Shield AI is a venture-backed defense-tech company with the mission of protecting service members and civilians with intelligent systems. Its products include Hivemind autonomy software, V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft, and Aechelon simulation and synthetic reality technologies. With offices and facilities across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific, Shield AI’s technology actively supports operations worldwide. For more information, visit www.shield.ai. Follow Shield AI on LinkedIn, X, Instagram, and YouTube.
Build the engineering teams behind the mission
Our hiring needs evolve quickly, and the answers will not always be in a finished workforce plan or a neatly defined job descriptions! We are looking for a strategic, hands-on Talent Acquisition leader to set and deliver the end-to-end approach to attracting and hiring exceptional engineering talent across APJ.
What you'll do:
- Translate evolving business priorities into a focused hiring strategy. Partner with the engineering leaders and PX Partners to understand our growing hiring needs, challenging assumptions, and setting priorities ensuring that Shield AI attracts, engages and hires top engineering talent.
- Deliver critical hires yourself. Own a portfolio of complex senior engineering searches from market mapping and outreach through assessment, offer and close.
- Make internal and external partnerships count. Work in a close partnership with PX/TA CoEs and other internal stakeholders to align on priorities and solve for challenges. Define the strategic partner model for our vendors and RPO providers, manage their capacity and accountability to business priorities, and determine where external expertise creates the greatest value versus direct internal ownership.
- Build a scalable inhouse TA capability. Hire, coach and lead an in-house TA team, fostering a high performance, data-driven collaborative team culture.
- Drive hiring momentum and alignment. Anticipate obstacles, resolve competing priorities and equip leaders with clear recommendations so hiring decisions keep pace with the business.
- Create strong technical talent pipelines. Build relationships in specialist engineering communities in Autonomy, Robotics, Vision, Perception, Simulation, Machine Learning and Infrastructure. Help candidates understand the mission and the technical challenges they will solve for at Shield AI.
- Raise the bar on assessment and experience. Help hiring managers define what good looks like, run well defined focused interview processes and drive best in class candidate experience, even when moving at speed.
- Turn insights into powerful hiring decisions. Track pipeline health, hiring outcomes, capacity and spend; make practical changes based on what the data and candidate market are telling you.
- Navigate a sensitive environment. Work closely with the internal teams to incorporate confidentiality, security and role-specific eligibility requirements into hiring plans and candidate processes.
Required qualifications:
- Proven ability to operate independently as the regional face of Talent Acquisition, building trusted relationships with local leaders and adapting global recruiting processes and approaches to regional needs whilst maintaining alignment with global priorities.
- 15+ years of experience building and leading technical recruiting teams at scale in a high-growth aerospace, defence, robotics or autonomous systems organisations.
- Appropriate technical fluency to partner credibly with senior engineering leaders on areas such as autonomy stacks, robotics systems, embedded software development, distributed systems, simulation environments and machine learning.
- Experience managing RPO providers and holding partners accountable for delivery and candidate quality and experience.
- Experience leading change management, process redesign, stakeholder adoption, and operational enablement in support of Talent Acquisition transformation
- Proven ability to navigate complex engineering talent landscapes and competitive compensation structures whilst delivering on ambitious HC targets
- Experience using ATS systems, sourcing platforms and recruiting analytics tools to drive hiring decisions and pipeline visibility
- Experience with high growth, transformation and ambiguous environments
- Exceptional communication, data storytelling and negotiations skills
Skills Required
- 15+ years of experience building and leading technical recruiting teams at scale in high-growth aerospace, defense, robotics, or autonomous systems organizations
- Experience operating independently as a regional Talent Acquisition leader and adapting global recruiting processes to regional needs
- Technical fluency in autonomy, robotics, embedded software, distributed systems, simulation, and machine learning
- Experience managing RPO providers and holding partners accountable for delivery, quality, and candidate experience
- Experience leading change management, process redesign, stakeholder adoption, and Talent Acquisition transformation
- Experience navigating engineering talent markets and competitive compensation structures while delivering hiring targets
- Experience using ATS systems, sourcing platforms, and recruiting analytics tools
- Experience working in high-growth, transformational, and ambiguous environments
- Exceptional communication, data storytelling, and negotiation skills
What the Team is Saying
Shield AI Compensation & Benefits Highlights
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Healthcare Strength — Company materials highlight comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage with mental-health support and an EAP. Third-party benefits summaries also portray health coverage as a strong component of the package.
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Retirement Support — Offerings include a 401(k) with employer matching, cited on the careers page and independent benefits directories. Multiple sources indicate a match exists, though exact formulas have varied over time and warrant confirmation.
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Equity Value & Accessibility — Company communications describe equity for all full-time hires and stock benefits as part of total rewards. Independent listings also note company equity/RSUs as a standard element.
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.
