Technical Operations Manager, Fleet

Position Summary

InStore.ai turns in-store audio & sensor data into analytics for retailers. Our edge recording devices operate across customer locations, & the Fleet team is responsible for keeping those devices provisioned, deployed, supported, monitored, repaired, & retired effectively.

The Technical Operations Manager, Fleet will lead the day-to-day operation of InStore.ai’s device fleet & the team responsible for supporting it. This role oversees fleet support, provisioning & refurbishing, inventory, & deployment planning. The focus is on building reliable operating processes, creating clear ownership across the team, improving fleet visibility, & ensuring releases & customer migrations are completed in a controlled & documented manner.

This is a h&s-on operations leadership role. The Technical Operations Manager, Fleet will work closely with Engineering, Product, Sales, Customer Success, & Operations leadership to manage fleet health, resolve operational issues, support customer deployments, & improve the systems & processes that allow the fleet to scale.

Key Responsibilities

Lead Fleet Operations & Team Performance

• Lead & develop the Fleet Operations team, including the Support Manager, Provisioning & Refurbishing lead, Inventory Manager, & Deployment Project Manager.
• Set clear responsibilities, priorities, performance expectations, & ownership lines across fleet support, provisioning, inventory, deployment planning, RMA, & refurbishing activities.
• Establish & maintain a regular 1:1, team meeting, feedback, & performance-management cadence.
• Identify workload constraints, process gaps, training needs, & single points of failure across the team.
• Partner with Operations leadership on staffing, capacity planning, process priorities, & team development.

Own Fleet Health & Daily Operations

• Run the daily fleet-health & support-status review with the support team.
• Monitor fleet health, device diagnostics, support trends, recurring issues, & escalation activity using available dashboards & operational reporting.
• Partner with Engineering & the Platform team to investigate fleet-health issues, improve visibility into device performance, & establish clear escalation paths.
• Ensure customer-impacting device issues are tracked, prioritized, communicated, & resolved through appropriate cross-functional coordination.

Build & Maintain Fleet Operating Processes

• Own the documentation & continuous improvement of fleet processes across provisioning, installation, activation, diagnostics, validation, replacement, RMA, refurbishing, off-boarding, & data off-boarding.
• Create clear, repeatable procedures that define ownership, h&offs, timelines, required documentation, escalation paths, & quality controls.
• Own the device lifecycle process from provisioning through customer deployment, replacement, retirement, & removal from applicable systems & customer portals.
• Define & maintain the RMA & refurbishing process, including review & approval of RMA cases, inventory disposition, repair coordination, & quality validation.
• Identify process bottlenecks & implement improvements that increase throughput, reduce errors, improve visibility, & strengthen customer experience.

Own Release Validation & Customer Migrations

• Own the operational Go/No-Go decision for Recorder releases that affect customer devices.
• Maintain the release-validation process, including lab staging, lab production, shadow devices, friendly-device testing, validation requirements, issue documentation, & release readiness criteria.
• Partner with Platform Engineering, Device Engineering, & Product to review validation results, fleet-health data, known issues, risk factors, & customer impact before releases are approved.
• Develop & maintain migration documentation, migration checklists, customer communications, scheduling requirements, & reporting procedures.
• Lead scheduled customer migrations, including whitelisting, MAC & network tracking, deployment coordination, issue escalation, & status reporting in Monday.com & Jira.

Own Fleet Systems, Reporting, & Operational Visibility

• Own the operational specification connecting sales orders, inventory, provisioning, deployment, & device lifecycle management.
• Ensure Monday.com boards, Jira workflows, inventory records, deployment plans, RMA tracking, & device lifecycle information remain accurate, connected, & usable across teams.
• Partner with the Platform Engineer & Engineering teams to improve fleet dashboards, reporting, alerts, operational metrics, & data quality.
• Establish & maintain reporting on fleet health, support volume, provisioning throughput, migration progress, RMA trends, inventory status, release readiness, & operational risks.
• Identify recurring issues or trends & recommend operational, product, tooling, or process changes.

