Data Collection Operations Manager (Robotics/Egocentric Data Collection)

About the Role

The next frontier for AI is the physical world, and you'll help build the data engine behind it.

As a Data Delivery Manager in our Robotics Data Collection practice, you'll own the end-to-end delivery of egocentric video data collection programs for some of the world's most innovative robotics clients. This is a high-visibility, ground-floor role that combines deep operational execution with a working knowledge of robotics architectures and data pipelines.

You'll build the playbooks, teams, and quality systems that make large-scale data collection run while serving as the trusted operational partner to our clients robotics and ML teams.

What You'll Own

Delivery & Operations

Own the end-to-end delivery of data collection programs from kickoff through final acceptance, meeting all client quality, diversity, and timeline targets.

Build reusable delivery assets, including standardized collection playbooks, SOPs, training curricula, scorecards, and tracking infrastructure, that scale across client programs.

Monitor daily progress against targets and surface and resolve bottlenecks before they affect delivery.

Act on client QA feedback quickly, within 24 hours, and translate it into clear contributor guidance and measurable improvement.

Robotics & Technical Fluency

Develop a working understanding of client robotics architectures, including VLMs, VLAs, world models, and manipulation policies, and translate model requirements into concrete data collection specifications.

Convert technical requirements, such as camera geometry, sensor specifications, and capture pipeline standards, into clear guidance for non-technical contributors.

Partner with clients robotics and ML teams to keep collection programs aligned with evolving data needs.

Contributor & Workforce Management

Oversee a continuous recruitment funnel capable of sourcing and onboarding thousands of participants at scale.

Partner across recruiting channels, including crowd-work agencies, BPO and workplace partnerships, universities, gig platforms, and referral networks.

Design onboarding and training that front-loads quality and monitor contributor-level metrics, including acceptance, fraud, diversity, and hours.

Client & Stakeholder Management

Serve as the primary operational point of contact during active engagements and build relationships that position Innodata for expansion.

Deliver clear status updates to clients and leadership and bring frontline feedback into product and roadmap discussions.

Hardware, Logistics & Quality

Coordinate device procurement, configuration, shipping, and recovery across collection regions.

Enforce fraud-prevention protocols and drive a quality-first culture that treats QA as an upstream engineering problem, not a downstream fix.

What You'll Bring

• At least five years of experience in data collection, content or data operations, or program management, including at least two years of experience managing large-scale contributor or workforce programs.
• Strong operational and project management skills, with the ability to run multiple concurrent workstreams across geographies and aggressive timelines.
• Proven ability to translate complex technical specifications into clear, actionable guidance for non-technical teams.
• Experience in a B2B delivery context, with excellent communication skills across both senior executives and front-line engineers.
• Comfort operating cross-functionally with Sales, Product, Engineering, and Operations in a fast-moving and ambiguous environment.

Strongly Preferred

• Hands-on familiarity with robotics or Physical AI systems, including perception and control stacks, egocentric data pipelines, teleoperation, or simulation.
• Working knowledge of robotics model architectures, including VLMs, VLAs, and world models, and how training-data needs flow from them.
• Experience with egocentric video, computer vision datasets, or multimodal robotics training data.
• Background in data, AI, or robotics delivery, solutions engineering, or technical program management.

Why This Role

This is a rare ground-floor opportunity to build and lead a new practice area at a moment when demand for egocentric robotics training data is accelerating. You'll sit at the intersection of physical AI, large-scale data operations, and frontier robotics, with direct impact on a $100 million practice and working relationships with some of the most innovative robotics companies in the world.

Our Commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging

At Innodata, we believe the best teams are built from a wide range of backgrounds, perspectives, and lived experiences, and that diverse teams build better data, better products, and a better workplace. We are committed to fostering an environment where everyone feels welcomed, respected, valued, and empowered to do their best work.

We are an equal opportunity employer. We make all employment decisions on the basis of merit, qualifications, and business need. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, ethnicity, color, religion, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, disability, marital or family status, national origin, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

We are committed to building an inclusive and accessible hiring process.

If you require any accommodation to participate fully in our recruitment process, please let us know. We're glad to support you.

How to Apply

Ready to help build the data engine behind Physical AI Apply directly through this posting, and our team will be in touch.