Director, Operations Readiness

OpenKrill; United States; Remote; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Aurora is seeking a Director of Operations Readiness to own end-to-end activation of new sites, ensuring they are set up for operational excellence and financial viability. You will lead cross-functional teams, manage launch budgets, and build playbooks to enable rapid market entries.

Travel as required to deploy and scale across nationwide or global sites, collaborating with Engineering, Finance, Legal, and Operations.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in operations, logistics, or program management.

Responsibilities

• Own the master launch plan, timeline, and budget for new endpoint activations.
• Lead cross-functional liaison between Engineering, Product, Finance, Legal, Government Affairs, and Operations.
• Oversee deployment of Senior Operations Manager teams, in-market and centralized resourcing.
• Direct deployment progress, identify risks, and implement mitigations to ensure site volume and stability.
• Provide regular updates to executive leadership on launch status, budget adherence, and KPIs.
• Build robust local leadership and operational capacity to transition from setup mode to steady-state.

Skills

Leadership

Cross-functional collaboration

Financial acumen

Communication

Travel readiness

Job description

Who we are

Aurora's mission is to deliver the benefits of self-driving technology safely, quickly, and broadly.

The Aurora Driver https://aurora.tech will create a new era in mobility and logistics, one that will bring a safer, more efficient, and more accessible future to everyone.

At Aurora, you will tackle massively complex problems alongside other passionate, intelligent individuals, growing as an expert while expanding your knowledge. For the latest news from Aurora, visit aurora.tech http://aurora.tech or follow us on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/auroradriver.

At Aurora, you will tackle massively complex problems alongside other passionate, intelligent individuals, growing as an expert while expanding your knowledge. For the latest news from Aurora, visit aurora.tech http://aurora.tech or follow us on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/auroradriver.

The Director of Operations Readiness is the central owner of the end-to-end endpoint launch process. You are responsible for the successful activation of new sites, ensuring they are set up for operational excellence, financial viability, and long-term sustainability. You will lead the deployment of specialized operations teams and orchestrate cross-functional efforts across the organization to ensure every launch meets its strategic objectives. Successful candidates will build & develop the team, playbooks and framework to launch new markets and customers within days from contract completion.

Key Responsibilities

• Program Ownership: Own the master launch plan, timeline, and budget for all new endpoint activations.
• Cross-Functional Leadership: Act as the primary liaison between Engineering, Product, Finance, Legal, Government Affairs, and Operations. Ensure all departments are aligned, hitting milestones, and resolving blockers.
• Team Deployment: Oversee the selection, training, and deployment of the Senior Operations Manager teams, in-market and centralized resourcing.
• Strategic Oversight: Directs the deployment of launch progress, identify risks, and implement mitigation strategies to ensure sites reach target volume and operational stability.
• Executive Reporting: Provide regular updates to executive leadership on launch status, budget adherence, and key performance indicators (KPIs).
• Capacity Building: Ensure the launch process effectively transitions from "setup mode" to "steady-state" by building robust local leadership and operational capacity.

Requirements

• 10+ years of experience in operations, logistics, or program management, preferably in a high-growth technology or industrial environment.
• Proven track record of managing complex, cross-functional projects with multiple stakeholders.
• 4+ years experience leading multiple annual product, site and (or) technology launches nationwide and (or) globally.
• Strong financial acumen, including budget management and P&L responsibility.
• Exceptional communication skills, with the ability to influence and align diverse teams.
• Experience in site launches, facility management, or rapid scaling of operations is highly preferred.
• Ability to travel for extensive periods of time.

Working at Aurora

At Aurora, we bring together extraordinarily talented and experienced people united by the strength of our values. We operate with integrity, set outrageous goals, and build a culture where we win together - all without any jerks.

We believe in-person work increases collaboration, empathy, and our ability to lead effectively. As a result, Aurorans are expected to work from the office at least 3 days per week, with some roles requiring more frequent in-office presence, up to 5 days per week, based on operational needs.

Our Careers page https://aurora.tech/careers provides insight into what it is like to work at Aurora, and you can find all the latest updates in our Newsroom https://aurora.tech/newsroom.

Our commitment to safety

At the core of everything we do is our commitment to safety. Building best-in-class self-driving technology will take time, and we believe that each employee at Aurora has a role in contributing to safety, every step of the way. Aurora expects commitment to our safety policies from every employee, and seeks candidates who take an active responsibility, can contribute to building an atmosphere of trust, and invest in the organization’s long-term success by prioritizing working safely, no matter what.

Our commitment to inclusion

Aurora considers candidates without regard to their race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, pregnancy status, parent or caregiver status, ancestry, political affiliation, veteran and/or military status, physical or mental disability, or any other status protected by federal or state law. Aurora considers qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state, and local law. We are also committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities and disabled veterans in our job application procedures. If you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, you may contact us at [e-mail].

For California applicants, information collected and processed as part of your application and any job applications you choose to submit is subject to Aurora's California Employment Privacy Policy.