Shield AI is seeking a Senior Manager, Sustainment and Product Health to establish, scale, and lead the aircraft division’s sustainment and product health organization. Reporting to the Director, Fleet Sustainment, this leader will build the team structure, operating model, processes, metrics, and execution rhythm needed to support a growing fleet of advanced aircraft systems.
This role leads a multidisciplinary team spanning Fleet Sustainment Operations, Reliability Data Engineering, Sustainment Analytics, Configuration and Change Control, Reliability and Maintainability Engineering, Sustainment Project Management, MRB Engineering, Structures Sustainment, and Obsolescence and Lifecycle Management.
The Senior Manager will convert fleet data, maintenance activity, field failures, configuration changes, repair needs, and lifecycle risks into coordinated actions that improve fleet readiness, operational availability, reliability, maintainability, repairability, and long-term supportability.
This is a builder-leader role for someone who can create structure, lead technical teams, and drive disciplined execution in a fast-paced fielded aircraft environment.
What you'll do:
- Establish and scale the aircraft division sustainment and product health organization, including team structure, roles, operating rhythms, metrics, reporting, and cross-functional governance.
- Lead sustainment execution across fleet operations, product health, reliability analytics, configuration control, obsolescence management, MRB support, repair governance, and fielded-system issue resolution.
- Develop and mature the product health operating model, including fleet health reviews, reliability readouts, top degrader reviews, corrective action reviews, configuration reviews, and sustainment risk reporting.
- Drive cross-functional resolution of customer-impacting and fleet-impacting issues across Fleet Support, Engineering, Product Support, Quality, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Program Management, Operations, and Customer Success.
- Establish scalable processes for failure tracking, root cause coordination, corrective action closure, field retrofit planning, service actions, maintenance release coordination, and issue escalation.
- Lead analysis of fleet operational data, maintenance activity, failure trends, reliability performance, readiness impacts, repair needs, and maintenance burden.
- Ensure reliability and maintainability insights are converted into product improvements, inspection changes, diagnostics, service guidance, maintenance process improvements, and engineering corrective actions.
- Maintain governance over fielded-configuration discipline for aircraft hardware, software, payloads, ground equipment, support equipment, customer-specific configurations, and fielded modifications.
- Oversee obsolescence and lifecycle management activities, including end-of-life risk tracking, supplier risk visibility, last-time-buy coordination, alternate part planning, redesign coordination, and fleet impact assessment.
- Establish governance for MRB activity, repair dispositions, returned material evaluation, nonconforming hardware, production escapes, depot repairs, and field repair processes.
- Develop executive-level product health dashboards covering fleet availability, reliability trends, readiness degraders, recurring failures, configuration status, obsolescence risk, repair status, and corrective action progress.
- Hire, mentor, and develop sustainment leaders, technical contributors, analysts, and engineering partners as the organization scales.
- Build a team culture centered on operational accountability, engineering rigor, data-driven decision making, disciplined execution, customer urgency, and continuous improvement.
Required qualifications:
- 10+ years of experience in aviation sustainment, fleet operations, sustaining engineering, reliability engineering, maintenance operations, product support, technical operations, or related aerospace/defense environments.
- 5+ years of experience leading technical, operational, engineering, sustainment, reliability, product support, maintenance, or fielded-system teams.
- Proven ability to establish, scale, or mature a technical, operational, engineering, sustainment, product support, or fleet support organization.
- Experience supporting fielded aircraft, UAS, defense systems, complex electromechanical systems, robotics, aerospace platforms, or other mission-critical hardware/software products.
- Strong understanding of fleet sustainment, operational readiness, reliability improvement, maintainability, corrective action systems, configuration control, repair governance, and lifecycle support.
- Experience leading product health, fleet health, reliability, readiness, or sustainment governance mechanisms for deployed or customer-operated systems.
- Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional issue resolution across Engineering, Quality, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Product Support, Fleet Operations, Maintenance, Program Management, Operations, and Customer Success.
- Experience using operational data, maintenance data, reliability trends, field reports, returned material findings, and failure analysis to drive product or sustainment decisions.
- Strong program execution discipline, including action tracking, issue escalation, risk management, prioritization, operating rhythm design, and leadership reporting.
- Ability to balance engineering rigor with operational urgency, customer impact, fleet readiness, and business priorities.
