What you'll do:
- Define and execute a unified People Operations vision, operating model, and multi-year roadmap spanning candidate interviewing, hiring, employee onboarding and employee lifecycle operations.
- Lead day-to-day operations, ensuring consistent, high-quality service delivery across the employee lifecycle.
- Lead and scale a rapidly growing People Operations function through direct leadership, with full accountability for team performance, service quality, and outcomes across the candidate and employee lifecycle.
- Establish team structure, capacity planning, KPIs, and operating rhythms to support hiring velocity, onboarding effectiveness, and ongoing operational excellence.
- Serve as a strategic advisor to executives on workforce operations, hiring experience, service delivery, and AI enablement.
- Transform People Operations into a self-service-first, AI-enabled support model.
- Design and implement service delivery architecture, including automation, case management, and digital support channels to support rapid company scaling and global expansion.
- Lead enterprise knowledge management to enable self-service and improve consistency and AI effectiveness.
- Own and drive service performance, including SLAs, response times, quality, and employee satisfaction.
- Establish governance for AI-enabled execution and support, ensuring accuracy, compliance, and appropriate escalation.
- Continuously improve services through analytics, feedback, and process optimization.
- Select and manage external vendors and platforms specific People Operations.
- Own end-to-end workforce lifecycle processes, from interview coordination and candidate logistics through onboarding, employee changes, and offboarding.
- Ensure seamless handoffs between recruiting and employee operations to deliver a cohesive, high-quality experience.
- Lead process redesign initiatives to improve hiring efficiency, onboarding speed, service quality, and risk reduction.
- Establish policies, documentation, controls, and service standards.
- Drive automation strategies to reduce manual effort and improve quality.
- Ensure operational continuity and audit readiness.
- Lead change management and adoption for new processes, tools and capabilities.
- Ensure accuracy, security, and integrity of employee data and workforce transactions.
- Establish governance, audit, and validation practices to reduce risk.
- Partner with HRIS, Payroll, Legal, and Finance to maintain compliance and alignment with internal controls.
- Drive enterprise accountability for data quality across People systems.
- Partner with HRIS, IT, Talent Acquisition, and Digital teams to define and execute the People Operations technology roadmap.
- Support adoption and optimization of platforms such as UKG, Jira Service Management, Ashby, and automation tools.
- Translate business needs across the People Operations function into scalable systems and workflows.
- Establish related service metrics, dashboards, and reporting frameworks.
- Monitor SLAs, KPIs, and operational health indicators.
- Use data to identify trends, inefficiencies, and opportunities for automation.
- Drive continuous improvement and data-informed decision-making.
- Measure service effectiveness, employee experience, and AI performance.
- Evaluate emerging technologies, industry trends, and evolving best practices to continuously modernize and scale People Operations.
Required qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, or related field.
- 15+ years of progressive HR or People Operations experience in complex or high-growth environments.
- 7+ years leading People Operations or HR Shared Services teams.
- Experience designing and scaling shared services and service delivery models.
- Proven track record of operational transformation, including automation and AI-enabled solutions.
- Strong expertise in employee lifecycle operations, compliance, and data governance.
- Experience partnering with HRIS and enterprise technology teams.
- Demonstrated success with KPIs, SLAs, and operational reporting.
- Strong leadership, communication, and stakeholder management skills.
Preferred qualifications:
- Master’s degree or MBA in a related field.
- Experience in technology, aerospace, defense, or high-growth industries.
- Experience building AI-enabled service models and knowledge management systems.
- Experience with UKG, Ashby and Jira
- Background in service management, digital transformation, or operational excellence.
- Knowledge of Lean, Six Sigma, Agile, or ITIL methodologies.
- Experience supporting multi-state or global workforce operations.
- Relevant certifications (e.g., SHRM-SCP, SPHR, PMP, Lean Six Sigma, ITIL).
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, or related field
- 15+ years of progressive HR or People Operations experience in complex or high-growth environments
- 7+ years leading People Operations or HR Shared Services teams
- Experience designing and scaling shared services and service delivery models
- Proven track record of operational transformation, including automation and AI-enabled solutions
- Strong expertise in employee lifecycle operations, compliance, and data governance
- Experience partnering with HRIS and enterprise technology teams
- Demonstrated success with KPIs, SLAs, and operational reporting
- Strong leadership, communication, and stakeholder management skills
- Master's degree or MBA
- Experience in technology, aerospace, defense, or high-growth industries
- Experience building AI-enabled service models and knowledge management systems
- Experience with UKG, Ashby and Jira
- Background in service management, digital transformation, or operational excellence
- Knowledge of Lean, Six Sigma, Agile, or ITIL methodologies
- Experience supporting multi-state or global workforce operations
- Relevant certifications (e.g., SHRM-SCP, SPHR, PMP, Lean Six Sigma, ITIL)
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 Teams
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Shield AI Offices
Hybrid Workspace
Employees engage in a combination of remote and on-site work.
