Founded in 2015, 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 and V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft. 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.
What you'll do:
Lead, manage, mentor, and develop a team of Forward Deployed Engineers responsible for customer deployments and technical customer success Own team planning, prioritization, staffing, and execution for on-site and virtual customer engagements Provide technical leadership for customer onboarding, deployment, adoption, and operational success with the Hivemind SDK Serve as an escalation point and trusted technical leader for customers using Hivemind in real-world environments Translate customer goals, mission needs, and program objectives into clear technical milestones, execution plans, and team priorities Drive accountability across the team for achieving intended customer outcomes during active engagements Guide the team through debugging and resolution of complex software and integration issues Partner with customer teams and internal stakeholders to remove blockers, improve time-to-value, and sustain adoption Build mechanisms to collect, synthesize, and communicate recurring customer pain points, product gaps, and field insights to internal teams Represent the voice of the customer in internal planning and prioritization discussions Collaborate with product and engineering teams to improve product quality, usability, deployment readiness, and repeatable field execution You should apply if:
You enjoy leading technical teams while staying close to customers and field execution You are energized by coaching engineers through dynamic on-site challenges in real operational contexts You can translate ambiguous customer needs into structured technical plans, team priorities, and measurable outcomes You are comfortable making decisions, removing blockers, and helping a team drive progress under pressure You have strong engineering fundamentals and can build credibility quickly with technical stakeholders, customers, and direct reports You enjoy working across engineering, product, and customer teams to improve both product outcomes and customer success You are passionate about or have great interest in autonomy, robotics, aerospace, defense technology, or deploying advanced software in the field Required qualifications:
Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Computer Science, or a related technical field 8+ years of relevant technical experience in software engineering, deployment engineering, solutions engineering, applications engineering, or forward deployed engineering 2+ years of people management or formal technical leadership experience for engineers Experience in a customer-facing technical leadership role such as forward deployed engineering, solutions engineering, applications engineering, or customer engineering Strong technical background in software engineering, including the ability to review and debug complex systems and guide technical tradeoffs Strong proficiency with modern C++ and experience with Python in a professional setting Excellent communication, presentation, interpersonal, coaching, and people leadership skills Strong problem-solving and analytical skills, with sound judgment under pressure Ability to operate with a high degree of autonomy and accountability in ambiguous environments while leading a team through ambiguity Ability to travel up to 30% Preferred qualifications:
3+ years of experience working in a startup environment Experience managing or leading teams in the defense, robotics, aerospace, or autonomous systems industry Experience building or scaling a forward deployed engineering, solutions engineering, applications engineering, or customer engineering function Experience gathering field feedback, influencing product direction based on customer needs, and establishing repeatable customer success playbooks