Staff Product Manager

Kodiak; Mountain View (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive compensation

Equity and annual bonuses

Excellent medical/dental/vision

Flexible PTO

Office in Mountain View, CA

Dog-friendly office

Free lunch

Free EV charging

401(k)

Job summary

Kodiak Robotics, Inc. in Mountain View, CA is seeking a Staff Product Manager to lead the Level 4 autonomous trucking platform. You will own a multi-year roadmap and partner with Engineering, Operations, and Commercial teams to drive scale and deployment while maintaining a customer-centric vantage point.

You will mentor senior PMs, influence roadmaps at the VP level, and own critical customer relationships as Kodiak advances toward broader commercialization in safety‑critical autonomous systems.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of product management experience in complex technical domains.
• Ability to influence VP level and above with clear judgment.
• Deep technical fluency to discuss architecture and feasibility with engineers.
• Proven ability to shape strategy in novel spaces with high ambiguity.
• Experience owning external customer relationships and fleet economics.
• Strong communication for executive audiences under pressure.

Responsibilities

• Define multi-year product roadmap grounded in customer needs and Kodiak’s goals.
• Unify Engineering, PM, Operations, and Commercial around a shared vision.
• Own product lifecycle from opportunity to deployment and iteration.
• Define prioritization frameworks and shape engineering roadmaps.
• Write clear product requirements with rigorous customer fidelity.
• Be the senior product relationship owner with key customers.
• Mentor senior PMs and influence PM practices.

Skills

Product management

Cross-functional leadership

Executive communication

Technical leadership

Ambiguity at scale

Customer & commercial acumen

Education

Engineering, CS, or related field

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 a Staff Product Manager to serve as a strategic product leader for our Level 4 autonomous trucking platform across customer applications. This is a senior individual‑contributor role with organization‑wide influence — you will not only own a critical product area end‑to‑end, but shape how Kodiak thinks about product strategy, customer deployment, and the path to scaled commercialization. You will be the most senior product voice in the room for your domain, setting direction that other PMs and cross‑functional leaders align to, and operating as a trusted thought partner to the VP level and above.

What you’ll do

• Product strategy and vision: Define the multi‑year product roadmap for your area, grounded in customer needs, competitive dynamics, and Kodiak’s commercialization trajectory. Make the case for what to build — and what not to — at the leadership level.
• Cross‑functional leadership: Unify Engineering, Program Management, Operations, and Commercial around a shared product vision. You are the person who resolves ambiguity and ensures the right trade‑offs are made with clarity and speed.
• Execution at scale: Own the product lifecycle from opportunity identification through deployment and iteration — holding the bar on quality and metrics across multiple workstreams simultaneously.
• Prioritization and resource influence: Set prioritization frameworks that others adopt. Actively shape engineering roadmap and resourcing conversations, advocating effectively for customer‑critical investments at the VP and executive level.
• Product definition: Author product requirements that set a high standard for rigor and customer fidelity. Partner deeply with Design and Engineering leadership to ensure architectural decisions reflect long‑term product needs, not just near‑term scope.
• Performance and readiness: Define the metrics and readiness criteria that determine when a product is ready to deploy. Own the system of record for product health and communicate it credibly to customers, leadership, and the board.
• Customer partnership: Serve as Kodiak’s most senior product relationship owner with key customers — building deep trust, surfacing strategic feedback, and translating real‑world operational complexity into product direction that engineering can act on.
• Organizational impact: Mentor senior PMs, contribute to the product management craft at Kodiak, and help define how the PM function operates — from how requirements are written to how trade‑offs are communicated.
• Travel: 10‑20% travel to Kodiak commercial deployments and customer sites to maintain operational intuition and customer proximity.

What you’ll bring

• 10+ years of Product Management experience: With at least several years operating as a senior IC driving strategy independently across complex, technical product domains — ideally in autonomous vehicles, robotics, logistics, or safety‑critical systems.
• Demonstrated organizational influence: Track record of shaping product strategy and roadmap decisions at the VP level and above; you have changed the direction of a program or product area through the strength of your judgment and communication, not just your title.
• Technical authority: Deep enough technical fluency to engage credibly with engineering leadership on architecture, system design, and feasibility trade‑offs — not just translate requirements. Background in engineering, computer science, or a related field required.
• Ambiguity at scale: Proven ability to set structure and direction in genuinely novel problem spaces — where there is no playbook, the market is evolving, and the cost of getting it wrong is high.
• Customer and commercial acumen: Experience owning high‑stakes external customer relationships and connecting product decisions to fleet economics, operational outcomes, and contract commitments.
• Cross‑functional leadership without authority: You are the person other functions bring in to drive alignment, not just participate in it. You set the agenda and hold teams accountable to shared outcomes.
• Communication at the executive level: Able to distill complex product and technical trade‑offs into clear, confident narratives for C‑suite, board, and customer audiences — and to do so under pressure.

What we offer

• Competitive compensation package including equity and annual bonuses
• Excellent Medical, Dental, and Vision plans through Kaiser Permanente, Cigna, and MetLife (including a medical plan with infertility benefits)
• MetLife Legal Services, Identity & Fraud Protection, Hospital Indemnity Insurance, Accident Insurance, & Critical Illness Insurance
• Flexible PTO, 10 paid holidays, 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 through Cigna, Calm through Kaiser, One Medical, Gympass, Spring Health through Cigna, Rula (mental health navigation)
• 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 USD – $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 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 at 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 [e-mail] with "Separate Review Request" in the email subject line.