Business Unit Head - Sensors (human)

YOUR MISSION & CHALLENGES

NEURA is scaling from single-product sensor integration to a multi-platform sensing strategy across MAiRA, MiPA, LARA, 4NE1, and future cognitive and humanoid systems. As BU Head Sensors, you own the sensor technology roadmap and the team that delivers it — from technology selection and make-vs-buy decisions to functional safety qualification and AI-based fusion.

• Own the Sensor Roadmap: Define and drive the multi-year sensor technology strategy across all robot platforms — LiDAR, radar, ultrasonic, tactile/force-torque, vision, IMU, and emerging modalities — aligned with product and safety requirements.

• Build & Lead: Grow and mentor a team of sensor and perception engineers across seniority levels; own hiring, technical development, and career growth as the business unit scales.

• Functional Safety Ownership: Ensure every sensor solution is designed and qualified to meet functional safety requirements (ISO 13849, IEC 61508, and adjacent standards) from concept through certification — safety is not an afterthought bolted on later.

• Technology Depth Across Domains: Act as the internal authority on sensor technologies — their physical principles, failure modes, environmental limitations, and appropriate use cases — going well beyond any single domain such as automotive ADAS sensing.

• Sensor Fusion Strategy: Define the architecture for combining sensor data both through classical deterministic methods (Kalman filtering, sensor calibration, geometric fusion) and modern AI-based fusion approaches (learned perception models, multi-modal deep fusion) — and know when each is the right tool.

• Cross-Functional Alignment: Partner with Software, AI, Systems Engineering, and Certification teams to ensure sensor decisions translate into system-level performance, safety cases, and manufacturable hardware.

• Vendor & Make-vs-Buy Strategy: Own supplier relationships and technology sourcing decisions, balancing cost, performance, lead time, and long-term technology control.

• Business Unit Accountability: Represent the sensor domain in leadership planning -budget, headcount, roadmap trade-offs - and be the escalation point for technical and organizational decisions within your unit.

WHAT WE CAN LOOK FORWARD TO

• Robotics Depth, Not Just Adjacent Experience: Substantial hands-on experience with sensors in a robotics context - automotive ADAS sensor experience alone is not sufficient. We're looking for someone who understands sensing in the context of manipulation, mobility, and close human-robot proximity, not just vehicle perception.

• Functional Safety Expertise: Solid working knowledge of functional safety standards relevant to robotics and machinery (ISO 13849, IEC 61508, ISO 10218, or comparable); experience taking sensor systems through a safety qualification process, not just being aware of the requirements.

• Broad, Genuine Sensor Technology Knowledge: Deep, hands-on familiarity with multiple sensor technologies — e.g. LiDAR, radar, ultrasonic, tactile/force-torque, vision/camera systems, IMUs — including their underlying physics, strengths, and failure modes. Breadth across modalities matters as much as depth in any one.

• Sensor Data Fusion — Both Paradigms: Practical experience with classical deterministic sensor fusion (Kalman filters, extended/unscented variants, geometric and probabilistic fusion methods) and AI-based fusion approaches (learned multi-modal perception, deep fusion architectures) - and the judgment to know when each applies.

• Leadership Track Record: Several years of experience leading a technical team or business unit, ideally in a hardware- or sensor-related domain; a track record of building teams, not just managing existing ones.

Nice to Have

• Experience across multiple robot platform types (industrial arms, mobile robots, humanoids)

• Familiarity with relevant sensor-related standards bodies or working groups

• German language skills