Operating at the intersection of strategy, business operations, communications, and program execution, you will partner closely with leaders across Finance, Engineering, Product, Operations, People, Legal, Security, IT, Facilities, and other business functions to deliver organizational priorities and drive business outcomes.
This role requires a combination of strategic thinking, operational excellence, exceptional communication skills, and the ability to influence across the organization without direct authority.
What you'll do:
- Partner with executive leadership to translate strategic priorities into operating plans, execution roadmaps, and measurable business outcomes.
- Lead strategic planning processes, including the Annual Operating Plan (AOP), OKRs, business reviews, and governance rhythms to drive organizational alignment and execution.
- Drive complex cross-functional initiatives and day-to-day business operations, ensuring priorities remain on track, removing roadblocks, and delivering results.
- Act as the central coordination point across business functions, maintaining visibility into key workstreams, managing dependencies, and ensuring timely execution of strategic and operational priorities.
- Develop executive presentations, board materials, business communications, and reporting that support informed decision-making.
- Analyze business performance, operational metrics, and organizational data to identify trends, risks, opportunities, and actionable recommendations.
- Improve organizational effectiveness by designing scalable operating mechanisms, business processes, governance frameworks, and operational workflows.
- Represent the executive in leadership meetings, strategic discussions, and cross-functional forums, ensuring decisions are translated into clear actions and follow-through.
- Build trusted relationships across the organization while exercising sound judgment, maintaining confidentiality, and acting as a force multiplier by increasing executive capacity and enabling consistent execution.
Required qualifications:
- Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience.
- 10+ years of experience in strategy, business operations, management consulting, program management, product operations, military leadership, or a related field.
- Experience leading complex cross-functional initiatives involving multiple executive stakeholders.
- Strong strategic thinking combined with excellent operational execution skills.
- Demonstrated ability to influence without direct authority and build alignment across diverse organizations.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including experience preparing executive presentations and strategic communications.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving capabilities with the ability to synthesize complex information into actionable recommendations.
- Experience establishing executive operating rhythms, governance processes, business reviews, and planning mechanisms.
- Strong organizational and project management skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.
- High degree of judgment, integrity, professionalism, and discretion when handling confidential information.
Preferred qualifications:
- MBA or advanced degree in Business, Engineering, Public Policy, or a related discipline.
- Experience supporting senior executives as a Chief of Staff, Strategic Business Partner, or Business Operations Leader.
- Experience working in aerospace, defense, AI, robotics, autonomous systems, or other highly technical industries.
- Experience in high-growth startup or scale-up environments.
- Familiarity with strategic planning, OKRs, portfolio management, and business operations.
- Experience preparing materials for executive leadership teams, boards of directors, or investors.
- Demonstrated success leading cross-functional transformation or organizational change initiatives.
- Strong financial acumen with experience supporting annual planning, budgeting, and resource allocation.
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience
- 10+ years of experience in strategy, business operations, management consulting, program management, product operations, military leadership, or a related field
- Experience leading complex cross-functional initiatives involving multiple executive stakeholders
- Strong strategic thinking combined with excellent operational execution skills
- Demonstrated ability to influence without direct authority and build alignment across diverse organizations
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including experience preparing executive presentations and strategic communications
- Strong analytical and problem-solving capabilities with ability to synthesize complex information into actionable recommendations
- Experience establishing executive operating rhythms, governance processes, business reviews, and planning mechanisms
- Strong organizational and project management skills with ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment
- High degree of judgment, integrity, professionalism, and discretion when handling confidential information
- MBA or advanced degree in Business, Engineering, Public Policy, or related discipline
- Experience supporting senior executives as a Chief of Staff, Strategic Business Partner, or Business Operations Leader
- Experience working in aerospace, defense, AI, robotics, autonomous systems, or other highly technical industries
- Experience in high-growth startup or scale-up environments
- Familiarity with strategic planning, OKRs, portfolio management, and business operations
- Experience preparing materials for executive leadership teams, boards of directors, or investors
- Demonstrated success leading cross-functional transformation or organizational change initiatives
- Strong financial acumen with experience supporting annual planning, budgeting, and resource allocation
Shield AI Compensation & Benefits Highlights
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Healthcare Strength — Healthcare coverage includes medical, dental, vision, and mental-health support, with company materials describing excellent coverage. Feedback suggests these offerings are comprehensive and consistently highlighted across official and third-party benefit lists.
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Equity Value & Accessibility — Equity is granted to all full-time hires, with RSU structures and tools like Carta Tax intended to improve understanding and tax timing. Feedback suggests this broad-based ownership approach is a notable component of total rewards.
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Parental & Family Support — Benefits include paid parental leave, fertility support, childcare benefits, family medical leave, and onsite resources such as a Mother's Room. Feedback suggests the family-oriented offerings are more expansive than basic coverage.
Shield AI Insights
What We Do
At Shield AI, you won't wait years to see your work reach the field. You'll build hardware and software that operates in the real world right now, in the hands of the people who depend on it. Hivemind, our AI pilot, has been flying since 2018. It has flown more than 30 platforms, including an F-16, and it now sits under a U.S. Air Force production contract for Collaborative Combat Aircraft. When you write code or shape a system here, you contribute to technology with a proven flight record and a clear production future. V-BAT flies intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions with an operational record that stretches from Ukraine to the Indo-Pacific. It delivers eyes where they matter most, in the most demanding conditions on earth. The teams behind it watch their work get tested where the stakes are real. X-BAT takes its first flight this year. It's an AI-piloted fighter that needs no runway, built to operate where traditional aircraft can't. Join now and you help shape a program at its earliest, most formative stage. That's the kind of ground-floor work that defines a career. Do the most impactful work of your life, on problems that matter. Autonomy at this level asks a lot of you. You'll take on problems in perception, planning, and control that few teams anywhere are equipped to solve. You'll work across disciplines, from aerospace and robotics to machine learning and systems engineering, alongside people who hold themselves to an exacting standard and expect the same from you. Our mission is clear: protect service members and civilians with intelligent systems. That purpose runs through every decision, every design review, and every deployment. It's why the work here carries a weight you can feel. Ready to join our mission? Explore our open roles and find where you fit.
Why Work With Us
Founded in 2015 by a former Navy SEAL, Shield AI builds AI pilots and uncrewed aircraft. Veterans aren't an afterthought here, they're at every level. It's why the work carries weight: AI pilots and uncrewed aircraft flying real missions, from Ukraine to the Indo-Pacific, protecting service members and civilians.
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Shield AI Teams
Shield AI Offices
Hybrid Workspace
Employees engage in a combination of remote and on-site work.
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