[Hiring] Chief Technology Officer @Kodama Systems

Role Description

We are looking for a hands-on CTO to lead our seven-person software and hardware team, own the technical roadmap, and drive our transition from production teleoperation to autonomy. You will set the direction for our autonomy and safety systems, develop a strong engineering team, and help shape what Kodama builds.

What You'll Do

• Own Kodama’s technical strategy and engineering roadmap.
• Lead and mentor a multidisciplinary team of five software engineers and two hardware engineers.
• Drive the development and deployment of increasingly autonomous capabilities on heavy equipment operating in production.
• Lead the development of safety-critical systems as autonomy expands.
• Represent Kodama’s technology with investors, OEM partners, and other external stakeholders.

Qualifications

• Deep experience with autonomous vehicles, autonomous machinery, or mobile robotics.
• Experience leading and developing highly capable senior and staff engineers.
• Strong judgment about the tradeoffs required to ship reliable robotic systems in the physical world.
• The ability to communicate a clear technical vision internally and externally.
• Low ego, high ownership, intellectual honesty, and comfort operating in a fast-moving environment.

Particularly Valuable Experience

• Outdoor or off-road autonomy.
• Experience with modern learning-based robotics, including world models, robot foundation models, generative policies, imitation learning, or reinforcement learning.
• Safety-critical robotic or vehicle systems.
• Experience as a CTO, VP of Engineering, senior engineering leader, or technical founder at a robotics or autonomous-systems company.

Location & Travel

This role may be remote within the United States, with a preference for candidates based in the Southeast. Expect approximately 10–20% travel, primarily to customer and development sites.

Compensation

Kodama offers competitive executive cash compensation and meaningful equity ownership commensurate with a true executive leadership role.