Shield AI is seeking an Autonomy Applications Engineer, Learning & Development to help accelerate customer adoption of Hivemind through world-class technical training and enablement. This is a highly technical, customer-facing role for someone who is equally comfortable mastering complex autonomy software, building cutting-edge training content, and leading in-person training engagements with customer engineers and technical stakeholders.
In this role, you will become a deep expert in the Hivemind software stack and serve as a trusted resource for customers learning to build autonomy with Hivemind. You will develop and maintain training materials, deliver instructor-led training, and help translate product complexity into clear, effective, mission-relevant learning experiences.
You will also work closely with internal engineering, product, and go-to-market teams to ensure training content stays aligned with the latest product capabilities and field feedback. This role is ideal for someone who enjoys teaching, building, and solving technical problems at the intersection of software, autonomy, and customer success.
This role includes approximately 30% travel for customer site visits specifically to facilitate in-person training engagements.
What you'll do:
- Become an expert user of the Hivemind software stack and workflows
- Lead in-person and hands-on customer training engagements for Hivemind software
- Develop, maintain, and continuously improve high-quality technical training materials, guides, labs, and instructor-led content
- Train customer engineers and technical teams to effectively use Hivemind software and build autonomy applications
- Help customers troubleshoot software usage issues and support debugging of in training contexts
- Collaborate closely with engineering and product teams to incorporate customer feedback into training content and product improvements
- Develop and maintain technical documentation and learning resources that help scale customer adoption
- Help define best practices for autonomy training and customer enablement across Shield AI deployments
- Represent Shield AI as a technical educator and product expert, helping drive the global proliferation of autonomous systems
You should apply if:
- You enjoy teaching highly technical material and can turn complex software concepts into clear, engaging learning experiences
- You are energized by customer-facing work and enjoy facilitating in-person training engagements
- You have strong engineering fundamentals and can build credibility quickly with technical users
- You are comfortable operating with autonomy and ownership in dynamic customer environments
- You enjoy working across engineering, product, and customer teams to improve both user outcomes and product adoption
- You are passionate about or have great interest in autonomy, robotics, or defense technology
Required qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Computer Science, or a related technical field
- 7+ years of relevant experience
- 3+ years of experience in an applications engineering, integration engineering, solutions engineering, technical training, technical enablement, or similarly customer-facing technical role
- Strong technical background in software engineering
- Strong proficiency with modern C++
- Experience with Python in a professional setting
- Excellent communication, presentation, and interpersonal skills
- Strong problem-solving and analytical skills
- Clear interest in being an educator engineer who enjoys instructing technical users and developing their capability
- Ability to travel approximately 30%, including occasional international travel a
Preferred qualifications:
- 3+ years of experience working in a startup environment
- Experience in the defense, robotics, aerospace, or autonomous systems industry
- Experience developing technical documentation, training materials, or instructional content for complex technical products
- Experience designing hands-on technical labs, workshops, or instructor-led training programs
Why this role matters:
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Computer Science, or a related technical field
- 7+ years of relevant experience
- 3+ years in applications engineering, integration engineering, solutions engineering, technical training, technical enablement, or similar customer-facing technical role
- Strong technical background in software engineering
- Strong proficiency with modern C++
- Experience with Python in a professional setting
- Excellent communication, presentation, and interpersonal skills
- Strong problem-solving and analytical skills
- Clear interest in being an educator engineer who enjoys instructing technical users and developing their capability
- Ability to travel approximately 30%, including occasional international travel
- 3+ years of experience working in a startup environment
- Experience in the defense, robotics, aerospace, or autonomous systems industry
- Experience developing technical documentation, training materials, or instructional content for complex technical products
- Experience designing hands-on technical labs, workshops, or instructor-led training 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
Founded in 2015, Shield AI is a venture-backed deep-tech company with the mission of protecting service members and civilians with intelligent systems. Its products include the V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft, Hivemind Enterprise, and the Hivemind Vision product lines. With offices and facilities across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and the Asia-Pacific, Shield AI’s technology actively supports operations worldwide.
Why Work With Us
What makes Shield AI special is our people. We unlock the power of autonomy, and in the face of overwhelming odds and challenges, we find ways to win and make a difference for our customers. We bring together software, AI, and aerospace engineering disciplines to deploy the most intelligent aviation capabilities in the world.
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Employees engage in a combination of remote and on-site work.
