Why This Role Exists

- The MR business is carrying a recurring, escalating problem: field issues at customer sites are consuming the time of Physical-AI NPD engineers, who are the people responsible for building the long-term platform franchise. The reason this happens is structural the Technical Support Group (TSG), the function that should sit between the field (I&C; L1) and engineering (NPD), is leaderless, understaffed, and underskilled. A leaderless group cannot self-improve, cannot triage incoming work, and cannot say no to overflow. The consequence is not just a delivery gap it is a strategic drain that mortgages the future to pay for the present.
- The TSG Team Lead is the single most important appointment in the MR value stream right now. Without this person in place, no other TSG action staffing, skilling, certification will hold. With this person in place, the reinforcing loop (ship incomplete site firefight NPD pulled platform delayed more bespoke pressure) can be broken.

Role Mission

- Financial impact: Contribute partl to the 912 Cr savings target through I&C; savings reduce rework man-days, accelerate ramp-up, and eliminate site escalations that consume engineering cost. Protect the Physical-AI NPD franchise from being consumed by short-term site firefighting.
- Functional impact: Build, lead, and continuously improve the TSG (L2) as the definitive buffer between field execution (I&C; L1) and engineering (NPD Design). Own the technical resolution of all L2 field issues, the NPD Firewall, and the standard-track validation capability for the two-tier pre-ship gate.
- Emotional impact: Create a TSG that the I&C; team trusts to escalate to without hesitation, that customers feel safe in the hands of, and that NPD engineers are confidently protected by so the team that builds the future can stay focused on the future.

Key Outcomes (WHO Scorecard what winning looks like)

- These are the 5 results the TSG Team Lead is hired to deliver. Each has a measurable indicator. Performance in year 1 will be assessed against these outcomes.
- - Live accounts stabilised TEPL, Visteon, DICV, CATEvery open issue triaged and routed within 30 days of joining: product-defect ( back-office SWAT/Design) vs site-execution ( TSG owns). No issue sits unclassified.
- Open issue register: 100% triaged by day 30
- NPD Firewall operationalZero unlogged NPD-to-site pulls within 30 days. Every exception: senior-approved, time-capped, and documented. NPD teams report freedom to work on platform.
- 0 unlogged NPD pulls; exception log visible monthly
- TSG team staffed and L2-capableHeadcount plan agreed, hiring initiated, and skilling/certification path defined and running within 90 days. Team resolves running-site issues independently (without NPD) within 180 days.
- TSG team certified per plan by day 180
- Two-tier validation gate: TSG contribution operationalTSG provides the standard-track validation resource for all new projects from Q1 FY27. First-unit validation is never deferred to site.
- 0 projects reaching site with deferred standard-track validation from Q1 FY27
- I&C; savings: reduction in site firefighting costMeasured as: site man-days lost to unresolved L2 issues, number of NPD-to-site pulls, escalation frequency. All declining quarter on quarter.
- Month-on-month reduction in site firefighting man-days; tracked as I&C; savings contribution

Scope and Key Responsibilities

- The role has five distinct responsibility areas, listed in order of priority for the first 180 days.

TSG L2 Leadership Building the function

- Define the TSG what it is, what it is not, what L2 means in the MR context. Communicate clearly internally.
- Design and agree the TSG headcount plan with Manish and Biren initial team size, skill profiles, hiring timeline.
- Own the work prioritisation for TSG. Define and enforce the triage decision tree: what TSG resolves,



what goes to back-office SWAT (Ashfaq's team), what goes to NPD only under exception.
- Build a skilling and certification path for the team what does an L2-certified TSG engineer look like? Define, publish, and track.
- Set performance standards and review cadence for the TSG team. The leader is accountable for the group's output, not just their own technical contribution.
- Eventually transition the TSG under Shailesh Sule (Customer Success Ops Head) as the function matures.

Running Lane Immediate recovery (first 3090 days)

- Take immediate ownership of L2 technical support for live accounts: TEPL, Visteon, DICV, CAT.
- Conduct issue classification: product-defect vs site-execution. Route each correctly and confirm routing with PMO (Sameer) within 30 days.
- Provide direct L2 field support for I&C; escalations be present at site when required.
- Build and deploy the dispatch software support capability within TSG this is a specific gap identified in the value stream.
- Complete deferred validation at live accounts under controlled conditions document what was skipped and run the protocols.
- Deploy customer-confidence communication protocol with Site Incharges time-bound recovery plans that rebuild trust.

NPD Firewall Guardian of the platform franchise

- Own and enforce the NPD Firewall from day 1. The rule: Physical-AI NPD engineers are not available for site firefighting except under a controlled, senior-approved, time-capped, and logged exception.
- Negotiate the firewall boundary with NPD leadership and engineering get explicit agreement on what constitutes an 'exception' and what the approval chain is.
- Log every NPD-to-site pull, every exception, every time the firewall holds. Report drain visibility to Manish and Shailesh monthly.
- Be the person who says 'no' on behalf of NPD absorb the escalation pressure so NPD does not have to.
- Over time, build TSG capability so the number of legitimate exceptions declines to near-zero.

