Technical Operations Manager - Vehicle Reliability Engineering
$108k - $155k USD
Who we are
Aurora’s mission is to deliver the benefits of self-driving technology safely, quickly, and broadly.
The Aurora Driver will create a new era in mobility and logistics, one that will bring a safer, more efficient, and more accessible future to everyone.
At Aurora, you will tackle massively complex problems alongside other passionate, intelligent individuals, growing as an expert while expanding your knowledge. For the latest news from Aurora, visit aurora.tech or follow us on LinkedIn.
Aurora hires talented people with diverse backgrounds who are ready to help build a transportation ecosystem that will make our roads safer, get crucial goods where they need to go, and make mobility more efficient and accessible for all.
This high-leverage leadership position requires a technical operations expert to manage the onsite technical support team within the Vehicle Reliability Engineering team. You will be the central point of contact ("nerve center") for all technical escalations, directly responsible for user escalations, robust software and hardware troubleshooting, and ensuring the operational readiness of our autonomous fleet. The role involves critical coordination, bridging communication between field operations, the command center, and engineering teams.
This role is an onsite position based in Dallas, Texas, working Monday through Friday.
In this role, you will
- Leadership: Manage and mentor a team of software support technicians in providing efficient, tier-1 and tier-2 technical solutions for the Aurora autonomous fleet.
- Project Management: Manage the service desk queue, ensuring all technical incidents are triaged, tracked, and resolved within established SLAs.
- Technical Support: Serve as the primary escalation point for complex technical issues encountered by the autonomous vehicle fleet in the field.
- Stakeholder Communication: Reporting to senior management, collaborating with other departments (like operations, product, development, infrastructure), and keeping users informed.
- Strategic Planning: Anticipating future technical needs and planning for scalability and new technology.
- Process Development: Develop and implement ITIL-based support processes and workflow improvements in partnership with Product and Engineering teams.
- Root Cause Analysis: Identify themes on recurring technical failures and collaborate with developers to implement long-term fixes.
- Training: Conduct regular training sessions for the support team to deepen their Linux, networking, and system troubleshooting skills.
- Knowledge Base: Own the technical documentation (Knowledge Base), ensuring SOPs for fleet recovery and software deployment are accurate and up-to-date.
- Metrics: Develop and track KPIs that are required to support the user base
Required Qualifications
- 5+ years of experience in a technical support leadership or Help Desk Lead role within a high-growth tech environment.
- Bachelor’s degree or experience in a relevant field (e.g. Information Technology, Computer Science, etc)
- 3+ years of experience in team management (5+ team members)
- Proficient in technical areas like: Linux, IT systems, hardware/software integrations, networking, lidar/radar.
- Proven experience managing incident response and ticketing systems (e.g., FireHydrant,Jira Service Management, ServiceNow).
- Excellent communication skills with the ability to translate complex technical issues for non-technical stakeholders.
- Strong bias for action and the ability to make high-pressure decisions regarding vehicle safety and operational status.
Desirable Qualifications
- Deep technical knowledge of hardware/software integration, including experience troubleshooting sensors (Lidar/Radar) and industrial computers.
- Expert-level Linux skills: 5+ years of experience in Linux administration, command-line troubleshooting, and shell scripting.
- ITIL Foundation certification or experience with other service management frameworks.
- Experience in the Autonomous Vehicle (AV), robotics, or aerospace industries.
- Knowledge of computer networking (TCP/IP, UDP, VLANs) and data log analysis.
- Previous experience with Python or Go for automating support tasks.
- Troubleshoot and diagnose software and hardware issue escalations involving Linux environments, Lidar, Radar, and on-vehicle compute systems.
The base salary range for this position is $108,000 - $155,000 per year. Aurora’s pay ranges are determined by role, level, and location. Within the range, the successful candidate’s starting base pay will be determined based on factors including job-related skills, experience, qualifications, relevant education or training, and market conditions. These ranges may be modified in the future. The successful candidate will also be eligible for an annual bonus, equity compensation, and benefits.
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Working at AuroraAt Aurora, we bring together extraordinarily talented and experienced people united by the strength of our values. We operate with integrity, set outrageous goals, and build a culture where we win together — all without any jerks.
We believe in-person work increases collaboration, empathy and our ability to lead effectively. As a result, we operate in a hybrid work environment where Aurorans are in office at least 3 days per week.
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Our commitment to safety
At the core of everything we do is our commitment to safety. Building best-in-class self-driving technology will take time, and we believe that each employee at Aurora has a role in contributing to safety, every step of the way. Aurora expects commitment to our safety policies from every employee, and seeks candidates who take an active responsibility, can contribute to building an atmosphere of trust, and invest in the organization’s long-term success by prioritizing working safely, no matter what.
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