Who We Are
Aurora (Nasdaq: AUR) is delivering the benefits of self-driving technology safely, quickly, and broadly to make transportation safer, increasingly accessible, and more reliable and efficient than ever before. The Aurora Driver is a self-driving system designed to operate multiple vehicle types, from freight-hauling semi-trucks to ride-hailing passenger vehicles, and underpins Aurora Horizon and Aurora Connect, its driver-as-a-service products for trucking and ride-hailing. Aurora is working with industry leaders across the transportation ecosystem, including Toyota, FedEx, Volvo Trucks, PACCAR, Uber, Uber Freight, U.S. Xpress, Werner, Covenant, Schneider, and Ryder. For Aurora’s latest news, visit aurora.tech and @aurora_inno on Twitter.
Aurora hires talented people with diverse backgrounds who are ready to help build a transportation ecosystem that will make our roads safer, get crucial goods where they need to go, and make mobility more efficient and accessible for all. We’re searching for a Technical Program Manager - Perception.
At Aurora, we’re on a mission to deliver the benefits of self-driving technology safely, quickly, and broadly. It all starts with the Aurora Driver, a platform created from industry-leading hardware and software and designed to adapt across a variety of vehicle types and industries.
We’re led by a team of self-driving luminaries, and we’ve forged strategic partnerships with leading transportation companies—including ride-hailing network Uber, truck-manufacturers PACCAR and Volvo Trucks, and the world’s largest automaker Toyota—setting us up to deliver the Aurora Driver in both trucks and passenger vehicles. We are funded by Amazon, Uber, T Rowe Price, and some of Silicon Valley’s best venture capital firms, including Sequoia, Greylock, and Index Ventures.
Aurora is in the best position to lead the self-driving space with a team of unparalleled depth and expertise, the technology to deliver, and the partnerships to build a transformative business for the long-term.
In this role, you will
- Partner deeply with Perception leads and engineers and drive to help develop requirements and roadmap for future needs in collaboration with adjacent teams, covering topics such as:
- Onboard perception system performance
- Offboard training, evaluation, and debugging tooling
- New sensor specifications and integration
- Collaborate closely with other autonomy software and hardware teams, policy leads, operations, and triage specialists on technical matters to ensure the Perception team’s work is aligning to broader organizational development.
- Assess requirements for software systems, facilitate selection of the best options, and coordinate the team to successfully evolve tools and operational processes to achieve them.
- Track progress, resolve dependencies, evaluate risks and communicate status to upper management and project stakeholders, and engage and energize the project teams to achieve aggressive goals.
- Manage complex projects at a large scale, spanning many functional teams and cross-functional initiatives. Instill an efficient project management mindset and workflow across the team, and function as a go-to resource for project management mentorship
- Remove obstacles to drive momentum and progress, identify gaps in communication or schedule, manage issue escalations and provide support to teams balancing competing priorities, and drive results proactively.
- Understand technical implementation at the architectural level and propose technical alternatives when necessary; ask questions that clarify priorities and push the team to be effective.
Required Qualifications
- Minimum of 5 years experience as a Technical Program Manager, Product Manager, or Engineering Manager, or Engineer in an autonomous systems, robotics, data science, machine learning, computer vision, or software development environment.
- Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Math, Data Science, Information Systems or a related area, or the equivalent in experience with evidence of exceptional ability preferred.
- A strong familiarity with machine learning models, robotics or computer vision systems and their architecture.
- Direct, measurable impact through the design, development and launch of groundbreaking products or delivery of significant and novel technology programs.
- Solid technical aptitude and an ability to understand technical designs, software development lifecycle, challenges and risks; ability to work closely with engineers.
- Strong experience in project management; practical familiarity with both Agile and Waterfall methodologies and ability to apply them where best suited.
- Passion for shipping new to market products and the ability to dynamically adapt to new responsibilities needed to do so
Working at Aurora
At Aurora, we bring together people with extraordinary talent and experience united by the strength of our values. We operate with integrity, set outrageous goals, and continue to build a culture where we win together—all without any jerks.