Validation Capability Two-tier gate contribution

- Partner with Anand (V&V; Quality gate owner) to understand the standard-track validation requirements for the two-tier pre-ship gate.
- Build TSG as the execution arm of standard-track validation the team that conducts fast incoming checks vs known-good baseline for all standard products.
- Ensure TSG engineers are certified to run standard-track validation for each robot family they support.
- Feed custom-track validation gaps (where product fell outside standard paths) back to Design (Adrian) and Controls (Sourabh) for root-cause correction.

New Lane Process and lifecycle support

- Represent TSG in the I-C-R-H lifecycle RACI define clearly where L2/TSG sits in the Install, Commission, Ramp-up, and HyperCare phases.
- Partner with Chetan Sharma (I&C;) to define the L1 L2 escalation protocol: what triggers escalation, expected response time, and resolution ownership.
- Build knowledge management within TSG structured capture of field issues, resolutions, and root causes. Feed recurring patterns to Design, Controls, and Quality for prevention.
- Develop TSG SOPs and resolution playbooks for the most common field scenarios. Reduce dependency on individual knowledge.

KPIs How Performance Will Be Measured

- Time to triage all open issues at live accounts (TEPL, Visteon, DICV, CAT)
- Day 30 from start
- NPD Firewall: unlogged NPD-to-site pulls
- Zero
- TSG team headcount plan agreed and hiring initiated
- Day 45 from start




- TSG team L2-certified (per robot family)
- Day 180 from start
- Site man-days lost to L2-unresolved escalations (monthly)
- Reducing MoM baseline set at start
- Standard-track validation: % projects with TSG sign-off before site dispatch
- 100% from Q1 FY27
- NPD-to-site pulls per quarter (logged exceptions)
- Declining QoQ
- Customer NPS for accounts with TSG coverage
- NPS +50 aligned
- I&C; savings contribution (rework reduction + faster ramp)
- Reported monthly as part of 912 Cr program

Competencies (Role-specific + Behavioural)

- Competencies are assessed through structured interviews and reference checks. Each competency below has both a technical and a behavioural dimension.

Role-Specific Competencies

- Technical depth in robotics complex systems: Able to own and resolve multi-domain field issues (mechanical, electrical, controls, software) at L2 without escalating to NPD. Understands how AMR/AGV systems fail and how to diagnose systematically.
- Field operations expertise: Deep understanding of I&C; execution, commissioning phases, site-customer dynamics, and what it takes to bring a complex system to secure production. Has spent time on-site, not just in the office.
- Team building and L2 function design: Proven ability to hire, skill, and develop an L2 engineering team. Knows what 'good' looks like for a technical support group and can build toward it.
- Structured problem-solving and RCA: Uses defined methods (5-Why, fault-tree, FMEA) to separate symptoms from root causes. Can classify issues rapidly and correctly without sending everything upstream.
- NPD interface management: Comfortable creating and enforcing organisational boundaries. Can negotiate the firewall with senior engineering leadership without losing the relationship or capitulating under pressure.
- Customer-facing technical communication: Can translate complex technical status into a credible, time-bound recovery plan that a non-technical customer can trust. De-escalates; does not hide.

Candidate Profile

- The following is the target profile for the TSG Team Lead. These are the characteristics of an A-player in this role.

Education

- B.E. B.Tech in Electronics, Electrical, Mechatronics, Computer Science, or a related engineering discipline.
- Post-graduate qualification in engineering or management is a plus but not required.

Experience

- Total experience: 10-14 years in industrial automation, robotics, or complex electromechanical systems integration.
- Field engineering technical support: minimum 4-5 years in an L2 or L3 escalation management, field applications engineering, or complex system commissioning role.
- Team leadership: minimum 3 years leading an engineering team hired people, set standards, managed performance.
- Product knowledge: deep familiarity with AMR or AGV systems, or equivalent complex automation (PLC/SCADA/motion control). Robotics-specific knowledge strongly preferred.
- Customer-facing experience: managed technical relationships with industrial customers under delivery pressure. Has delivered a credible recovery plan to a dissatisfied customer.
- NPD engineering interface: has experience working at the boundary between field support and product development knows how to escalate correctly without pulling the whole team.
- Ticketing: has experience working with tickets management systems knows how to manage a team under kanban process.

What this person is NOT

- Not a pure field service engineer who has never built a team or managed a function.
- Not a pure project manager with shallow technical depth must be able to roll up their sleeves and diagnose a fault.
- Not someone who says yes to everything the firewall role requires comfortable, principled refusal.
- Not someone who needs a fully-defined function to operate in this role starts with ambiguity and creates structure.

📌 Technical Support Group leader (Gurugram)
🏢 Prominent Management Solutions
📍 Gurugram