Forward Deployed Engineer, Robotics

Company Description

About Grab and Our Workplace

Grab is Southeast Asia's leading superapp. From getting your favourite meals delivered to helping you manage your finances and getting around town hassle-free, we've got your back with everything. In Grab, purpose gives us joy and habits build excellence, while harnessing the power of Technology and AI to deliver the mission of driving Southeast Asia forward by economically empowering everyone, with heart, hunger, honour, and humility.

Job Description

Get to Know the Team

Grab Robotics builds Carri, our autonomous delivery robot. The team covers autonomy stack, hardware, fleet operations, deployment and infrastructure. As we expand Carri into various regions, we partner closely with strategic partners to design robotic solutions around their operations and deliver measurable business impact.

Get to Know the Role

As a Forward Deployed Engineer, you will be embedded with our strategic launch partners, working on-site to understand their operations in depth. You will translate each partner's goals into deployed, working solutions built on the Carri platform, and demonstrate the value with real operational and financial results.

Autonomous delivery is new to most of the operators we work with. You will guide partners on how to get the most out of the technology, shaping use cases that fit both their operations and the platform's strengths.

You will deploy robots, track how they perform, align with partners on outcomes, and build the extensions each deployment needs. What you learn in the field feeds directly into Product and R&D and helps shape the roadmap.

You will report to Head of Engineering and be based in Shanghai, with long stretches on-site at partner locations in the region.

The Critical Tasks You Will Perform

• Own the technical side of partner engagements from start to finish: scoping, deploying, running and reviewing results, in close collaboration with Business Development and Operations.

• Deploy, configure and maintain Carri robots on partner sites, including mapping, route setup, elevator and door integrations, and connecting to partner operations. 

• Rapidly prototype and deploy extensions on top of the Carri platform to address partner needs, such as a customer-machine interface, integrations with partner systems, or hybrid workflows that pair robots with human operators. Validate each solution in live operations and bring proven, scalable capabilities back into the core product roadmap.

• Work with partners to build the business case in numbers: cost savings, new revenue, throughput and service levels, both for the current deployment and for a scaled rollout.

• Capture partner requests, issues and feedback in a structured way for Product and Engineering, and spot patterns across partners that point to capabilities with broad market value.

• Deliver on partner requirements while keeping each solution in line with the product direction and the core platform.

• Monitor robot and fleet performance, lead incident follow-ups, and turn what you learn on site into clear, prioritised input for the roadmap.

• Be the trusted technical contact for partners and represent Grab Robotics with engineers, operations leads and senior stakeholders.

Qualifications

What Essential Skills You Will Need

• A Bachelor's degree or higher in Computer Science, Robotics, Electrical/Mechanical Engineering or a related field.

• 5+ years of hands-on engineering experience, ideally in robotics, autonomous systems, IoT or other field-deployed hardware and software products.

• Strong Python skills and working knowledge of C++, plus comfort with Linux, networking and debugging systems in the field.

• Experience with ROS/ROS 2 and the robotics basics: localisation, navigation, sensors and fleet management.

• The ability to build end-to-end solutions quickly, such as apps, API integrations and dashboards, using modern development tools including AI-assisted coding.

• Proven experience working directly with customers: running workshops, managing expectations and explaining technical trade-offs to non-technical stakeholders.

• Commercial awareness: you are comfortable talking about unit economics and P&L with partners and turning operational data into a business case.

• A strong sense of ownership and the ability to work independently. You will often be the only Grab engineer on site.

• Willingness to travel extensively and spend long periods on partner sites.

• Professional Mandarin knowledge is required. Experience with facility systems such as elevators, access control and building management is a plus.

Additional Information

Life at Grab

We care about your well-being at Grab, here are some of the global benefits we offer:

• We have your back with Term Life Insurance and comprehensive Medical Insurance.
• With GrabFlex, create a benefits package that suits your needs and aspirations.
• Celebrate moments that matter in life with loved ones through Parental and Birthday leave, and give back to your communities through Love-all-Serve-all (LASA) volunteering leave
• We have a confidential Grabber Assistance Programme to guide and uplift you and your loved ones through life's challenges.
• Balancing personal commitments and life's demands are made easier with our FlexWork arrangements such as differentiated hours

What We Stand For at Grab

We are committed to building an inclusive and equitable workplace that enables diverse Grabbers to grow and perform at their best. As an equal opportunity employer, we consider all candidates fairly and equally regardless of nationality, ethnicity, religion, age, gender identity, sexual orientation, family commitments, physical and mental impairments or disabilities, and other attributes that make them unique.