Senior Program Manager, Test Execution — Aurora Innovation

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.

What we are looking for

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.

We’re searching for a Senior Program Manager, Test Execution (Weekend). Aurora's Product Operations team plays a critical role in turning development priorities into safe, executable testing outcomes. This role provides dedicated weekend and adjacent-day (Thursday - Monday) on-site coverage across all Development Testing Operations work-streams, ensuring engineering teams have consistent program management support.

This Program Manager acts as the single point of contact for all assigned engineering areas during the weekend window, standing in for the full team of workstream PMs. You are the first line of defense for test execution questions and escalations, the direct escalation point for on-site issues, and the bridge to leadership when problems can't be resolved.

This is functionally an irregular-operations (IROPs) role: the weekday team builds the plan, and you deliver it. The job isn't to wait for direction; it's to develop and work a known set of playbooks, make the call within defined limits, and know exactly when to pick up the phone to escalate.

This role requires breadth over depth: rather than owning a single engineering relationship, you need working fluency across all the workstreams the team supports so you can triage confidently on your own during the window when the rest of the team is offline.

In This Role, You Will

• Serve as the direct escalation point for all Program Managers' workstreams during the Saturday-Sunday coverage window, resolving first-tier test execution questions and issues and looping in the right people (Engineering, Safety, Operations, leadership) when they exceed first-tier scope.
• Own and execute pre-built response playbooks and flag gaps in those playbooks back to the weekday teams
• Define and work within a decision-authority matrix: know without checking which calls you're empowered to make solo, which need a same-day heads-up to leadership, and which require an immediate escalation before proceeding.
• Make real-time, hands-on calls on resource substitution — reassigning available assets, adjusting test sequencing, or re-routing around a blocked track/route — to keep the weekend plan moving without waiting for Monday.
• Support test execution questions and escalations across the full breadth of engineering areas the team covers, not just a single workstream.
• Review the previous week's plan against actual execution and author the weekly status/summary report on how the week went
• Recommend and make pivots to the upcoming week's plan based on weekend execution results, blockers, and on-the-ground changes (weather, asset downtime, route/track issues).
• Track and communicate blockers, delays, and anomalies to stakeholders in a timely manner, using judgment on when an issue needs to go straight to leadership versus being resolved at the PM level.
• Maintain clear documentation of weekend decisions, pivots, and escalations so the Monday–Friday team has full continuity into the new week.
• Contribute to a living contingency playbook: after each weekend, document any novel failure mode encountered and the resolution

Required Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in Program Management, Project Management, Product Operations, Technical Operations, or a related role.
• Demonstrated ability to operate independently and make sound first-tier decisions without real-time access to the full weekday team or leadership.
• Working knowledge across multiple engineering/test workstreams, with the ability to quickly get oriented on unfamiliar issues.
• Ability to develop a functional understanding of hardware/software stacks, including how sensors, calibration, and software versions interact to impact vehicle behavior.
• Strong organizational and written/verbal communication skills, with comfort producing clear status reports and escalating to leadership when needed.
• Safety focused, with the ability to operate effectively in environments where safety is a core requirement.
• Required to work a Thursday–Monday schedule, including weekend on-site presence.
• Ability to operate effectively in a fast-paced, evolving environment with shifting priorities and incomplete information.
• Comfortable making resourceful, hands-on calls under incomplete information — improvising a workaround, reallocating an available asset, or adjusting a test sequence in the moment rather than escalating by default.

Desirable Qualifications

• Experience covering or backstopping multiple PM workstreams simultaneously, or prior experience in a "floating" or on-call operational role.
• Proven experience managing relationships and expectations with senior leadership, escalating appropriately without over- or under-escalating.
• Comfort using basic data, dashboards, or reporting to support prioritization and execution decisions.
• Experience in autonomous vehicles, automotive, robotics, logistics, or similarly complex operational environments.

The base salary range for this position is $100,000 - $145,000 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.

Working at Aurora

At 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.

Our Careers page provides insight into what it is like to work at Aurora, and you can find all the latest updates in our Newsroom.

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.

Our commitment to inclusion

Aurora considers candidates without regard to their race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, pregnancy status, parent or caregiver status, ancestry, political affiliation, veteran and/or military status, physical or mental disability, or any other status protected by federal or state law. Aurora considers qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state, and local law. We are also committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities and disabled veterans in our job application procedures. If you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, you may contact us at [email protected].

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