Senior Technical Program Manager

About the role

NODA seeks a Senior Technical Program Manager to own the coordination fabric of Core Engineering, ensuring that sprint ceremonies, cross-team dependencies, and requirement intake are managed with precision so engineering leads can focus on building autonomy. You will translate complex, multi-domain autonomy product intent into clear, testable engineering requirements while maintaining rigorous traceability from initiative to story. This role owns the release coordination and status reporting that keeps heterogeneous unmanned systems programs moving in sync across air, sea, land, and space domains. You will enforce scope discipline through controlled change management and drive Jira hygiene so the tool remains a reliable system of record for every team. By standing up and driving adoption of efficient operating models, you remove coordination load and create an environment where innovation and rapid iteration can thrive. You will produce concise, audience-specific technical briefs that keep stakeholders aligned and programs advancing without delay.

Key facts

What you'll do

Lead requirement intake and refinement sessions, translating product vision into precise, testable engineering requirements with clear acceptance criteria that teams can execute against.

Maintain end-to-end requirement traceability from initiative to epic to story and acceptance criteria so every unit of work connects to a stated need and a verified definition of done.

Enforce scope discipline throughout the release cycle by managing changes through a formal intake and change-control process that protects team focus.

Keep initiative, epic, and story status current in Jira, own the blocked-initiative log, and coordinate with Project Engineers to ensure accurate state transitions.

Enforce Jira hygiene conventions, including fields, labels, components, and definition-of-ready/definition-of-done standards, so the tool reliably serves as the system of record.

Own and facilitate all Core Engineering sprint ceremonies - planning, standup, review, retro, and backlog refinement - including agenda preparation, effective facilitation, follow-up notes, and action-item tracking.

Manage cross-team dependencies across Core, Systems, Solutions, and Release Engineering, surfacing risks early and resolving issues before they escalate into blockers.

Produce concise, informative technical briefs tailored to specific audiences that drive alignment and forward progress across the program.

Support release coordination by tracking dependencies, verifying completion criteria, and communicating timelines to ensure predictable delivery.

Act as the central liaison for requirement and status information, reducing ambiguity and enabling engineering leads to focus on high-value technical work.

Champion continuous improvement by analyzing coordination patterns and proposing iterative changes to processes and tooling that increase efficiency and clarity.

Serve as the primary owner of Jira as a system of record, ensuring that workflows, dashboards, and custom reports accurately reflect program state and support decision-making.

Requirements

U.S. Citizen with the ability to obtain a security clearance for work in roles that require it.

8+ years of experience in technical program or project management for software engineering teams in complex, multi-domain environments.

Demonstrated mastery of requirement management practices, including intake, refinement, traceability, and change control for programs with high technical complexity.

High fluency with Jira, including the ability to configure dashboards, workflows, and custom reports to support program visibility.

Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to synthesize strategic vision into clear, executable plans and concise technical narratives.

Experience standing up and driving adoption of new process frameworks or operating models from scratch in fast-paced, mission-focused settings.

Strong cross-functional facilitation skills, serving as a trusted liaison between Business, Product, and Engineering to resolve dependencies and align priorities.

Proven ability to manage multiple priorities, meet deadlines, and maintain rigorous standards for requirements and status information under pressure.

Nice to have

Experience in defense technology, aerospace, robotics, or other regulated or mission-critical domains where coordination and precision are essential.

Agile or project management certifications such as SAFe, Scrum Alliance credentials, PMP, or Lean Six Sigma.

Background in product management, change management, or process improvement within highly technical environments.

Experience operating in AI-forward team environments where autonomy, rapid iteration, and cross-domain integration are central to delivery.

Practical notes

U.S. Citizen required; ability to obtain a security clearance is mandatory.

Location in Austin, Texas, with a hybrid on-site arrangement and up to 10% travel as needed for program coordination.

This is a full-time engagement with opportunities for career growth within a venture-backed, Veteran-owned organization committed to advancing autonomy across domains.