VP of Autonomy

MISSION TAR’s mission is to power intelligence for the world. We are building the world’s first off-grid power plant for data centers powered by renewable technologies. We firmly believe AI should be built in the US for the benefit of all people. For that, power must be fast, clean and scalable. We are singularly focused on delivering GW-scale power faster than anyone has ever done, by rethinking every layer of the stack. We vertically integrate to solve every bottleneck, from racking systems to power electronics to dispatch algorithms to on-site construction. Leave your mark on the future of civilization-scale energy infrastructure. COMPANY TAR is both a hardware and software company, we are building out massive, critical, physical infrastructure. TAR is working directly with one of the largest compute providers to scale and deploy 5GWs by 2028. We operate on… - High ownership. High Agency. Own project end-to-end. Great people don’t need to be managed. - Speed. We achieve great things on incredible timelines. We push ourselves to go faster. - First principles. No ego. No hierarchy. Challenge every assumption. - Passion. Solving the energy problem is one of the largest challenges that faces the world now and in the future. ABOUT THE ROLE TAR builds its own construction robots to install a proprietary solar racking system at the scale and pace gigawatt campuses demand. The robots and the hardware they run are engineered together, and the autonomy software that drives them has to hold up in the dust, heat, and vibration of a live construction site in West Texas. As VP of Autonomy, you own the autonomy software organization: perception, planning, and controls for TAR's robotics systems. You take autonomy from early development through field deployment across a growing robot fleet, set the technical direction and system architecture, and hire and lead the engineers and managers who ship it. This is a leadership-team seat based at our San Francisco robotics facility, with real time in the field at our West Texas site. RESPONSIBILITIES - Define and own the autonomy software strategy and technical roadmap for TAR's robotics systems, tying engineering priorities to a hard construction schedule and the company's energy-infrastructure mission. - Build and lead the autonomy software organization, hiring, structuring, and developing individual contributors and engineering managers as the scope grows from one robot to a fleet. - Own system architecture across autonomy, perception, planning, and controls, making design choices that hold up under real operating conditions in the field, not only in simulation. - Drive the software development lifecycle end to end, from roadmap and prioritization through release, monitoring, and continuous improvement. - Partner directly with hardware and manufacturing leadership so autonomy software is co-developed with the robots it runs on rather than bolted on afterward. - Serve as the senior autonomy voice on the leadership team, shaping investment decisions, roadmap trade-offs, and deployment timing alongside engineering, product, and executive leadership. - Represent autonomy externally with customers, partners, and investors when technical credibility in robotics software is what earns trust. - Establish field-feedback loops so lessons from deployed robots feed directly back into the software roadmap and architecture. QUALIFICATIONS - 10+ years of software engineering experience, including 5+ years leading a software organization at the Director, Head of, or VP level. - Hands-on track record building and scaling a software team from an early stage, setting technical direction, engineering process, and hiring. - Demonstrated ownership of software or autonomy for a robotics system in production or field deployment, from early development through real-world operation. - Deep expertise in autonomous systems software: perception, planning, controls, or a closely related discipline. - Strong communication skills, comfortable representing autonomy and software decisions to executive leadership, customers, and investors. NICE TO HAVE - Experience with autonomy for energy, industrial, or infrastructure robotics, such as Anduril, Built Robotics, or Tesla, rather than consumer robotics. - A track record partnering closely with hardware teams on tightly coupled hardware, software, and autonomy systems. - Background in a high-growth, venture-backed robotics or hardware startup. - Experience standing up an autonomy software organization from zero to one, building it before you scale it. SALARY AND BENEFITS - Up to $15K relocation bonus - Unlimited PTO - Health, Dental, Vision insurance - $1K monthly stipend for meals