Mission Control Manager

Top Echelon Software, LLC; Dallas (TX); On-site; USD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Top Echelon Software, LLC is seeking a Mission Control Manager to lead the operational nerve center supporting autonomous trucking operations in Texas. This senior role owns end-to-end Mission Control, including staffing, standards, KPIs, and 24/7 coverage.

You will build the team, coordinate with engineering, safety, and commercial teams, and drive continuous improvement of procedures, incident response, and operating-model scalability as driverless operations expand.

Qualifications

• 6+ years of operations leadership experience with people-management responsibility.
• Experience leading managers or team leads, not only individual contributors.
• Experience running or standing up a 24/7 control center, NOC, command center, dispatch operation, or similar shift-based environment.
• Proven experience building and scaling teams and operating models from an early stage.
• Strong staffing, scheduling, workforce planning, and performance-management experience.

Responsibilities

• Own Mission Control operations end to end across remote assistance, fleet and mission management, and dispatch coordination.
• Support both supervised R&D testing and future driverless operations.
• Build, lead, and develop Remote Assist Specialists and Mission Control Specialists.
• Own hiring, staffing, scheduling, training, performance management, and career development.
• Lead and develop frontline leaders as the organization scales.
• Own Mission Control KPIs, including mission completion rate, intervention rate, remote resolution rate, response and resolution times, operator-to-truck ratio, and fleet uptime.
• Turn operational incidents and novel road events into improved SOPs, debriefs, training, and operational handoffs.
• Serve as the senior escalation point for complex issues involving engineering, safety, legal, leadership, or commercial operations.
• Establish standards for emergency response, redundancy, and operational continuity.
• Stand up and pressure-test the Mission Control operating model before expansion into driverless operations.
• Own 24/7 staffing and coverage planning as fleet operations scale.
• Partner closely with Dispatch, Vehicle Operations, Test Operations, Fleet Readiness, Training, Autonomy, and Commercial teams.
• Represent Mission Control with customers, regulators, leadership, and visitors.

Skills

Operations leadership

People management

Staffing & scheduling

24/7 operations

KPIs ownership

Cross-functional collaboration

Escalation handling

Job description

Job Overview

We are hiring a Mission Control Manager to lead the operational nerve center supporting autonomous trucking operations in Texas.

Mission Control manages everything around the driving operation, including remote assistance, fleet and mission management, dispatch coordination, customer and site communication, exception handling, and keeping freight moving across both R&D testing and commercial operations.

This is a senior people-management role with end-to-end ownership of Mission Control. You will build the team, establish operating standards, own service levels and KPIs, develop 24/7 coverage, and help validate the operating model as autonomous operations scale.

Key Responsibilities

• Own Mission Control operations end to end across remote assistance, fleet and mission management, and dispatch coordination
• Support both supervised R&D testing and future driverless operations
• Build, lead, and develop Remote Assist Specialists and Mission Control Specialists
• Own hiring, staffing, scheduling, training, performance management, and career development
• Lead and develop frontline leaders as the organization scales
• Own Mission Control KPIs, including mission completion rate, intervention rate, remote resolution rate, response and resolution times, operator-to-truck ratio, and fleet uptime
• Turn operational incidents and novel road events into improved SOPs, debriefs, training, and operational handoffs
• Serve as the senior escalation point for complex issues involving engineering, safety, legal, leadership, or commercial operations
• Establish standards for emergency response, redundancy, and operational continuity
• Stand up and pressure-test the Mission Control operating model before expansion into driverless operations
• Own 24/7 staffing and coverage planning as fleet operations scale
• Partner closely with Dispatch, Vehicle Operations, Test Operations, Fleet Readiness, Training, Autonomy, and Commercial teams
• Represent Mission Control with customers, regulators, leadership, and visitors

Requirements

• 6+ years of operations leadership experience with substantial people-management responsibility
• Experience leading managers or team leads, not only individual contributors
• Experience managing both full-time employees and outsourced teams or functions
• Experience running or standing up a 24/7 control center, NOC, command center, dispatch operation, or similar shift-based environment
• Proven experience building and scaling teams and operating models from an early stage
• Strong staffing, scheduling, workforce planning, and performance-management experience
• Strong operational judgment and ability to remain calm during escalations and time-sensitive incidents
• Experience owning operational KPIs and service levels
• Strong continuous-improvement discipline with experience turning incidents into improved processes and procedures
• Comfortable working in a technical, systems-driven environment
• Strong cross-functional communication and stakeholder-management skills
• Willingness to work onsite in Lancaster, TX
• Ability to flex into shift-based coverage as operational needs require

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in autonomous vehicle operations
• Logistics or trucking operations experience
• Aviation operations experience
• Emergency dispatch or public-safety communications experience
• Experience with remote assistance, fleet monitoring, dispatch, NOC, or command-center environments
• Experience standing up operations that transitioned from supervised to increasingly automated workflows