight timelines.
- Strong written and verbal communication.
- Able to work effectively with both highly technical stakeholders, trainers, and frontline operators.
- Comfortable in an environment where processes and requirements change frequently.
- Uses data and observation to improve training rather than relying only on subjective feedback.
Experience in robotics is not required.
Requirements
- Experience owning training, onboarding, or workforce development programs for hourly or frontline employees.
- Demonstrated ability to get new employees productive quickly.
- Experience building structured ramp programs with clear milestones and standards.
- Strong operational organization and follow-through.
- Able to turn ambiguous or technical workflows into simple, teachable processes.
- Comfortable managing trainers, who are responsible for training large groups of people on new procedures under tight timelines.
- Strong written and verbal communication.
- Able to work effectively with both highly technical stakeholders, trainers, and frontline operators.
- Comfortable in an environment where processes and requirements change frequently.
- Uses data and observation to improve training rather than relying only on subjective feedback.
Company overview
Physical Intelligence is a pioneering company at the intersection of artificial intelligence and robotics, founded in 2024 with headquarters in San Francisco, California. The company specializes in developing general-purpose AI foundation models and learning algorithms designed to power robots and physically-actuated devices across multiple industries. Their core technology focuses on creating universal robotic intelligence through advanced Vision-Language-Action (VLA) systems that enable robots to understand visual inputs, process natural language commands, and execute appropriate physical actions in real-world environments. The company's flagship π-zero (pi-zero) model represents a significant advancement in cross-embodiment learning, allowing their AI systems to generalize across different robotic platforms and applications without requiring complete retraining. With substantial backing from top-tier investors including Jeff Bezos, Thrive Capital, OpenAI, and Sequoia Capital, Physical Intelligence has rapidly emerged as a leader in the physical AI space, achieving a $2.4 billion valuation. The company employs 51-200 professionals including engineers, scientists, roboticists, and company builders who are working to bring general-purpose AI into the physical world, fundamentally transforming how robots interact with and manipulate their environments.