Partner Cross-Functionally

• Work closely with Engineering & Platform teams on device health, telemetry, release readiness, diagnostics, dashboards, & escalation management.
• Partner with Product on validation requirements, customer-impacting changes, release criteria, & process improvements.
• Partner with Sales & Customer Success on deployment readiness, customer coordination, migration planning, installation requirements, & issue resolution.
• Work with Operations leadership to align fleet priorities with customer commitments, deployment growth, team capacity, & company objectives.

Qualifications

Education:

Bachelor’s degree in Operations, Business, Engineering, Information Systems, Supply Chain, Technical Program Management, or a related field preferred. Equivalent relevant experience will be considered.

Experience:

• 5+ years of experience in operations, technical operations, technical program management, customer operations, support operations, or a related field.
• 2+ years of people-management experience, including responsibility for team performance, coaching, prioritization, & development.
• Experience building, documenting, & improving operational processes in a fast-moving or high-growth environment.
• Experience managing cross-functional operational work involving Engineering, Product, Customer Success, Sales, or implementation teams.
• Experience managing escalations, incidents, customer-impacting issues, operational risk, or release-readiness decisions.
• Experience with device fleets, connected hardware, IoT, SaaS operations, technical support, deployment operations, or similar environments preferred.

Skills:

• Strong operational leadership skills with the ability to create structure, accountability, & clarity across a cross-functional team.
• Strong process-design & documentation skills, including the ability to turn informal workflows into repeatable procedures.
• Sound judgment & the ability to make informed operational decisions when information is incomplete or time-sensitive.
• Technical fluency sufficient to interpret fleet-health data, device diagnostics, release-validation information, & customer network requirements.
• Strong written & verbal communication skills, including the ability to communicate clearly with technical & non-technical stakeholders.
• Strong organizational & project-management skills, with the ability to manage multiple active deployments, releases, escalations, & process-improvement initiatives.
• Comfort working in tools such as Monday.com, Jira, Grafana, Balena, TestRail, Aircall, & related operational systems, or the ability to learn comparable tools quickly.

Preferred Skills

• Experience supporting connected devices, IoT products, edge computing, Raspberry Pi, Linux-based devices, or hardware-enabled SaaS products.
• Experience working with fleet telemetry, monitoring tools, device-health metrics, alerting systems, or operational dashboards.
• Experience managing device provisioning, deployment, installation, refurbishment, inventory, or RMA workflows.
• Experience supporting customer migrations, technical implementations, or field deployment programs.
• Experience working in a startup or growth-stage technology company.

What Success Looks Like in This Role

• The Fleet team has clear ownership, effective communication, & dependable operating rhythms.
• Fleet-health issues, support escalations, RMA cases, migrations, & releases are visible, documented, & managed consistently.
• The device lifecycle is documented from provisioning through offboarding, with clear h&offs & reliable records across systems.
• Recorder releases follow a defined validation process, & Go/No-Go decisions are supported by documented criteria & fleet-health data.
• Customer migrations are planned, tracked, communicated, & completed with clear ownership & appropriate risk management.
• Operational bottlenecks are identified & addressed through measurable process improvements.
• Fleet operations can scale with customer deployment growth without creating unnecessary manual work, avoidable errors, or unclear ownership.

Equal Employment Opportunity & Accommodation

InStore.ai is an equal opportunity employer. Employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, creed, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, age, disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, military or veteran status, or any other status protected by applicable law.

InStore.ai provides reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities & for sincerely held religious beliefs, as required by applicable law. Applicants who need an accommodation during the application or interview process may request one by contacting
HR@instore.ai

This job description is intended to describe the general nature & level of work performed in this role. It is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all duties, responsibilities, or qualifications. Duties may be adjusted based on business needs.

Location:

Los Gatos, CA

Status:

On-Site

Department:

Operations / Fleet Management

Reports to:

Chief Operating Officer

Employment Type

: Full-Time

Salary Range:

$140,000-$180,000