Hardware Technical Program Manager

About the role

Kodiak Robotics, Inc. was founded in 2018 and has become a leader in autonomous ground transportation committed to a safer and more efficient future for all. The company has developed an artificial intelligence (AI) powered technology stack purpose-built for commercial trucking and the public sector. The company delivers freight daily for its customers across the southern United States using its autonomous technology.

In 2024, Kodiak became the first known company to publicly announce delivering a driverless semi-truck to a customer. Kodiak is also leveraging its commercial self-driving software to develop, test and deploy autonomous capabilities for the U.S. Department of Defense.

We are looking for a Technical Program Manager to join us and advance the development of all our product lines (Industrial, Over the Road and Defense).

Kodiak is a highly collaborative organization based in Mountain View, CA. This role will require presence in our Mountain View office to collaborate, with some travel expected.

In this role, you will

• Create technical execution roadmaps across engineering teams to tie features and their dependencies to time, and track dependencies across teams.
• Manage and optimize the development and integration efforts specifically for our current hardware platform, ensuring its stability and performance as we scale.
• Manage the progress of the build to meet Program objectives and goals, defining schedules, milestones, and resource allocation for successful execution. Communicate schedules, status, and priorities to all levels of the organization.
• Work closely with the Hardware, Software, systems, and operations teams to ensure cross functional deliverables are delivered on time and on quality
• Prioritize and manage issues, risks, and dependencies and resolve any barriers to moving programs forward.
• Support and guide decision making by clearly communicating risks and tradeoffs to stakeholders.
• Develop tools and processes to improve manufacturing productivity.
• Maintain a strong technical understanding of our autonomous vehicle platforms, hardware lifecycle, safety clearance process, and test operations.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience of Technical Program Management experience
• Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering, Engineering, or a similar technical field.
• Experience managing fast paced initiatives, often with multiple stakeholders, complex schedules, and priority calls that need to be made.
• Strong bias for action
• Experience in the automotive or trucking industry with bonus points for Hardware Programs on autonomous vehicles.
• Experience in a startup environment, managing hardware projects towards manufacturing at scale.
• Expertise in project management tools such as Linear, JIRA, Smartsheet or LucidChart.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills. You know how to facilitate tradeoffs between engineering and product requirements, but always maintain high safety standards.
• Passion. You are passionate about autonomous vehicles and their potential impact on humanity.

Pay and benefits

The pay range listed below reflects the base salary in our SF/Silicon Valley location, across several internal levels. Actual starting pay will be based on job-related factors including: work location, experience, relevant training, education, skill level and performance during interview. Total compensation at Kodiak includes base pay, equity, bonus and a competitive benefits package

California Pay Range $125,000—$190,000 USD

In alignment with its business operations, Kodiak adheres to all relevant statutes, regulations, and administrative prerequisites. Accordingly, roles that carry more sensitive requirements may be limited to candidates that can satisfy additional scrutiny and eligibility for such positions may hinge on verification of a candidate's residence, U.S. person status, and/or citizenship status.

Should the position require, and Kodiak determines that a candidate's residence, U.S. person status, and/or citizenship status necessitate an export license, bar the candidate from the position, or otherwise fall under national security-related restrictions, Kodiak will consider the candidate for alternative positions unaffected by such restrictions, under terms and conditions set forth at Kodiak's sole discretion, or, as an alternative, opt not to proceed with the candidate's application.

If applicable, Kodiak may provide visa sponsorship for eligible candidates.

We use a third-party AI tool (Endorsed) to assist in the initial screening of applications. As part of the evaluation process, we provide Endorsed with job requirements and candidate-submitted applications. Final hiring decisions are made by our human recruitment team, and no automated system makes the ultimate decision regarding hiring.

Certain features of the platform may qualify it as an Automated Employment Decision Tool (AEDT) under applicable regulations. We began using Endorsed on January 1, 2026. You can review the independent bias audit report covering our use of Endorsed here. By submitting your application, you acknowledge that your application may be processed by AI systems as part of the screening and selection process.

If you have any questions or would like to request a separate review of your application, please contact with "Separate Review Request" in the email subject line.