The Presales Field Solutions Engineer (FSE) will provide technical expertise and support to customers prior to the sale of the Shield AI V-BAT Aircraft. The FSE serves as a technical force multiplier for the Go To Market (GTM) team, providing expertise on Shield AI’s products and services to drive customer engagement, solution alignment, and successful deal capture. This role bridges the gap between our technology roadmap and our customers' operational needs.
What you'll do:
- Lead technical capture efforts for European opportunities, ensuring solutions are technically sound, feasible, and aligned with Shield AI’s product roadmap. Capture efforts will focus on the V-BAT 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 GTM engagements in Europe, 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 BD and Account Executives by becoming a Subject Matter Expert (SME) 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, ensuring the BD team remains informed on industry trends and competitor capabilities.
- Support customer demonstrations through the shaping, planning, and execution phases as an on-site V-BAT SME.
- 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:
- 5+ years of experience in technical presales, business development, or solutions engineering, preferably in defense, aerospace, AI-driven technology, or U.S. Federal/International government environments.
- Bachelor’s degree in engineering or related field.
- Experience working with U.S. Federal or International government requirements.
- Strong technical acumen in Aircraft, UAS, multispectral sensor systems, AI, autonomy, and defense technology (experience with V-BAT, Hivemind, and Vision Systems preferred).
- Outstanding analytical and quantitative problem-solving skills, with a demonstrated aptitude for technical assessments and solution development.
- Strong technical writing ability to author requests for information, abstracts, and quad charts.
- Proven leadership experience in a work setting and/or through extracurricular activities.
- Exceptional communication skills, with the ability to translate complex technical concepts into clear, compelling messaging for both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
- Ability to work collaboratively in a cross-functional team environment and effectively engage with stakeholders at all levels of an organization.
- Track record of high performance, including a demonstrated work ethic, reliability as a teammate, kindness, and commitment to high standards.
- Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, nontraditional defense contractor environment.
Preferred qualifications:
- Experience managing Foreign Military Sale and Direct Commercial Sale proposals.
- Strong technical background especially with Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UASs).
- Demonstrated thorough understanding and knowledge of the military operations and the acquisition process.
- 3+ years of experience in an presales/solutions engineering role
- 3+ years of experience working in a startup environment
Skills Required
- 5+ years of experience in technical presales, business development, or solutions engineering
- Bachelor's degree in engineering or related field
- Experience working with U.S. Federal or International government requirements
- Strong technical acumen in Aircraft, UAS, multispectral sensor systems, AI, autonomy, and defense technology
- Outstanding analytical and quantitative problem-solving skills
- Strong technical writing ability to author requests for information, abstracts, and quad charts
- Proven leadership experience in a work setting and/or through extracurricular activities
- Exceptional communication skills; translate complex technical concepts for technical and non-technical stakeholders
- Ability to work collaboratively in a cross-functional team environment
- Track record of high performance, reliability, and commitment to high standards
- Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, nontraditional defense contractor environment
- Experience with V-BAT, Hivemind, and Vision Systems
- Experience managing Foreign Military Sale and Direct Commercial Sale proposals
- Strong technical background with Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UASs)
- Thorough understanding of military operations and the acquisition process
- 3+ years of experience in a presales/solutions engineering role
- 3+ years of experience working in a startup environment
- Active DoD security clearance
What the Team is Saying
Shield AI Compensation & Benefits Highlights
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Healthcare Strength — Healthcare coverage includes medical, dental, vision, and mental-health support, with company materials describing excellent coverage. Feedback suggests these offerings are comprehensive and consistently highlighted across official and third-party benefit lists.
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Equity Value & Accessibility — Equity is granted to all full-time hires, with RSU structures and tools like Carta Tax intended to improve understanding and tax timing. Feedback suggests this broad-based ownership approach is a notable component of total rewards.
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Parental & Family Support — Benefits include paid parental leave, fertility support, childcare benefits, family medical leave, and onsite resources such as a Mother's Room. Feedback suggests the family-oriented offerings are more expansive than basic coverage.
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.
