What you'll do:
- Deliver proven, exceptional, and reliable performance in support of customer/end-user’s mission through flawless program management.
- Effectively collaborate, motivate, and lead relevant stakeholders to successfully deliver early, under budget, and with exceptional technical performance.
- Manage customer relationships and act as the key point of contact for the program
- Astutely balance and rebalance shifting customer priories related to cost, schedule, and technical parameters of programs.
- Provide hands-on management of all aspects of the program
- Drive the accurate and timely tracking and reporting of budget, resource, and project management standard metrics
- Complete critical path analyses including the evaluation of potential means to accelerate the pace or mitigate identified risks
- Identify potential bottlenecks or delays in programs and drive efforts to ensure projects stay on schedule
- 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 meetings, including driving all preparation and follow up activities
- Support an environment where accountability 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, team management
- Excellent interpersonal skills and verbal and written 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 delivering unmanned aerial systems, ISR programs, or defense technology programs Experience managing integrated software and hardware research and development programs
- Active Secret Security Clearance
- Project Management Professional (PMP) certification or equivalent program management training
- Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Systems Engineering, or related technical discipline
Skills Required
- 5+ years of program management experience for Department of Defense programs
- Ability to run advanced projects/programs consisting of multiple interrelated projects, 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 leadership, time management, organization, and team management skills
- Excellent interpersonal skills and verbal and written communication ability
- Expert understanding of complex project financials
- Demonstrated alignment with company values and leadership principles (accountability, trust, collaboration, servant leadership)
- Ability to obtain a Secret Security Clearance
- Experience delivering unmanned aerial systems, ISR programs, or defense technology programs
- Experience managing integrated software and hardware R&D programs
- Active Secret Security Clearance
- Project Management Professional (PMP) certification or equivalent program management training
- Bachelor's degree in Aerospace, Mechanical, Systems Engineering, or related technical discipline
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.
