Defined by Doing: Julian Mancini Keeps Amazon's Robots on the Move
hey are the builders, the thinkers, and the problem-solvers. In the "Defined by Doing" series, we highlight exceptional alumni who are translating their education into action and redefining what is possible in their fields. From recent graduates to seasoned industry leaders, these stories prove that the Wentworth community is making a meaningful impact at every stage of the journey.
When a building in Japan went down, Julian Mancini had a little under 36 hours to pack a bag and get on a plane. Without a playbook in hand, he was met by a fleet of robots that needed to come back online and a recovery effort that Amazon expected to take two months.
It took two weeks.
"What ultimately led me to figuring it all out is something I learned in parallel computing (at Wentworth Institute of Technology)," said Mancini, an RTS Hardware Support Engineer II at Amazon Robotics. "When you're faced with a large, almost insurmountable task, split it up into a bunch of smaller tasks."
Once he was on the ground, Mancini led the full recovery and left behind new procedures for asset testing, recovery, and supply chain planning that outlasted the crisis.
The Japan project is the kind of high-stakes challenge that has come to define Mancini's young career. A 2023 Computer Science graduate, he oversees support for the mobile robotic units (also known as "drives") that move inventory across Amazon's network.
"There's never one exact thing I do, or one place I do it," he said. "But it's always a new adventure."
That instinct for chasing down problems paid off when a technician flagged some unusual behavior on one of Amazon's newest drive units. Mancini suspected it was bigger than a single machine, so he continued pulling data and pushing the issue up to research and development. He had caught a network-wide failure on the units' motherboards, and he raised the alarm in time for engineering to have a fix ready before the holiday rush.
"No packages were harmed as a result of this story," he said.
Mancini traces much of how he works back to Wentworth, and specifically to two co-ops at Harvard University IT, as well as two professors. The co-ops taught him to think on his feet and sharpened the interpersonal skills "that can't really be taught in a classroom." Meanwhile, Wentworth School of Computing and Data Science Professors Dave Rosenberg and Frank Kreimendahl gave him more than the course material.
"They both taught me very valuable lessons on life that I simply do not think I would be here without," he said. "Professors like that are what make Wentworth special, and I know my experience with them is not a unique one."
He also offers come human-centered advice for current and prospective Computer Science students.
"In a world where everyone is using AI to gain an edge, figure out how to build that human connection," he said. "You'd be surprised how much social skills make you stand out in an interview, especially as an engineer. You can be as smart as you want, but you need to be able to win people over if you want your idea to prevail."
Most recently, Mancini finished an MBA at Northeastern University and plans to stay at Amazon Robotics for the long haul.
"I've learned to follow the road where it takes me,” he said.