Sr Product Manager - Autonomy Software

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.

Kodiak is seeking a highly skilled Senior Product Manager to drive the development of our Level 4 autonomous trucking solutions across different customer applications. In this role you will be the directly responsible individual for the full product lifecycle for your area of responsibility, which requires a unique blend of technical depth in autonomous systems, product sense, business acumen, and program execution rigor with a strong understanding of customer-centric product deployment.

In this role, you will:

• Autonomy Roadmap: Define and evolve the roadmap for autonomy software, balancing near-term milestones with long-term scalability across multiple business verticals.
• Driving Performance: Own the definition of safe, reliable, and productive driving. Partner with engineering to design and prioritize improvements in driving behavior, obstacle handling, and interactions with dynamic actors
• Operational Design Domain (ODD): Own the product domain for where and how the Kodiak Driver can safely and productively operate
• Define requirements across road types, surfaces, and topology
• Specify environmental operating ranges
• Expand support for diverse environments including commercial highways, off-highway industrial domains, and defense missions.
• Prioritize ODD expansion in a roadmap that balances business needs, safety, and technical feasibility.
• Route Support: Oversee route bring-up, risk assessment, and validation frameworks for expanding into new operating domains.
• Data-Driven Prioritization: Define and track KPIs around driving performance and safety. Use data to identify failure modes, measure improvements, and prioritize engineering focus.
• Support: Build workflows for human-in-the-loop support of our commercially deployed self-driving trucks, considering fallback strategies, and safety guardrails.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner with planning, perception, ML/AI, and data teams to align development efforts with product requirements for driving behavior and ODD growth.
• Stakeholder Communication: Provide clear updates to leadership, engineering, and customers on autonomy software maturity, ODD readiness, and roadmap progress.
• Travel- 25% travel required to visit Kodiak commercial deployment locations.

What you'll bring:

• 8+ years experience working in product management roles, ideally in autonomous vehicles, robotics, or logistics.
• A passion to work with a team to solve technical problems, and create simple solutions
• Comfort with ambiguity and the ability to effectively strategize, prioritize, and execute
• Ability to build credibility and strong relationships within the engineering and operations organizations, but also with external stakeholders and customers
• Results-motivated with an ability to identify and solve the most pressing problems
• Technical background with Masters degree or above in engineering, computer science or related field

What we offer:

• Competitive compensation package including equity and biannual bonuses
• Excellent Medical, Dental, and Vision plans through Kaiser Permanente, Anthem, and Guardian (including a medical plan with infertility benefits)
• Flexible PTO and generous parental leave policies
• Our office is centrally located in Mountain View, CA
• Office perks: dog-friendly, free catered lunch, a fully stocked kitchen, and free EV charging
• Long Term Disability, Short Term Disability, Life Insurance
• Wellbeing Benefits- Headspace, One Medical, Gympass, Spring Health
• Fidelity 401(k)
• Commuter, FSA, Dependent Care FSA, HSA
• Various incentive programs (referral bonuses, patent bonuses, etc.)

Actual starting pay will be based on job-related factors, including exact work location, experience, relevant training and education, and skill level. Please note that the compensation details listed above are base salary only and do not include bonus, equity, or benefits.

California Pay Range

$200,000-$240,000 USD

Actual salary ranges will be based on job-related factors, including exact work location, experience, relevant training and education, and skill level. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for the role location. Please note that the compensation details listed above are base salary only and do not include bonus, equity, or benefits.

At Kodiak, we strive to build a diverse community working towards our common company goals in a safe and collaborative environment where harassment of any kind is strictly prohibited. Kodiak is committed to equal opportunity employment regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, disability, or veteran status, or any other basis protected by applicable law.

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.