The Director of Engineering Excellence & Enablement is a strategic leader responsible for improving the effectiveness, efficiency, and execution maturity of the engineering organization. Reporting to the VP of Engineering, this leader partners closely with Engineering, Product, Program Management, and other cross-functional leaders to translate company and product strategy into scalable engineering capabilities, operational rhythms, and enterprise-wide initiatives.
This role is equal parts strategy, execution, organizational design, and operational excellence. Success is measured by enabling engineering teams to deliver predictably, operate efficiently, and continuously improve while maintaining alignment across the broader organization.
What you'll do:
- Partner with the VP of Engineering to translate business and product strategy into engineering capabilities, operating models, and execution plans.
- Develop and evolve the engineering operating system, including planning processes, governance, decision-making frameworks, and organizational rhythms.
- Identify capability gaps and recommend investments in people, processes, tooling, and organizational structure.
- Define and drive engineering excellence initiatives focused on developer productivity, quality, reliability, operational maturity, and continuous improvement.
- Establish engineering effectiveness metrics and dashboards that provide visibility into organizational health, delivery performance, and engineering productivity.
- Champion adoption of modern engineering practices, standards, and continuous improvement methodologies.
- Establish and facilitate consistent engineering operating cadences including strategic planning, quarterly planning, roadmap reviews, engineering leadership meetings, business reviews, and operational retrospectives/after-action reviews.
- Drive accountability for execution across engineering leadership while identifying and resolving organizational bottlenecks.
- Improve planning accuracy, prioritization, dependency management, and execution predictability.
- Lead complex, cross-functional engineering initiatives that span multiple teams and organizations.
- Drive strategic programs such as AI enablement, developer experience improvements, technical governance, and organizational scaling initiatives.
- Coordinate executive communications, status reporting, risk management, and stakeholder engagement for enterprise programs.
- Partner with engineering leaders to improve organizational health, team effectiveness, and leadership maturity.
- Standardize engineering processes where appropriate while preserving team autonomy.
- Foster a culture of operational excellence, continuous learning, and data-informed decision making.
Required qualifications:
- 10+ years of engineering leadership, technical program management, engineering operations, or related experience.
- Demonstrated success leading large-scale cross-functional initiatives in complex technology organizations.
- Experience establishing engineering operating models, governance, planning processes, and execution frameworks.
- Strong understanding of modern software engineering organizations, Agile development, DevOps, and engineering metrics in the Aerospace & Defense industry.
- Proven ability to influence senior leaders without relying on direct authority.
- Exceptional communication, facilitation, organizational, and executive presentation skills.
- Strong analytical mindset with experience using data to drive organizational improvements.
Preferred qualifications:
- Experience partnering directly with VP or C-level technology executives.
- Experience scaling engineering organizations through periods of rapid growth or transformation.
- Familiarity with developer productivity and organizational effectiveness measurement.
Skills Required
- 10+ years of engineering leadership, technical program management, engineering operations, or related experience
- Demonstrated success leading large-scale cross-functional initiatives in complex technology organizations
- Experience establishing engineering operating models, governance, planning processes, and execution frameworks
- Strong understanding of modern software engineering organizations, Agile development, DevOps, and engineering metrics in the Aerospace & Defense industry
- Proven ability to influence senior leaders without relying on direct authority
- Exceptional communication, facilitation, organizational, and executive presentation skills
- Strong analytical mindset with experience using data to drive organizational improvements
- Experience partnering directly with VP or C-level technology executives
- Experience scaling engineering organizations through periods of rapid growth or transformation
- Familiarity with developer productivity and organizational effectiveness measurement
What the Team is Saying
Shield AI Compensation & Benefits Highlights
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Healthcare Strength — Company materials describe excellent medical, dental, and vision coverage alongside a mental‑health EAP. Site perks such as an onsite gym in DC and a gym discount in San Diego support a health‑focused offering.
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Retirement Support — Careers materials highlight a 401(k) with company match as part of the standard package. A Total Rewards overview emphasizes retirement features within a broader, transparent compensation view.
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Career-Linked Recognition & Rewards — Compensation for in‑demand technical and senior go‑to‑market roles is described as competitive, with visible engineering ranges and top‑end packages. This points to meaningful upside tied to role, level, and scarce skills.
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 Offices
Hybrid Workspace
Employees engage in a combination of remote and on-site work.
