What you'll do:
- AI Model Development & Training Platform
- Own the roadmap for foundation model training workflows, including dataset ingestion, curation, labeling, synthetic data generation, domain model training, and distillation pipelines.
- Define requirements for world models, robotics models, and VLA-based training, evaluation, and specialization.
- Lead the evolution of MLOps capabilities in Forge, including data lineage, experiment tracking, model versioning, and scalable evaluation suites.
- Data, Simulation & Synthetic Data Factory
- Define product requirements for synthetic data generation, simulation-integrated data flywheels, and automated scenario generation.
- Partner with Digital Twin, Simulation, and autonomy teams to convert natural-language mission inputs into data needs, training procedures, and model variants.
- Safe Deployment & Model Governance
- Lead the development of model governance and auditability tooling, including model cards, dataset rights, lineage tracking, safety gates, and compliance evidence.
- Build guardrails and workflows to safely deploy models onto edge hardware in disconnected, GPS- or comms-denied environments.
- Partner with Safety, Certification, Cyber, and Engineering teams to ensure traceability and evaluation pipelines meet operational and accreditation requirements.
- Edge Deployment & AI Factory Integration
- Partner with Pilot, EdgeOS, and hardware teams to integrate foundation-model-based perception and reasoning into autonomy behaviors.
- Define requirements for distillation, quantization, and inference tooling as part of the “three-computer” development and deployment model.
- Ensure closed-loop workflows between cloud model training and edge-native execution.
- Cross-Functional Leadership
- Collaborate with Engineering, Research, Product, Customer Engagement, and Solutions teams to ensure model outputs meet mission and platform constraints.
- Translate advanced AI capabilities into intuitive workflows that platform OEMs and partner nations can use to build sovereign AI factories.
- Sequence foundational capabilities that unblock autonomy, simulation, and customer-facing product teams.
- User & Customer Impact
- Develop deep empathy for ML engineers, autonomy developers, and Solutions engineers who rely on the platform.
- Capture operational data gaps, mission-driven model needs, and domain-specific specialization requirements.
- Lead demos and onboarding for model-development capabilities across internal and external teams.
Required qualifications:
- 7+ years of experience in product management or highly technical ML/AI product roles.
- 2+ years of experience in a hands-on software development role.
- Strong engineering background (Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Robotics, or related field).
- Deep understanding of foundation models, robotics models, multimodal models, MLOps, and training infrastructure.
- Experience managing complex products spanning data pipelines, cloud training clusters, model governance, and edge deployments.
- Proven success partnering with research teams to transition ML innovations into stable, production-grade workflows.
- Familiarity with simulation-based data generation and large-scale data management.
- Excellent communicator with strong cross-functional leadership skills.
Preferred qualifications:
- Experience working on autonomy, robotics, embedded AI, or mission-critical systems.
- Hands-on familiarity with GPU infrastructure, distributed training, or data lakehouse architectures.
- Experience supporting defense, dual-use, or safety-critical AI systems.
- Background designing or operating AI Factory–style pipelines (data → training → evaluation → distillation → edge deployment).
- Advanced degree in engineering, ML/AI, robotics, or a related field.
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.
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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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Employees engage in a combination of remote and on-site work.
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