Senior Engineering Manager, Solutions Engineering – NODA AI

Location: Austin, TX (Hybrid on-site)

Travel: ~25–40% during major engagement events; ~15% in steady state

Clearance Requirement: U.S. Citizenship and ability to obtain a security clearance required

About NODA

NODA is a veteran-owned, venture-backed defense technology company building the orchestration layer for autonomous unmanned systems. Our platform coordinates fleets of heterogeneous vehicles across air, sea, and land for defense and intelligence customers. We expect every hire to be mission-driven with strong agency.

NODA’s Solutions Engineering function delivers our platform into customer environments and is responsible for getting the software onto customer hardware and into operational use. As customer programs scale, we are hiring a dedicated engineering manager to lead this critical team. You will partner closely with Product Management, Mission Leads, Field Operations, and engineering counterparts.

The Role

You will own the people, delivery quality, and hiring bar for Solutions Engineering. You’ll manage a rapidly growing yet high-caliber team of Solution Engineers, Senior Solution Engineers, and Solution Architects across Austin and DC.

This is a hands-on EM role at a startup. Expect to read code, sit in customer technical reviews, and travel when delivery risk concentrates at an event.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead, coach, and performance-manage Solution Engineers and Architects across levels; own hiring, promotions, and the calibrated hiring bar.

• Own engagement staffing and delivery quality across active customer programs.

• Lead the Solutions Engineering team through the full deployment lifecycle: ConOps and deployment design → field execution → customer handoff → After Action Review (AAR).

• Maintain exceptional technical standards on all customer-facing deliverables: deployment runbooks, ConOps documentation, and post-engagement debriefs.

• Partner with Product Management, Mission Leads, Field Operations, Business Dev, and engineering counterparts on cross-functional delivery.

• Funnel customer signal back to Product Management and Core Engineering with prioritized specificity.

Required Qualifications

• 6+ years of engineering experience, including 3+ years directly managing engineers.

• Track record leading customer-facing or forward-deployed engineering teams in defense, autonomy, or comparable high-stakes B2B environments.

• Strong technical credibility, can read Python, C++, or Rust and evaluate integration architecture decisions.

• Excellent written communication.

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

Preferred Qualifications

• Background at leading defense tech companies or in the federal/defense arm of major tech companies.

• Direct experience with autonomous vehicles or unmanned systems (UAS, UGV, USV, UUV).

• Prior DoD, classified, ITAR, or CMMC-scoped delivery experience.

• Has performance-managed senior engineers, including at least one cleanly handled managed-out.

• Active security clearance.

Skills & Attributes

• People manager, not a senior IC with reports: your leverage is through the people you hire, develop, and hold to a bar.

• Calibrated and in-context: feedback is specific, timely, and grounded in observed behavior , not annual cycles or vague impressions.

• Bar-raiser in hiring: willing to walk away from a fast hire; the team’s long-term quality matters more than short-term headcount.

• Composed under customer pressure: stays technical, stays calm, and stays in control of the narrative when an engagement gets hard.

• Comfortable saying no: pushes back on BD, Product, and customers when commitments are at risk — and does it in a way that preserves the relationship.

What We Offer

• Hybrid work environment

• Competitive compensation

• Flexible PTO + federal holidays

• 401(k)

• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision benefits

• Free One Medical membership

Growth Path at NODA

Engineering Manager (L6) → Senior Engineering Manager (L7) → Principal Engineering Manager (L8) → Director of Engineering (L9) → Senior Director of Engineering (L10)