Robotics Companies Are Paying Humans To Babysit Humanoid Robots and Fix Them When They Break Down

Figure AI is offering between $40 (£30.14) and $45 (£33.90) an hour for an overnight coordinator to supervise humanoid robots and the people operating them at its Santa Clara facility in California.

The position, advertised in November 2026, involves managing staff, responding to robot failures and safety concerns, and occasionally operating the machines themselves.

The vacancy highlights the human oversight still required as robotics companies work towards increasingly autonomous machines.

Figure AI's Humanoid Robots Need Overnight Supervision

The advertised position involves overnight shifts from 10.30pm to 7am, with a five-day working week that includes weekend work. The coordinator will schedule operators, assign robots and workstations, establish priorities and report operational performance to the daytime team.

The responsibilities go beyond watching machines perform assigned tasks. The successful applicant will serve as the first point of escalation when robot failures, safety concerns or other operational problems arise.

Figure expects the coordinator to investigate issues, document incidents and escalate technical problems to engineering teams.

They will also identify recurring faults, help improve operating procedures and ensure that safety requirements are followed.

'You'll be the one making the calls,' the job advertisement states.

The position also involves coaching operators, supporting new employees and occasionally operating the humanoid robots. It requires someone capable of making decisions under pressure rather than waiting for engineering staff to resolve every issue.

The role requires applicants to stand for more than eight hours, handle equipment weighing up to 50 pounds (23kg) and have at least three years of leadership experience in manufacturing, field operations or laboratory settings, alongside robotics or mechanical experience.

Figure AI Is Still Hiring Humans Alongside Its Robots

The overnight coordinator vacancy is not the company's only recruitment effort involving humanoid machines. Figure is also advertising positions for robot operators who will work directly with the machines, testing and validating new behaviours and capabilities.

The distinction matters because developing a robot that can complete a task is different from ensuring it can perform reliably in a working environment.

Human operators remain part of that process, helping assess performance and identify problems that require further attention.

Founded in 2022, Figure is developing general-purpose humanoid robots for commercial applications and potentially domestic use. Its target industries include manufacturing, shipping and logistics, warehousing and retail.

Figure wants to build robots that can learn, think and interact with the world around them. Its long-term goal is for these machines to eventually build other robots, reducing the need for human workers.

Those ambitions remain distinct from what its current recruitment advertisements demonstrate. The Santa Clara vacancies show that human operators and supervisors are still needed to support its robotics operations.

Figure reached a reported valuation of $39 billion (£29.39 billion) following a $1 billion (£753.55 million) Series C funding round led by Parkway Venture Capital. That valuation was announced more than a year before the November 2026 recruitment report, rather than being a newly confirmed figure.

The wider robotics industry attracted $33.4 billion (£25.17 billion) in global funding during the first half of 2026, compared with $28.7 billion (£21.63 billion) throughout 2025, yet Figure still relies on human workers to supervise its robots, document technical problems and make operational decisions when something goes wrong.