Senior Technical Program Manager – Autonomy

The posting, as NODA AI wrote it

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 pr

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gible 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 careers@NodaIntelligence.ai or contact your recruiter so we can provide the support you need.