What you'll do:
- Deliver proven, exceptional, and reliable performance in support of customer/end-user missions through flawless program management.
- Lead execution of Foreign Military Sales programs from contract award through delivery, acceptance, training, sustainment, and follow-on support.
- Effectively collaborate, motivate, and lead relevant stakeholders to successfully deliver early, under budget, and with exceptional technical performance.
- Manage relationships with U.S. Government and international customers and act as the key point of contact for assigned programs.
- Coordinate closely with U.S. Government program offices, contracting organizations, international partners, engineering, operations, logistics, and sustainment teams.
- Astutely balance and rebalance shifting customer priorities related to cost, schedule, technical performance, and contractual requirements.
- Provide hands-on management of all aspects of the program.
- Drive the accurate and timely tracking and reporting of budget, resource, schedule, and project management standard metrics.
- Complete critical path analyses, including evaluation of potential means to accelerate execution or mitigate identified risks.
- Identify potential bottlenecks or delays in programs and drive efforts to ensure projects remain on schedule.
- Manage delivery, training, fielding, sustainment, and acceptance activities associated with international programs.
- Partner with leadership to guide prioritization of projects and utilization of resources.
- Establish and lead a consistent cadence of well-organized, well-facilitated, and effective internal and customer meetings, including driving all preparation and follow-up activities.
- Support an environment where accountability, customer trust, and program execution excellence are core.
Required qualifications:
- 5+ years of program management experience for Department of Defense programs.
- Ability to run advanced projects/programs consisting of multiple interrelated projects in a manner that is largely self-directed.
- Proven ability to focus on long-term business objectives.
- Willingness and ability to travel domestically and internationally as needed.
- Experience with scheduling tools such as Microsoft Project or Smartsheet.
- Excellent skills in leadership, time management, organization, and team management.
- Excellent interpersonal skills and verbal and written communication ability.
- Expert understanding of complex project financials.
- Demonstrated alignment with Shield AI's values and leadership principles, including accountability, trust, collaboration, and servant leadership.
- Ability to obtain a Secret Security Clearance.
Preferred qualifications:
- Experience managing Foreign Military Sales programs or supporting international military customers.
- Familiarity with Foreign Military Sales program management processes.
- Experience supporting unmanned aerial systems, aviation operations, or defense technology programs.
- Familiarity with aviation product delivery, maintenance, sustainment, and field support.
- Familiarity and/or previous working relationships with NAVAIR, including PMA-263 or other UAS program offices.
- Experience coordinating with U.S. Government acquisition, contracting, security cooperation, and logistics organizations.
- Experience supporting international delivery, training, acceptance, or sustainment activities.
- Active Secret Security Clearance.
- PMP certification or equivalent program management training.
- Undergraduate degree in engineering, business, or a related field.
Skills Required
- 5+ years of program management experience supporting Department of Defense programs
- Ability to manage advanced programs consisting of multiple interrelated projects in a largely self-directed manner
- Ability to focus on long-term business objectives
- Willingness and ability to travel domestically and internationally as needed
- Experience with scheduling tools such as Microsoft Project or Smartsheet
- Leadership, time management, organization, and team management skills
- Excellent interpersonal, verbal, and written communication skills
- Expert understanding of complex project financials
- Alignment with accountability, trust, collaboration, and servant leadership principles
- Ability to obtain a Secret Security Clearance
- Experience managing Foreign Military Sales programs or supporting international military customers
- Familiarity with Foreign Military Sales program management processes
- Experience supporting unmanned aerial systems, aviation operations, or defense technology programs
- Familiarity with aviation product delivery, maintenance, sustainment, and field support
- Familiarity or previous working relationships with NAVAIR, including PMA-263 or other UAS program offices
- Experience coordinating with U.S. Government acquisition, contracting, security cooperation, and logistics organizations
- Experience supporting international delivery, training, acceptance, or sustainment activities
- Active Secret Security Clearance
- PMP certification or equivalent program management training
- Undergraduate degree in engineering, business, or a related field
What the Team is Saying
Shield AI Compensation & Benefits Highlights
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Healthcare Strength — Company materials highlight comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage with mental-health support and an EAP. Third-party benefits summaries also portray health coverage as a strong component of the package.
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Retirement Support — Offerings include a 401(k) with employer matching, cited on the careers page and independent benefits directories. Multiple sources indicate a match exists, though exact formulas have varied over time and warrant confirmation.
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Equity Value & Accessibility — Company communications describe equity for all full-time hires and stock benefits as part of total rewards. Independent listings also note company equity/RSUs as a standard element.
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.
