Systems Engineering Manager – NODA AI

Location: Austin, TX (Hybrid on-site, with approximately 20% typical travel, and up to 40% during field exercises and major integration events)
Reports to: Head of Engineering (interim Systems Engineering lead)
Clearance Requirement: U.S. Citizen with the ability to obtain a security clearance

About NODA

NODA is a veteran-owned, venture-backed technology company that is transforming how unmanned systems collaborate in complex, mission-critical environments. We are developing next-generation solutions that enable the autonomous orchestration of heterogeneous unmanned systems across air, sea, land, and space with vital applications in the defense, intelligence, and commercial sectors.

NODA is a systems integration company at its core. We exist to make heterogeneous unmanned systems work together, and Systems Engineering is where that promise either holds or breaks. As NODA scales across products, partners, and deployment environments, keeping the system coherent in practice, not just on paper, is what separates a platform that works in the field from one that only works in a demo.

Joining NODA means working on meaningful technology that pushes the boundaries of autonomy alongside a team that thrives on innovation, rapid iteration, and collaboration.

The Role

We are seeking a Systems Engineering Manager to build and run the team responsible for NODA's system-level integrity as we scale. This is a high-ownership, still-technical manager role. You will personally profile systems, debug the cross-domain issues no one else can cleanly own, and build a team that catches what other teams miss, whether the gap was left deliberately or by accident.

Your work will focus on the seams: the places where one unowned handoff, one gap left behind by another team, or one integration nobody traced end to end can break the orchestration. You will think vertically enough to root-cause a single hard failure all the way down, and horizontally enough to see how a fix in one domain breaks another.

Success in this role requires the ability to grow the bench from where it is today into the multi-pod team NODA needs, while defining how Systems Engineering operates along the way.

Key Responsibilities

• Hire, level, and develop engineers across software, networking, RF, and hardware-adjacent debugging to build the bench NODA needs as headcount scales

• Coach cross-layer debugging as a team capability, teaching engineers when to go deep in one domain, when to go wide across several, and when to delegate

• Personally profile systems and root-cause the issues too ambiguous or too cross-cutting for anyone else to cleanly own

• Own System Health for your scope, including performance and stability KPIs, MTTR on cross-system issues, degradation detection, and the tooling and telemetry that makes it possible

• Own crash-to-root-cause analysis and the verification evidence behind release go/no-go calls

• Treat security and CMMC-derived constraints as first-class design inputs, not a parallel compliance track

• Catch the gaps other teams leave, deliberately or inadvertently, before they surface as integration failures or field incidents

• Translate field, customer, and BD requirements into constraints your team can build against

• Represent Systems Engineering at cross-team design sessions and the Architecture Review Board, and escalate system integrity and delivery risk per the Systems Engineering charter
  

Required Qualifications

• 8+ years of engineering experience, with substantial hands-on time debugging distributed, real-time, or multi-domain systems in production

• 2+ years managing engineers, ideally across more than one technical domain

• A real track record as an expert debugger, the person teams bring the hardest, most ambiguous cross-system issues to, regardless of layer

• Able to think both ways: horizontal breadth across software, RF, networking, firmware, and hardware, and vertical depth to root-cause a single hard failure all the way down when breadth alone won't solve it

• Experience owning system health, performance monitoring, or release-readiness processes

• Working knowledge of networking fundamentals and real-time or low-latency middleware

• Comfortable with hardware bench diagnostics (multimeter, oscilloscope) and reading firmware-level behavior well enough to know when to loop in a specialist

• Working understanding of DoD security and compliance frameworks (e.g. CMMC) as they apply to system design, or demonstrated ability to ramp fast

• U.S. Citizenship with the ability to obtain a security clearance
  

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience scaling a cross-domain engineering team 2x+ in under a year

• Experience in defense, aerospace, or other mission-critical or regulated environments

• Direct CMMC Level 2 (or similar) experience in a systems engineering context

• Experience with embedded and edge-constrained systems (embedded Linux, RTOS, bare-metal)

• Familiarity with SIL and HIL pipelines and sim-to-field validation

• Experience authoring or overseeing ICDs, requirements traceability, or MBSE artifacts
  

Skills & Attributes

• Systems thinker comfortable operating across software, networking, RF, firmware, and hardware boundaries

• Strong debugger and root-cause analyst, with the discipline to trace hard failures across layers rather than stopping at the first plausible symptom

• Effective team-builder and coach, capable of teaching cross-domain judgment as a repeatable team capability

• Detail-oriented approach to system reliability, security, and release readiness in mission-critical applications

• Collaborative mindset with the ability to work effectively across engineering, autonomy, and integration teams

• Bias for action, with the judgment to escalate cross-team gaps with clear options rather than just problems

• Mission driven, with a personal commitment to supporting the nation's defense
  

Benefits & Perks

Our culture fosters collaboration, respect, and trust, empowering passionate people to do their best work. We offer a competitive salary, comprehensive benefits, and opportunities for career growth. In addition to an opportunity to take part in an innovative, collaborative and fast-growing business with a highly motivated and skilled team, we also take pride in taking care of our employees. Here are just a few ways that we show our appreciation:

• We offer comprehensive medical, dental, and visions plans

• 401(k) Retirement Savings Plan to invest in your long-term retirement goals + Company match

• Equity grants for new hires

• Unlimited PTO

• 11 Paid holidays

• Extremely generous company holiday calendar, including a holiday hiatus in November, & December.

• Generous Parental Leave

• Military Leave for annual training or service requirements

• FSA

• DCFSA

• HSA

• Professional Development Opportunities

• Access to One Medical

• Mental Health Resources: We provide free mental health resources 24/7 including therapy and more. Additional work-life services, such as free legal and financial support, are available to you as well.
  

Growth Path at NODA

• L5 – Technical Lead, Systems Engineering: hands-on across software, networking, RF, and hardware boundaries; informally mentors engineers; builds the cross-domain credibility this role is built on

• L6 – Engineering Manager, Systems Engineering: manages a pod; hands-on in debugging and profiling day-to-day; executes System Health with architect guidance

• L7 – Senior Engineering Manager, Systems Engineering: manages the full implementation bench; owns System Health outcomes independently; sets technical direction multiple pods execute against; represents the team at the Architecture Review Board
  

Export Control Compliance

To conform to U.S. government export control regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and Export Administration Regulations (EAR), you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or otherwise eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State or U.S. Department of Commerce.

Equal Opportunity Statement

NODA AI is an Equal Opportunity Employer committed to fostering a diverse, inclusive, and respectful workplace and to maintaining equitable employment and hiring practices. We provide equal employment opportunities to all applicants and employees and make all employment decisions without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.

As a federal contractor, NODA AI complies with all applicable equal employment opportunity and affirmative action requirements, including Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, and the Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974 (VEVRAA), as amended. We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations to qualified applicants and employees with disabilities throughout the recruiting, hiring, and employment process.

Consistent with applicable federal, state, and local laws, qualified applicants with criminal histories will be considered for employment in a manner consistent with applicable fair chance and ban-the-box laws, including the Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance where applicable. We actively encourage qualified individuals of all backgrounds, including women, minorities, protected veterans, and individuals with disabilities, to apply.

NODA AI is committed to fostering an inclusive, supportive, and accessible work environment for all applicants and employees. If you require accommodations or assistance during the application process, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at [email protected] or contact your recruiter so we can provide the support you need.

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