What you'll do:
- Lead X-BAT technical capture efforts for US Domestic opportunities, ensuring solutions are technically sound, feasible, and aligned with Shield AI’s product roadmap.
- Capture efforts will focus on Aircraft, but will require familiarity with the entire Shield AI Product suite.
- Manage multiple priorities in a dynamic, fast-paced environment, including customer engagements, pre-sales technical support, proposal contributions, and solution development.
- Develop and execute technical strategies that result in high-quality, compliant, and compelling proposals to maximize win probability.
- Serve as the primary technical lead for Go To Market (GTM) engagements, interfacing cross-functionally with BD, BD Operations, Engineering, Operations, Program Management, and Product Management to ensure customer needs are met.
- Manage technical content for proposals, requests for information (RFIs), white papers, and capability briefs, ensuring accuracy, clarity, and compliance.
- Support early-phase acquisition activities (concept notes, requirements drafts, unsolicited proposals).
- Shape early operational concepts aligned to X-BAT capabilities.
- Support BD and Account Executives by becoming a Subject Matter Expert in Shield AI products, providing technical expertise in customer engagements, capability briefings, and solution discussions to drive successful sales outcomes.
- Act as a liaison between BD and Engineering, ensuring that new customer requests are technically feasible and align with product capabilities, timelines, and roadmaps.
- Contribute to the technical documentation repository, maintaining capability briefs, specifications, FAQs, and other sales collateral for internal and external use.
- Provide training and mentorship to BD teams on technical aspects of Shield AI’s solutions, enabling them to articulate our value proposition confidently.
- Support competitive analysis and market intelligence specific to the US tactical aircraft market, ensuring the BD team remains informed on industry trends and competitor capabilities.
- Contribute to process improvement efforts, leveraging lessons learned from customer engagements to refine BD workflows and technical capture strategies.
- Analyze the unique operational and environmental factors of the assigned region, producing high-impact white papers and briefs that inform the product roadmap and drive solutions aligned to customer mission needs.
Required qualifications:
- 10+ years of experience in technical sales, capture, engineering, or program management within defense or aerospace industries.
- Demonstrated familiarity with US Department of War procurement processes and military force structures.
- Prior experience at a major defense prime (US OEM or equivalent) supporting tactical aircraft, CCA/ACA, or Group 4/5 UAS programs.
- Experience interfacing with government or military acquisition stakeholders.
- Strong systems-level understanding of aircraft design tradeoffs, operational CONOPS, and mission-based engineering.
- Proven ability to translate technical concepts into compelling narratives for senior stakeholders.
- Bachelor’s degree in engineering, applied science, or related technical discipline.
- Exceptional written and verbal communication skills.
- Ability to operate independently in a fast-paced, evolving startup environment.
- Experience supporting defense sales or industrial partnerships.
- Background in maintenance / sustainment on combat aircraft and/or in mission systems integration.
- Experience contributing to early-phase design or conceptual aircraft programs.
- Prior military service experience.
- Advanced degree in engineering, aerospace, systems engineering, or business.
- 5+ years of experience in an presales/solutions engineering role.
- 3+ years of experience working in a startup environment.
- Demonstrated understanding of specific DoW operational scenarios and systems.
Skills Required
- 10+ years of experience in technical sales, capture, engineering, or program management within defense or aerospace industries.
- Demonstrated familiarity with US Department of War procurement processes and military force structures.
- Prior experience at a major defense prime (US OEM or equivalent) supporting tactical aircraft, CCA/ACA, or Group 4/5 UAS programs.
- Experience interfacing with government or military acquisition stakeholders.
- Strong systems-level understanding of aircraft design tradeoffs, operational CONOPS, and mission-based engineering.
- Proven ability to translate technical concepts into compelling narratives for senior stakeholders.
- Bachelor's degree in engineering, applied science, or related technical discipline.
- Exceptional written and verbal communication skills.
- Ability to operate independently in a fast-paced, evolving startup environment.
- Experience supporting defense sales or industrial partnerships.
- Background in maintenance / sustainment on combat aircraft and/or in mission systems integration.
- Experience contributing to early-phase design or conceptual aircraft programs.
- Prior military service experience.
- Advanced degree in engineering, aerospace, systems engineering, or business.
- 5+ years of experience in an presales/solutions engineering role.
- 3+ years of experience working in a startup environment.
- Demonstrated understanding of specific DoW operational scenarios and systems.
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.
