Senior Technical Program Manager - Autonomy

Senior Technical Program Manager (Autonomy) – NODA AI

Location: Austin, TX (Hybrid on-site, with up to 10% travel)
Clearance Requirement: U.S. Citizen with the ability to obtain a security clearance

About NODA

NODA is a Veteran-owned, venture-backed technology company that is transforming how unmanned systems collaborate in complex, mission-critical environments. We are developing next-generation solutions that enable the autonomous orchestration of heterogeneous unmanned systems across air, sea, land, and space with vital applications in the defense, intelligence, and commercial sectors.

Our Technical Program Managers serve as the connective tissue between engineering execution and program delivery, translating complex, multi-domain autonomy requirements into disciplined, on-time delivery.

Joining NODA means working on meaningful technology that pushes the boundaries of autonomy alongside a team that thrives on innovation, rapid iteration, and collaboration.

The Role

As Senior Technical Program Manager for the Autonomy team, you own the day-to-day coordination fabric of the team: sprint ceremonies, cross-team dependencies, requirement intake and refinement, release coordination, and status reporting. Your requirement work centers on autonomy capabilities — perception, path planning, guidance/navigation/control (GNC), multi-agent and swarm coordination — so you need enough fluency in autonomy systems to translate dense technical and mission intent into clear, testable engineering requirements without leaning on the engineering leads to do that translation for you. Jira is your system of record and requirement management is your craft.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead requirement intake and refinement sessions for autonomy capabilities (perception, planning, GNC, multi-agent/swarm behaviors), translating product and mission intent into clear, testable, well-scoped engineering requirements and own associated acceptance criteria.

• Maintain requirement traceability from initiative → epic → story → acceptance criteria so every unit of work maps to a stated need and a definition of done.

• Enforce scope discipline through the release cycle; manage changes through an explicit intake and change-control process.

• Keep initiative, epic, and story status current in Jira; own the blocked-initiative log and coordinate with Project Engineers on state transitions.

• Enforce Jira hygiene conventions (fields, labels, components, definition-of-ready/done) so the tool remains a reliable system of record.

• Own and run all Autonomy team sprint ceremonies — planning, standup, review, retro, and backlog refinement — including agenda prep, facilitation, follow-up notes, and action-item tracking.

• Manage cross-team dependencies across Autonomy, Core, Systems, Solutions, and Release Engineering, surfacing and resolving them before issues become a blocker.

• Produce concise, informative and audience relevant technical briefs to drive program forward.

Required Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in technical program / project management for software or autonomy engineering teams.

• Demonstrated mastery of requirement management — intake, refinement, traceability, and change control on complex programs.

• Substantial hands-on experience with autonomy systems — e.g., unmanned/robotic vehicle platforms, perception, path planning, guidance/navigation/control (GNC), or multi-agent/swarm coordination — sufficient to engage directly with autonomy engineers and translate algorithm and systems-engineering concepts into structured requirements.

• High Jira fluency, with the ability to configure dashboards, workflows and custom reports.

• Excellent verbal and written communication; able to synthesize and decompose strategic vision into clear executable plans.

• Experience standing up and driving adoption of new process framework / operating models from scratch.

• Due to the nature of the position, U.S. citizenship is required due to ITAR regulations, along with the ability to obtain and maintain a DoD security clearance.

Preferred Qualifications

• Background in autonomy, robotics, aerospace, or defense programs — commercial UxS, military autonomy, or research environments.

• Familiarity with simulation, hardware-in-the-loop (HIL), or field test environments used to validate autonomous systems.

• Agile or Project Management certifications such as SAFe, Scrum Alliance, PMP, Lean Six Sigma.

• Experience in product management, change management, or process improvement.

• Experience operating in a highly technical, AI- and autonomy-forward team environment.

Skills & Attributes

• Critical thinker, proactive and collaborative partner to engineering who prioritizes actions that drive efficiency at scale and takes pride in owning the work and continuously strive for iterative improvement.

• Treats requirements as a discipline, not paperwork — precise, structured, and allergic to ambiguity.

• Comfortable operating at the intersection of software, controls, and hardware that defines an autonomy stack.

• Power-user mindset toward Jira; a steward of the workflow, not just a participant in it.

• Proactive communicator who surfaces risk early rather than waiting to be asked.

• Strong cross-functional facilitation skills serving as the liaison between Business, Product, and Engineering.

Benefits & Perks

Our culture fosters collaboration, respect, and trust, empowering passionate people to do their best work. We offer a competitive salary, comprehensive benefits, and opportunities for career growth. In addition to an opportunity to take part in an innovative, collaborative and fast-growing business with a highly motivated and skilled team, we also take pride in taking care of our employees. Here are just a few ways that we show our appreciation:

• We offer premium medical, dental, and vision coverage with zero paycheck premiums for you and your family

• 401(k) Retirement Savings Plan to invest in your long-term retirement goals + Company match

• Equity grants for new hires

• Unlimited PTO

• 11 Paid holidays

• Extremely generous company holiday calendar, including a holiday hiatus in November, & December.

• Generous Parental Leave

• Military Leave for annual training or service requirements

• FSA

• DCFSA

• HSA

• Professional Development Opportunities

• Access to One Medical

• Mental Health Resources: We provide free mental health resources 24/7 including therapy and more. Additional work-life services, such as free legal and financial support, are available to you as well.

Growth Path at NODA

This role sits at the center of NODA's growing Technical Program Management function, and strong performers can grow in one of three directions:

• Senior TPM leadership. Progress into Staff and then Principal TPM, taking on ownership of the operating model across multiple engineering teams rather than a single team. At this level you're setting requirement management and Jira governance standards org-wide, managing a team of TPMs, and advising engineering and company leadership on program health and delivery risk.

• Mission Lead. Move into a role embedded directly with operators and government/commercial customers, translating field feedback and mission needs into engineering requirements. This path trades internal ceremony ownership for direct customer relationship management, on-site deployments, and being the voice of the mission back into the engineering roadmap.

• Product Management. Transition into a Product Manager role, moving from executing against defined requirements to defining the roadmap and prioritization strategy itself. This path leans on the requirement-writing and stakeholder-translation skills built in this role, extended into market and customer strategy, competitive positioning, and longer-horizon product bets.

Export Control Compliance

To conform to U.S. government export control regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and Export Administration Regulations (EAR), you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or otherwise eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State or U.S. Department of Commerce.

Equal Opportunity Statement

NODA AI is an Equal Opportunity Employer committed to fostering a diverse, inclusive, and respectful workplace and to maintaining equitable employment and hiring practices. We provide equal employment opportunities to all applicants and employees and make all employment decisions without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.

As a federal contractor, NODA AI complies with all applicable equal employment opportunity and affirmative action requirements, including Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, and the Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974 (VEVRAA), as amended. We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations to qualified applicants and employees with disabilities throughout the recruiting, hiring, and employment process.

Consistent with applicable federal, state, and local laws, qualified applicants with criminal histories will be considered for employment in a manner consistent with applicable fair chance and ban-the-box laws, including the Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance where applicable. We actively encourage qualified individuals of all backgrounds, including women, minorities, protected veterans, and individuals with disabilities, to apply.

NODA AI is committed to fostering an inclusive, supportive, and accessible work environment for all applicants and employees. If you require accommodations or assistance during the application process, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at [email protected] or contact your recruiter so we can provide the support you need.