Shield AI is seeking a Sr Staff Technical Product Manager, Product Support to establish and lead the product support organization for an existing UAS aircraft program. This role will own the strategy, operations, fleet sustainment, and cross-functional execution required to transition the program from fielded aircraft support into a scalable, data-driven sustainment enterprise.
This leader will define how Shield AI drives aircraft availability, maintenance execution, reliability improvement, technical data, spares, repairs, field support, and customer sustainment outcomes. The role will partner closely with all support departments to ensure product support is operationally effective, financially sustainable, and ready to scale across domestic and international customers.
What you'll do:
- Stand up and lead the product support operating model for an existing UAS aircraft program, including sustainment processes, governance, roles, metrics, and execution rhythms.
- Define the integrated product support strategy across maintenance, reliability, technical data, spares, repairs, support equipment, training, field support, and customer support operations.
- Own sustainment performance metrics including aircraft availability, mission readiness, maintenance burden, MTTR, MTBF, fault recurrence, turnaround time, material consumption, repair cycle time, and operating margin.
- Develop scalable product support processes for Contractor Logistics Support, Performance-Based Logistics, spares provisioning, repair flow, depot/vendor support, field support, and global sustainment operations.
- Drive maintenance concept development across preventive, corrective, condition-based, and reliability-centered maintenance approaches.
- Lead sustainment analytics and readiness improvement efforts by identifying key drivers of downtime, repeat failures, maintenance burden, supply constraints, and readiness degradation.
- Own the technical data and maintenance information ecosystem, including accuracy, usability, configuration alignment, field feedback, IETM/IPB inputs, and digital workflow integration.
- Establish engineering feedback loops that translate field issues, maintenance findings, reliability trends, and customer support needs into dispositions, corrective actions, product improvements, and system-level design changes.
Required qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree in engineering, aviation, business, finance, logistics, or a related field.
- 10+ years of experience in aerospace and defense sustainment, aviation product support, aircraft maintenance, logistics, reliability, or fleet operations.
- Experience leading or building sustainment, logistics, maintenance, repair, spares, technical data, or product support functions for fielded aircraft or complex aerospace systems.
- Strong understanding of aircraft sustainment drivers, including maintenance operations, readiness, reliability, failure modes, forecasting, supply chain, lifecycle support, and customer support performance.
- Demonstrated ability to translate operational, maintenance, reliability, logistics, and financial data into actionable product support decisions.
- Experience working cross-functionally across engineering, operations, supply chain, finance, program management, and customer-facing organizations.
- Experience supporting proposal development, pricing inputs, Basis of Estimate development, contract execution, or customer sustainment planning.
- Ability to operate in ambiguous, fast-moving environments and build scalable systems from early or immature support concepts.
- U.S. Citizenship required.
- Active Secret clearance required.
Preferred qualifications:
- Experience supporting UAS, autonomous aircraft, advanced aerospace systems, or defense aviation programs.
- Experience with Integrated Product Support, Contractor Logistics Support, Performance-Based Logistics, or lifecycle sustainment planning.
- Background in aircraft maintenance management, reliability engineering, maintainability analysis, fleet sustainment, or technical data systems.
- Experience with technical publications, IETM, IPB, configuration-driven maintenance, or digital maintenance workflows.
- Experience with MRO, ERP, logistics, fleet management, reliability analytics, or maintenance management systems.
- Experience improving sustainment cost structure, spares planning, repair flow, vendor performance, or operational efficiency.
- Prior experience leading cross-functional teams or standing up new support organizations for fielded aircraft programs.
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in engineering, aviation, business, finance, logistics, or related field
- 10+ years experience in aerospace and defense sustainment, aviation product support, aircraft maintenance, logistics, reliability, or fleet operations
- Experience leading or building sustainment, logistics, maintenance, repair, spares, technical data, or product support functions for fielded aircraft or complex aerospace systems
- Strong understanding of aircraft sustainment drivers including maintenance operations, readiness, reliability, failure modes, forecasting, supply chain, lifecycle support, and customer support performance
- Demonstrated ability to translate operational, maintenance, reliability, logistics, and financial data into actionable product support decisions
- Experience working cross-functionally across engineering, operations, supply chain, finance, program management, and customer-facing organizations
- Experience supporting proposal development, pricing inputs, Basis of Estimate development, contract execution, or customer sustainment planning
- Ability to operate in ambiguous, fast-moving environments and build scalable systems from early or immature support concepts
- U.S. Citizenship
- Active Secret clearance
- Experience supporting UAS, autonomous aircraft, advanced aerospace systems, or defense aviation programs
- Experience with Integrated Product Support, Contractor Logistics Support, Performance-Based Logistics, or lifecycle sustainment planning
- Background in aircraft maintenance management, reliability engineering, maintainability analysis, fleet sustainment, or technical data systems
- Experience with technical publications, IETM, IPB, configuration-driven maintenance, or digital maintenance workflows
- Experience with MRO, ERP, logistics, fleet management, reliability analytics, or maintenance management systems
- Experience improving sustainment cost structure, spares planning, repair flow, vendor performance, or operational efficiency
- Prior experience leading cross-functional teams or standing up new support organizations for fielded aircraft programs
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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Hybrid Workspace
Employees engage in a combination of remote and on-site work.
