Technical Project Manager — Customer Projects
Hyderabad, India · Full-time · On-site · Customer-facing · Travel required
Turn Robot Capability Into Customer Success
A successful robotics project is not simply a robot delivered to a customer site. It is a coordinated journey from understanding the customer’s workflow and defining the right scope, through solution planning, integration, site readiness, testing, installation, operator alignment, acceptance, and a clear path from pilot to repeatable deployment.
A customer project is often an integrated solution: the robot, end-effectors, workflow, safety, software, third-party equipment, site infrastructure, commissioning plan, and acceptance criteria must work together.
For customers, confidence comes from more than technical capability. They need to know what will be delivered, when it will happen, what is needed from their team, what success looks like, and how open issues are being handled.
Perceptyne builds industrial humanoid robots for real physical work—assembly, manipulation, packaging, and other tasks that still rely heavily on human hands. As we execute customer pilots and deployments, we need a Technical Project Manager who can translate a customer’s operating need into an executable technical solution, a credible plan, and a professional customer experience.
You will be the bridge between customers, Perceptyne’s technical teams, and external partners. You will own the customer-project Gantt chart, solution architecture, execution plan, communication rhythm, and change-control process—from early technical discovery through commissioning, acceptance, and expansion planning.
If you enjoy coordinating complex automation projects, combining systems thinking with disciplined execution, and seeing advanced technology create value at a real customer site, this is that role.
What You’ll Actually Do
You will own planning, execution tracking, customer coordination, and system-level solution definition for assigned pilots, proof-of-concepts, deployments, and expansion projects.
You do not need to be the deepest specialist in every discipline. However, you will bring together the right experts across robotics, mechanical, electrical, controls, software, safety, manufacturing, and third-party systems to maintain a complete, feasible solution architecture.
- Translate commercial commitments, customer requirements, statements of work, and POs into an executable project baseline: scope, solution architecture, deliverables, owners, milestones, timeline, budget, dependencies, site-readiness requirements, and acceptance criteria.
- Lead technical discovery and solution-definition discussions with customers, Perceptyne’s functional experts, and external partners.
- Maintain the overall solution architecture, defining how the robot, end-effectors, workflow, sensors, safety systems, controls, software, utilities, networks, third-party equipment, and operating procedures fit together.
- Own and maintain the project Gantt chart, milestone plan, critical path, dependency map, budget tracker, risk register, action log, and status dashboard.
- Develop realistic timelines, work packages, effort estimates, and budget inputs with engineering, manufacturing, field, commercial, and partner teams; clearly identify assumptions, exclusions, contingencies, and customer dependencies.
- Serve as the primary day-to-day project point of contact for customers. Provide clear, proactive updates on progress, upcoming milestones, decisions required, site readiness, risks, changes, and next steps.
- Coordinate internal teams across applications engineering, R&D, mechanical, electrical, embedded, controls, perception, software, manufacturing, procurement, logistics, installation, and leadership.
- Coordinate third-party suppliers, integrators, contractors, consultants, and customer-nominated vendors; align their scope, interfaces, deliverables, schedules, site access, installation requirements, and completion criteria with the overall project plan.
- Plan and track customer-site readiness, including physical space, utilities, safety, network access, fixtures, customer parts, operator availability, permissions, external equipment, and installation windows.
- Track delivery from solution definition through robot configuration, internal integration and testing, shipping, site installation, commissioning, customer demonstrations, acceptance testing, training, pilot close-out, and expansion planning.
- Work with procurement, suppliers, and build teams to track specifications, orders, lead times, robot readiness, build progress, quality concerns, dispatch, shipment, delivery, and technical interface dependencies.
- Identify technical, schedule, site, supplier, commercial, and resource risks early; assess the impact, develop mitigation options, and prepare decision-ready inputs for the right internal and customer stakeholders.
- Own cross-functional change management. When requirements, site conditions, robot configuration, safety needs, workflows, or third-party interfaces change, assess the impact on architecture, scope, budget, schedule, risk, and acceptance before securing approvals and updating the plan.
- Prepare concise, accurate inputs for leadership reviews, customer project reviews, milestone-readiness discussions, executive updates, and escalations.
