Staff Product Manager - Autonomy Hardware

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

Benefits offered by this job

Equity and biannual bonuses

Medical, Dental, and Vision plans

Flexible PTO and parental leave

Mountain View office

Job summary

Kodiak Robotics, Inc. seeks a Staff Product Manager to define and drive the strategic direction of its Level 4 autonomy hardware platform across sensors, compute, and vehicle integration.

You will own the product vision, shape the technical roadmap, and raise the bar for Kodiak's autonomous trucking solutions across deployments. You will interact with engineering, operations, and external partners; mentor the PM team; travel 10–25% to deployment sites and partner locations, while communicating

Qualifications

• 12+ years in product management in hardware-intensive domains such as autonomous vehicles, robotics, or logistics systems.
• Demonstrated ability to own product strategy at the platform level, not just feature execution.
• Deep technical fluency: engage with sensor engineers, system architects, and firmware teams.
• History of driving alignment across large, matrixed organizations.
• Sharp judgment under ambiguity with clear reasoning.
• Exceptional communication skills for technical and executive audiences.
• MS or PhD in engineering, computer science, or related technical field.

Responsibilities

• Set Strategic Direction: Own the long-term product vision for the Kodiak Driver hardware ecosystem — sensors, compute, and vehicle integration — translating market signals into a multi-year roadmap.
• Drive Architecture-Level Decisions: Lead requirements development across the full hardware stack, balancing capability, cost, and deployment readiness.
• Elevate Cross-Functional Execution: Partner with engineering, operations, supply chain, systems engineering, and perception teams to align development efforts.
• Define How We Ship: Own the full product lifecycle end-to-end from requirements through deployment and iteration.
• Influence at the Executive Level: Communicate autonomy software maturity and roadmap progress to leadership and customers.
• Grow the Craft: Mentor and raise the standard for product management at Kodiak.
• Travel: 10-25% to visit deployment sites and hardware partner locations.

Skills

Hardware product management

Autonomy hardware

Cross-functional leadership

Strategic product roadmap

Stakeholder management

Education

MS or PhD in engineering / CS or related

Job description

Staff Product Manager - Autonomy Hardware

Mountain View, CA

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
• Fidelity 401(k)
• Commuter, FSA, Dependent Care FSA, HSA

The pay range listed below reflects the base salaryin 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

$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.