Senior Technical Program Manager – Autonomy

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

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.

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.

• 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.

• 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.

• U.S. Citizen with the ability to obtain a security clearance for work.

• 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.

• 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.

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.

This role sits at the center of NODAs 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 youre 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 dont hesitate to reach out to us at or contact your recruiter so we can provide the support you need.

Required Experience:

Senior IC