- Create reusable delivery mechanisms: project-plan templates, solution-definition documents, site-readiness checklists, customer-update formats, partner coordination plans, acceptance-test plans, handover checklists, and lessons-learned reports.
- Feed learnings from pilots and deployments back into product, engineering, sales, and operations teams to improve future project scoping, product readiness, deployment speed, and customer experience.
What We’re Looking For
You combine customer-facing confidence with technical systems thinking, sound judgment, and rigorous follow-through. You can make a complex project understandable and credible for a customer while keeping internal technical work connected to a realistic delivery plan.
- Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Engineering, Operations, Industrial Engineering, Automation, Project Management, Business, or a related technical field—or equivalent relevant experience.
- 4+ years of experience managing customer-facing technical projects in industrial automation, robotics, machine building, systems integration, material handling, machine vision, manufacturing, capital equipment, or engineering services.
- Demonstrated ability to convert a customer need into technical scope, system-level requirements, solution concepts, interface definitions, implementation plans, and measurable acceptance criteria.
- Strong systems thinking and a working understanding of how robotics, mechanical and electrical systems, controls, sensors, software, safety, third-party equipment, customer workflows, installation, commissioning, and site operations fit into one solution.
- Experience owning project schedules, Gantt charts, milestones, critical paths, estimates, budgets, risks, dependencies, vendor coordination, and delivery reporting.
- Strong estimation and planning ability. You can break complex work into meaningful work packages, identify assumptions and constraints, estimate effort and timelines with technical teams, and communicate uncertainty clearly.
- Strong customer-facing communication. You can explain progress, trade-offs, risks, technical constraints, decisions, and recovery plans to plant teams, engineers, project managers, business stakeholders, and leadership.
- Ability to coordinate customers, internal technical experts, suppliers, integrators, and contractors without formal reporting authority.
- Comfort managing system-level changes, including their effects on technical architecture, scope, schedule, budget, safety, supplier dependencies, customer expectations, and acceptance criteria.
- High diligence, ownership, grit, and persistence. You follow through until critical commitments, decisions, deliverables, and recovery actions are confirmed—not merely discussed.
- Strong written communication and practical planning-tool skills, including Excel or Google Sheets and tools such as MS Project, Smartsheet, Jira, ClickUp, Asana, Notion, or similar platforms.
- Willingness to work primarily on-site in Hyderabad and travel frequently to customer locations and partner facilities for discovery, site surveys, installation, commissioning, acceptance testing, troubleshooting, training, and key delivery milestones.
Nice to Have
- Experience coordinating multi-vendor automation projects, including interface definitions, equipment specifications, installation requirements, commissioning plans, and acceptance responsibilities.
- Familiarity with industrial safety, plant operations, utilities, electrical integration, pneumatics, networking, PLCs, industrial communications, or OT/IT coordination.
- Experience with statements of work, technical proposals, POs, scope changes, commercial milestones, billing schedules, customer acceptance documentation, cost tracking, or project profitability.
- Familiarity with CRM, ERP, PLM, MRP, service-management, or field-service systems.
- Exposure to robotics, motion control, embedded systems, ROS, machine vision, perception, or AI-enabled automation.
- Experience in a startup or high-growth engineering organization where product maturity, customer requirements, and execution plans evolve in parallel.
How We Work
At Perceptyne, the customer site is the referee.
A project is not successful because a schedule says it is complete. It is successful when the complete solution is ready, the customer site is prepared, interfaces work, the system is installed and validated, the agreed capability is demonstrated, and both teams have a credible path to the next stage.
We value a large vision with attention to detail; fast execution without avoidable customer surprises; honest communication paired with a strong bias toward resolution; and ambitious technology grounded in real customer workflows.
We value grit and dedication. When a technical dependency changes, a partner component is delayed, a site requirement shifts, or an integration issue threatens a milestone, you gather the facts, clarify the impact, align the right internal and external stakeholders, communicate professionally, drive the recovery plan, and stay with the work until there is a credible resolution.
You will thrive here if you enjoy bringing order to complex automation projects, building trust through execution, and helping advanced robotics become valuable in real customer environments.