We have offices in Pittsburgh, Mountain View, San Francisco, Bozeman, Dallas and Seattle. We also offer a competitive benefits package that supports the whole you, including:
- Competitive salary, bonus and RSU package
- Premium choices for Medical, vision, and dental
- 401k benefits
- Life and disability benefits
- 18 weeks paid leave for new parents and caregivers
- Flexible vacation and company paid holidays
- Fertility benefits through Carrot
- Working from home support
- Professional growth and mentorship opportunities through the Aurora Academy
- Wellness Platforms (Spring Health, Headspace, Aaptiv, Quit Genius)
We believe that self-driving technology has broad benefits – including an increase in safety and access to transportation – and to achieve those benefits, we want and need a workforce with diverse experiences, insights, and perspectives; said another way, a workforce that reflects the communities and people our technology will benefit.
Individuals seeking employment at Aurora are considered without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, pregnancy status, parent or caregiver status, ancestry, political affiliation, veteran and/or military status, physical or mental disability, or any other status protected by federal or state law.
About Aurora:
Founded in 2017, Aurora was started by industry luminaries, and now we’re a team with a multitude of perspectives and experiences. Chris Urmson helped lead Carnegie Mellon’s efforts in Darpa’s Grand Challenges, then was a founding member of Google’s self-driving team. Sterling Anderson worked on the tech at MIT before leading Tesla’s Model X and Autopilot programs. Drew Bagnell, also a Carnegie Mellon alum, is a machine learning expert who helped build Uber’s autonomy effort. Regarded as the most experienced leadership team in the industry, these three bring decades of expertise, passion and focus to realizing our mission.
The base salary range for this position is $163k-$261K per year. Aurora’s pay ranges are determined by role, level, and location. Within the range, the successful candidate’s starting base pay will be determined based on factors including job-related skills, experience, qualifications, relevant education or training, and market conditions. These ranges may be modified in the future. The successful candidate will also be eligible for an annual bonus, equity compensation, and benefits.
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Working at Aurora
At Aurora, we bring together extraordinarily talented and experienced people united by the strength of our values. We operate with integrity, set outrageous goals, and build a culture where we win together — all without any jerks.
We have offices inseveral locations across the United States, where we encourage team and cross-functional collaboration. Aurora offers competitive medical, dental, and vision benefits, and additional healthcare support including medical transportation reimbursement, fertility, adoption, and surrogacy benefits. We empower our employees and their families with options to further their unique physical, mental, and financial wellbeing.
Our Learning and Development offerings include Aurora Academy, where our people learn, develop, and practice the essential skills that drive Aurora’s mission, continually up-leveling our team along the way. Our Careers pageprovides insight into career opportunities at Aurora, and you can find all the latest news on ourBlog.
Safety is central to everything we do. Every employee at Aurora has a role in contributing to safety, every step of the way. We seek candidates who take active responsibility, can contribute to building an atmosphere of trust, and invest in the organization’s long-term success by working safely — no matter what.
We believe that self-driving technology has broad benefits – including increased access to transportation. To realize those benefits, we need a workforce with diverse experiences, insights, and perspectives — a workforce that reflects the communities our technology will serve.
Aurora is committed to providing access to anyone who seeks information from our website. We invite anyone using assistive technologies, such as a screen reader or Braille reader, to email us at [email protected]. if they experience difficulty using our website. Please describe the accessibility problem and include a URL (if available).
Aurora considers candidates without regard to their race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, pregnancy status, parent or caregiver status, ancestry, political affiliation, veteran and/or military status, physical or mental disability, or any other status protected by federal or state law. Aurora considers qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state and local law. We are also committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities and disabled veterans in our job application procedures. If you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, you may contact us at [email protected].
For California applicants, information collected and processed as part of your application and any job applications you choose to submit is subject toAurora’s California Employment Privacy Policy.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
At Aurora, every employee is empowered to take an active role in building an inclusive, collaborative, and unified culture that leverages our diverse strengths, perspectives, and backgrounds.
Transforming how the world moves people and goods involves seeking to understand backgrounds, insights, and lived experiences that differ from our own. One way we accomplish that is with our 15 employee-led Aurora Unified Groups, which support diverse voices and drive inclusive collaboration. We believe that teamwork, belonging, and trust motivate and support our employees to do their best work. As our team grows, we strive to attract and retain exceptional talent that adds new perspectives and experiences and continues to drive innovation. Learn more on our Culture Page.