Manager, Vehicle Development Strategy - Autonomous

Uber Uber · Consumer · New York, NY +2 · Operations

Manager role focused on defining and shaping early-stage vehicle and fleet concepts for autonomous mobility and delivery, working with cross-functional teams and external partners to translate ideas into actionable programs.

What you'd actually do

  1. Define and shape early-stage vehicle and fleet concepts, with a focus on the shift toward robotaxification and fleet-first models. Turn broad ideas into clear product and business directions, framing how vehicles, autonomy, and the Uber marketplace come together to deliver a step-change in consumer experience.
  2. Lead structured thinking across ambiguous spaces. Work with cross-functional partners to translate concepts into tangible outputs such as concept briefs, early roadmaps, prototype plans, or pilot proposals, with a clear view on user experience, operational viability, and commercial impact.
  3. Build a coherent view across hardware, autonomy, fleet operations, and marketplace dynamics. Connect the dots to ensure concepts reflect the realities of fleet-centric systems, including utilisation, maintenance, routing, and lifecycle considerations.
  4. Engage with external partners from early exploration through to shaping potential collaborations. Represent Uber’s perspective on future fleet models, influence vehicle and autonomy design decisions, and identify opportunities to diversify fleet supply across different vehicle types and partners.
  5. Turn promising concepts into actionable paths forward, whether through incubation, pilot programmes, or integration into existing initiatives. Evaluate where new vehicle types or fleet models can unlock differentiated rider experiences or operational advantages, and make clear calls on what to progress and what to stop.

Skills

Required

  • 6+ years working on early-stage products, concepts, or zero-to-one initiatives in mobility, robotics, or adjacent spaces
  • Bachelor's Degree

Nice to have

  • Background in concept engineering, advanced product incubation, or future mobility strategy
  • Familiarity with vehicle platforms, autonomy stacks, and fleet operations, but not necessarily as a domain specialist
  • Experience working with or evaluating autonomy companies (Wayve, Waymo, Aurora, etc.) from a strategic or product lens
  • Demonstrated ability to translate ambiguous future concepts into concrete product or business directions
  • Strong product and design thinking, able to frame problems from user, system, and commercial perspectives at once
  • Deep curiosity for how autonomous vehicles, fleet models, and marketplaces will evolve over the next 5 to 10 years
  • Ability to synthesise inputs across hardware, autonomy software, operations, and business models into clear strategic bets
  • Experience influencing senior stakeholders without formal authority, especially in unstructured problem spaces
  • Exposure to business development or partnerships, especially shaping early deals or joint explorations
  • Track record of turning exploratory work into funded programs or pilots

What the JD emphasized

  • early-stage products
  • zero-to-one initiatives
  • ambiguous spaces
  • ambiguous future concepts
  • unstructured problem spaces