Hardware Technical Program Manager

Kodiak Robotics, Inc. was founded in 2018 and has become a leader in autonomous ground transportation committed to a safer and more efficient future for all. The company has developed an artificial intelligence (AI) powered technology stack purpose-built for commercial trucking and the public sector. The company delivers freight daily for its customers across the southern United States using its autonomous technology. In 2024, Kodiak became the first known company to publicly announce delivering a driverless semi-truck to a customer. Kodiak is also leveraging its commercial self-driving software to develop, test and deploy autonomous capabilities for the U.S. Department of Defense.

We are looking for a Hardware Technical Program Manager to join us and advance the development of all our product lines (Industrial, Over the Road and Defense). Kodiak is a highly collaborative organization based in Mountain View, CA. This role will require presence in our Mountain View office to collaborate, with some travel expected.

In this role, you will: 

• Create technical execution roadmaps across engineering teams to tie features and their dependencies to time, and track dependencies across teams.
• Manage and optimize the development and integration efforts specifically for our current hardware platform, ensuring its stability and performance as we scale.
• Manage the progress of the build to meet Program objectives and goals, defining schedules, milestones, and resource allocation for successful execution. Communicate schedules, status, and priorities to all levels of the organization. 
• Work closely with the Hardware, Software, systems, and operations teams to ensure cross functional deliverables are delivered on time and on quality
• Prioritize and manage issues, risks, and dependencies and resolve any barriers to moving programs forward. 
• Support and guide decision making by clearly communicating risks and  tradeoffs to stakeholders. 
• Develop tools and processes to improve manufacturing productivity.
• Maintain a strong technical understanding of our autonomous vehicle platforms, hardware lifecycle, safety clearance process, and test operations.

What you’ll bring: 

• 5 years of experience of Technical Program Management experience
• Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering, Engineering, or a similar technical field.
• Experience managing fast paced initiatives, often with multiple stakeholders, complex schedules, and priority calls that need to be made.
• Strong bias for action 
• Experience in the automotive or trucking industry with bonus points for Hardware Programs on autonomous vehicles.
• Experience in a startup environment, managing hardware projects towards manufacturing at scale.
• Expertise in project management tools such as Linear, JIRA, Smartsheet or LucidChart.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills. You know how to facilitate tradeoffs between engineering and product requirements, but always maintain high safety standards.
• Passion. You are passionate about autonomous vehicles and their potential impact on humanity.

What we offer:

• Competitive compensation package including equity and annual bonuses
• Excellent Medical, Dental, and Vision plans through Kaiser Permanente, Cigna, and MetLife (including a medical plan with infertility benefits)
• MetLife Legal Services, Identity & Fraud Protection, Hospital Indemnity Insurance, Accident Insurance, & Critical Illness Insurance
• Flexible PTO, 10 paid holidays, and generous parental leave policies
• Our office is centrally located in Mountain View, CA
• Office perks: dog-friendly, free catered lunch, a fully stocked kitchen, and free EV charging
• Long Term Disability, Short Term Disability, Life Insurance
• Wellbeing Benefits - Headspace through Cigna, Calm through Kaiser, One Medical, Gympass, Spring Health through Cigna, Rula (mental health navigation) 
• Fidelity 401(k)
• Commuter, FSA, Dependent Care FSA, HSA
• Various incentive programs (referral bonuses, patent bonuses, etc.)