Field Operations Lead

Field Operations Lead

Location: Austin, TX (Hybrid on-site, with up to 50% travel, including deployments to forward locations overseas)

Clearance Requirement: U.S. Citizen; active Secret or higher clearance strongly preferred, with the ability to obtain/maintain a security clearance required

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.

Our Field Operations team plays a critical role in bringing our technology to life through the assembly, integration, deployment, and field testing of unmanned systems that directly support mission-critical testing and operations.

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

We are seeking a Field Operations Lead to grow and lead our Field Operations team, a tight, high-trust, high-skill group of five, rapidly scaling to 10+, as it deploys our autonomous orchestration systems in demonstrations, test campaigns, and field exercises alongside Mission Operations and Engineering Operations.

This is a player-coach role, not a headquarters role. You will hold real authority over tasking and priorities, but you will exercise it from the shop floor and the field: physically present, hands-on, constantly listening, removing blockers, and pushing decision authority down rather than concentrating it. You will be the voice of Field Operations, shaping tasking horizons, demo lead times, and priorities in partnership with Mission Operations, Engineering, and company leadership.

The team's horizontal, collaborative culture is its greatest asset. Your job is to scale that culture, bringing the structure and rhythm a growing team needs while keeping what makes it work. Speed and proclivity to act is the greatest asset, this needs to be harnessed and unleashed, the Field Operations Leader will be at the forefront of making that happen.

People are more important than hardware, no plan survives first contact, and no structure eliminates the audible. To mitigate this risk of uncertainty, you will build teams of teams through strong human relationships, across NODA, with clients, and ultimately with the armed forces. As our systems transition to the field, you will develop and deliver hands-on training that turns members of the armed forces into confident, self-sufficient operators of NODA technology, while leading your team to gather observations on pain points and requirements.

Travel up to 50%, including evenings/weekends during mission-critical events and demonstrations, and a willingness to deploy to forward locations overseas, including austere environments.

• Lead from the Field. Serve as a senior on-site NODA representative and customer point of contact at multi-domain field exercises and demonstrations, directing setup/teardown, troubleshooting, and execution (including at overseas locations).
• Grow the Team. Help recruit, hire, and onboard Field Operations Specialists and own the onboarding curriculum that transfers both craft and strategic context.
• Develop People and Teams. Build the training program — certification pipelines (e.g., FAA Part 107), cross-training, and knowledge transfer — and coach each team member along distinct career lanes, building depth and redundancy in critical skills as the team scales.
• Own the Safety Program. Own flight-worthiness verification, integration timelines, and test review processes that maximize learning from deliberate R&D test attrition; ensure a safe, professional shop and field environment.
• Integrate and Plan. Lead operational coordination with Mission Operations and Engineering Operations — setting tasking horizons, demo lead times, and clear points of contact — and plan and adapt complex, multi-site deployment logistics as conditions change.
• Build/Run…