- Strong people leadership skills, including hiring, coaching, performance management, organizational design, and development of technical contributors and emerging leaders.
- Strong executive communication skills, with the ability to brief technical issues, fleet risks, product health trends, organizational needs, and sustainment priorities to senior leaders.
Preferred qualifications:
- Experience supporting military, government, international, or deployed aviation customers.
- Experience with Group 3 or Group 5 UAS, unmanned aircraft, defense aviation, aerospace sustainment, or operational fleet support.
- Familiarity with FRACAS, Reliability and Maintainability programs, RCCA, failure review boards, product health reviews, top degrader management, or fleet readiness reporting.
- Experience with configuration management, engineering change processes, service bulletins, field retrofits, software/hardware release readiness, or as-maintained fleet configuration control.
- Experience with MRB processes, nonconforming material disposition, depot repair, field repair development, returned material analysis, or production escape resolution.
- Experience with obsolescence management, lifecycle management, supplier discontinuance planning, alternate part qualification, redesign coordination, or last-time-buy planning.
- Familiarity with Performance-Based Logistics, Contractor Logistics Support, Integrated Product Support, or lifecycle sustainment planning.
- Experience building dashboards, metrics, or analytics environments for fleet health, operational availability, reliability performance, maintenance burden, repair status, or corrective action execution.
- Familiarity with ITAR, export-controlled technical data, controlled customer environments, or defense operational support.
- Active Secret or Top Secret clearance preferred.
Skills Required
- 10+ years experience in aviation sustainment, fleet operations, sustaining engineering, reliability engineering, maintenance operations, product support, technical operations, or related aerospace/defense environments.
- 5+ years experience leading technical, operational, engineering, sustainment, reliability, product support, maintenance, or fielded-system teams.
- Proven ability to establish, scale, or mature a technical, operational, engineering, sustainment, product support, or fleet support organization.
- Experience supporting fielded aircraft, UAS, defense systems, complex electromechanical systems, robotics, aerospace platforms, or other mission-critical hardware/software products.
- Strong understanding of fleet sustainment, operational readiness, reliability improvement, maintainability, corrective action systems, configuration control, repair governance, and lifecycle support.
- Experience leading product health, fleet health, reliability, readiness, or sustainment governance mechanisms for deployed or customer-operated systems.
- Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional issue resolution across Engineering, Quality, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Product Support, Fleet Operations, Maintenance, Program Management, Operations, and Customer Success.
- Experience using operational data, maintenance data, reliability trends, field reports, returned material findings, and failure analysis to drive product or sustainment decisions.
- Strong program execution discipline, including action tracking, issue escalation, risk management, prioritization, operating rhythm design, and leadership reporting.
- Ability to balance engineering rigor with operational urgency, customer impact, fleet readiness, and business priorities.
- Strong people leadership skills, including hiring, coaching, performance management, organizational design, and development of technical contributors and emerging leaders.
- Strong executive communication skills, with the ability to brief technical issues, fleet risks, product health trends, organizational needs, and sustainment priorities to senior leaders.
- Experience supporting military, government, international, or deployed aviation customers.
- Experience with Group 3 or Group 5 UAS, unmanned aircraft, defense aviation, aerospace sustainment, or operational fleet support.
- Familiarity with FRACAS, Reliability and Maintainability programs, RCCA, failure review boards, product health reviews, top degrader management, or fleet readiness reporting.
- Experience with configuration management, engineering change processes, service bulletins, field retrofits, software/hardware release readiness, or as-maintained fleet configuration control.
- Experience with MRB processes, nonconforming material disposition, depot repair, field repair development, returned material analysis, or production escape resolution.
- Experience with obsolescence management, lifecycle management, supplier discontinuance planning, alternate part qualification, redesign coordination, or last-time-buy planning.
- Familiarity with Performance-Based Logistics, Contractor Logistics Support, Integrated Product Support, or lifecycle sustainment planning.
- Experience building dashboards, metrics, or analytics environments for fleet health, operational availability, reliability performance, maintenance burden, repair status, or corrective action execution.
- Familiarity with ITAR, export-controlled technical data, controlled customer environments, or defense operational support.
- Active Secret or Top Secret clearance.
What the Team is Saying
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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