Head of Hardware TPM

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 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.

Head of Hardware Technical Program Management

About the Role
Were looking for a Head of Hardware TPM to lead program management across our hardware organization spanning sensor systems compute electrical/mechanical integration and vehicle-level hardware platforms. Youll own the end-to-end execution rigor that gets hardware from concept through validation to fleet deployment and youll lead a team of 3 TPMs covering these programs. This is a leadership role reporting directly to the Director of Program with high visibility across Engineering Operations and executive leadership.

What Youll Do

• Own the hardware program roadmap: schedules milestones dependencies and risk tracking across concurrent hardware programs (sensors compute harnessing vehicle integration etc.)
• Lead and grow a team of 3 TPMs setting standards for program rigor reporting and cross-functional communication and developing them as they take on increasing scope
• Partner closely with Hardware Engineering Manufacturing Supply Chain Operations and Safety/Compliance to de-risk programs before they become fire drills
• Drive design reviews gate reviews and change management processes (ECOs/ECRs) to keep programs moving without sacrificing quality
• Own escalation paths: identify blockers early drive resolution and know when to pull in leadership
• Create and maintain program-level visibility for executives: status reporting risk registers and roadmap health
• Set the strategic direction for hardware program management processes tooling and metrics org-wide (e.g. PLM systems release processes)
• Represent hardware program status in cross-functional executive and customer-facing settings as needed
• Act as a key partner to hardware engineering leadership on org design resourcing and prioritization tradeoffs

What Were Looking For

• 10 years in technical program management with deep experience in hardware (mechanical electrical or systems-level) robotics automotive aerospace or similar hardware-intensive industries strongly preferred
• 4 years managing TPMs or program managers directly with experience developing senior ICs
• Deep familiarity with hardware development lifecycles: DFM/DFA EVT/DVT/PVT-style validation gates ECO/PLM processes
• Proven track record shipping complex hardware systems on schedule at scale with a bias toward identifying and killing risk early
• Excellent executive communication: able to distill complex multi-workstream programs into clear risk/status narratives for leadership
• Comfortable owning ambiguous high-stakes problems with no clean home
• Bonus: experience with autonomous vehicle systems sensor hardware (lidar/radar/camera) or safety-critical hardware development

Why This Role Matters
Hardware programs are the backbone of getting real vehicles into the real world. This role will set the direction for how hardware program management scales as the org grows balancing speed quality and risk across a widening portfolio of programs.