Systems Engineering Manager NODA AI

Location: Austin TX (Hybrid on-site with approximately 20% typical travel and up to 40% during field exercises and major integration events)
Reports to: Head of Engineering (interim Systems Engineering lead)
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.

NODA is a systems integration company at its core. We exist to make heterogeneous unmanned systems work together and Systems Engineering is where that promise either holds or breaks. As NODA scales across products partners and deployment environments keeping the system coherent in practice not just on paper is what separates a platform that works in the field from one that only works in a demo.

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

We are seeking a Systems Engineering Manager to build and run the team responsible for NODAs system-level integrity as we scale. This is a high-ownership still-technical manager role. You will personally profile systems debug the cross-domain issues no one else can cleanly own and build a team that catches what other teams miss whether the gap was left deliberately or by accident.

Your work will focus on the seams: the places where one unowned handoff one gap left behind by another team or one integration nobody traced end to end can break the orchestration. You will think vertically enough to root-cause a single hard failure all the way down and horizontally enough to see how a fix in one domain breaks another.

Success in this role requires the ability to grow the bench from where it is today into the multi-pod team NODA needs while defining how Systems Engineering operates along the way.

Key Responsibilities

• Hire level and develop engineers across software networking RF and hardware-adjacent debugging to build the bench NODA needs as headcount scales

• Coach cross-layer debugging as a team capability teaching engineers when to go deep in one domain when to go wide across several and when to delegate

• Personally profile systems and root-cause the issues too ambiguous or too cross-cutting for anyone else to cleanly own

• Own System Health for your scope including performance and stability KPIs MTTR on cross-system issues degradation detection and the tooling and telemetry that makes it possible

• Own crash-to-root-cause analysis and the verification evidence behind release go/no-go calls

• Treat security and CMMC-derived constraints as first-class design inputs not a parallel compliance track

• Catch the gaps other teams leave deliberately or inadvertently before they surface as integration failures or field incidents

• Translate field customer and BD requirements into constraints your team can build against

• Represent Systems Engineering at cross-team design sessions and the Architecture Review Board and escalate system integrity and delivery risk per the Systems Engineering charter
  

Required Qualifications

• 8 years of engineering experience with substantial hands-on time debugging distributed real-time or multi-domain systems in production

• 2 years managing engineers ideally across more than one technical domain

• A real track record as an expert debugger the person teams bring the hardest most ambiguous cross-system issues to regardless of layer

• Able to think both ways: horizontal breadth across software RF networking firmware and hardware and vertical depth to root-cause a single hard failure all the way down when breadth alone wont solve it

• Experience owning system health performance monitoring or release-readiness processes

• Working knowledge of networking fundamentals and real-time or low-latency middleware

• Comfortable with hardware bench diagnostics (multimeter oscilloscope) and reading firmware-level behavior well enough to know when to loop in a specialist

• Working understanding of DoD security and compliance frameworks (e.g. CMMC) as they apply to system design or demonstrated ability to ramp fast

• U.S. Citizenship with the ability to obtain a security clearance
  

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience scaling a cross-domain engineering team 2x in under a year

• Experience in defense aerospace or other mission-critical or regulated environments

• Direct CMMC Level 2 (or similar) experience in a systems engineering context

• Experience with embedded and edge-constrained systems (embedded Linux RTOS bare-metal)

• Familiarity with SIL and HIL pipelines and sim-to-field validation

• Experience authoring or overseeing ICDs requirements traceability or MBSE artifacts
  

Skills & Attributes

• Systems thinker comfortable operating across software networking RF firmware and hardware boundaries

• Strong debugger and root-cause analyst with the discipline to trace hard failures across layers rather than stopping at the first plausible symptom

• Effective team-builder and coach capable of teaching cross-domain judgment as a repeatable team capability

• Detail-oriented approach to system reliability security and release readiness in mission-critical applications

• Collaborative mindset with the ability to work effectively across engineering autonomy and integration teams

• Bias for action with the judgment to escalate cross-team gaps with clear options rather than just problems

• Mission driven with a personal commitment to supporting the nations defense
  

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 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 comprehensive medical dental and visions plans

• 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

• L5 Technical Lead Systems Engineering: hands-on across software networking RF and hardware boundaries; informally mentors engineers; builds the cross-domain credibility this role is built on

• L6 Engineering Manager Systems Engineering: manages a pod; hands-on in debugging and profiling day-to-day; executes System Health with architect guidance

• L7 Senior Engineering Manager Systems Engineering: manages the full implementation bench; owns System Health outcomes independently; sets technical direction multiple pods execute against; represents the team at the Architecture Review Board
  

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 dont hesitate to reach out to us at or contact your recruiter so we can provide the support you need.

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Required Experience:

Manager