Staff Product Manager - Autonomy Hardware

Job details

Work model

On-site

Salary

Not listed by source

Location

Mountain View, CA

What the role asks for

Parsed by MeritLog from the employer’s own posting. The full description follows below.

Job description

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 an exceptional Staff Product Manager to define and drive the strategic direction of our Level 4 autonomous trucking platform across the full hardware stack and customer deployment landscape. This role is a force-multiplier across the organization - you will set the product vision, shape the technical roadmap, and raise the bar for how Kodiak builds and ships autonomous trucking solutions at scale. As the directly responsible individual for your product domain, you will operate with high autonomy and high accountability, influencing decisions that span engineering, commercialization, operations, and external partners. You won't just respond to the roadmap - you'll define it. In this role, you will: • Set Strategic Direction: Own the long-term product vision for the Kodiak Driver hardware ecosystem - sensors, compute, and vehicle integration - translating market signals, customer insights, and technical constraints into a coherent multi-year roadmap. Identify platform-level opportunities that unlock scalability and competitive differentiation. • Drive Architecture-Level Decisions: Lead requirements development across the full hardware stack, making principled trade-offs that balance capability, cost, and deployment readiness. Perform rigorous first- and third-party analyses spanning engineering, business, and regulatory dimensions to ground product decisions in reality. • Elevate Cross-Functional Execution: Partner deeply with engineering, operations, supply chain, systems engineering, and perception teams to align development efforts with strategic priorities. Drive cross-functional clarity at the program level - removing blockers, resolving ambiguity, and ensuring scope and timelines are both ambitious and achievable. • Define How We Ship: Own the full product lifecycle end-to-end, from requirements through deployment and iteration. Build the feedback loops between field operations and engineering that accelerate learning and improve product quality across commercial deployments. • Influence at the Executive Level: Provide clear, high-signal communication to leadership, engineering, and customers on autonomy software maturity, ODD readiness, and roadmap progress. Represent product strategy in senior forums and shape how Kodiak thinks about hardware product development as a discipline. • Grow the Craft: Mentor and raise the standard for product management at Kodiak. Establish frameworks, processes, and norms that make the whole PM team more effective. Be the model for what great looks like. • Travel: 10-25% to visit commercial deployment sites and hardware partner locations. What you’ll bring: • 12+ years in product management, with a substantial track record in hardware-intensive domains - autonomous vehicles, robotics, advanced manufacturing, or logistics systems • Demonstrated ability to own product strategy at the platform level, not just feature execution • Deep technical fluency: you can engage credibly with sensor engineers, system architects, and firmware teams, and you know when to push back and when to defer • A history of driving alignment across large, matrixed organizations - you influence without authority and build coalitions naturally • Sharp judgment under ambiguity: you make good calls with incomplete information and can articulate the reasoning clearly • Exceptional communication skills; you can distill complexity into crisp narratives for technical and executive audiences alike • MS or PhD in engineering, computer science, or a related technical 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.) 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 $180,000-$240,000 USD 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. 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](https://endorsed.com/local-law-144). 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 careers@kodiak.ai with "Separate Review Request" in the email subject line.

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