Staff Technical Program Manager (R5791)

Shield AI is revolutionizing defense technology with AI-powered autonomous systems. As a Technical Program Manager, you will lead the integrated execution of complex autonomy-enabled UAS programs from requirements through deployment, combining systems-engineering rigor with program-management discipline and scaled-Agile leadership to align multiple engineering teams, manage technical and delivery risk, and deliver verified capability to customers.

Responsibilities

Lead end-to-end execution of complex UAS, autonomy, mission-system, or customer-delivery programs, achieving technical, schedule, cost, quality, and customer objectives; Own integrated program plans, including scope, milestones, schedules, critical path, resource needs, dependencies, risks, issues, decisions, and change control; Partner with technical leads to ensure requirements, interfaces, verification plans, test readiness, technical baselines, and customer acceptance criteria are clear, measurable, and traceable; Lead cross-functional system integration and test execution across hardware, software, autonomy, systems engineering, test, manufacturing, flight operations, cybersecurity, and field/customer teams; Drive timely resolution of technical, programmatic, and cross-team issues; facilitate trade studies, risk mitigations, recovery plans, and leadership decisions; Establish and lead an effective multi-team delivery cadence, including integrated planning, dependency reviews, program execution reviews, system demonstrations, release-readiness reviews, and continuous-improvement activities; Coordinate delivery across multiple engineering teams, releases, and customer commitments; identify and remove systemic blockers; Communicate technical status, risks, tradeoffs, decisions, and delivery outlook to engineering leadership, executives, customers, and external stakeholders; Develop and use program metrics and dashboards to improve execution predictability, integration readiness, requirements-verification status, risk posture, and release performance; Mentor project engineers and technical leads in integrated planning, systems-engineering execution, risk management, and cross-functional delivery practices

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Systems Engineering, Computer Science, Physics, or a related STEM discipline; Typically 8–12+ years of experience in systems engineering, project engineering, technical program management, aerospace, defense, robotics, autonomy, UAS, or a similarly complex technical environment; Demonstrated experience leading cross-functional technical programs involving multiple engineering disciplines and delivering integrated products, capabilities, or customer solutions; Strong systems-engineering experience, including requirements management, traceability, interface management, system integration, verification and validation, test planning/execution, and configuration or technical-baseline management; Proven program-management capability, including integrated planning and scheduling, scope management, resource coordination, risk and issue management, stakeholder communication, and execution reporting; Experience coordinating multiple Agile teams or technical workstreams toward shared releases, demonstrations, system-level milestones, or customer deliveries; Strong written, verbal, and executive communication skills; Ability to obtain and maintain a DoD security clearance; Willingness to travel up to 25%

Nice to have

Active DoD security clearance; PMP certification, INCOSE certification, SAFe Release Train Engineer certification, or equivalent demonstrated experience; Experience serving as a Technical Program Manager, Release Train Engineer, Integrated Product Team lead, Project Engineer, systems-integration lead, or comparable role; Experience facilitating multi-team planning, dependency management, program execution reviews, system demonstrations, release-readiness reviews, and continuous-improvement activities; Experience with Jira, Confluence, Jira Align, Microsoft Project, Smartsheet, Azure DevOps, Jama, Polarion, DOORS, Cameo, or comparable tools; Experience with UAS, autonomy, robotics, AI-enabled systems, mission systems, sensors, payloads, communications/datalinks, SATCOM, navigation, flight test, or fielded defense systems; Experience supporting DoD, intelligence-community, aviation, maritime, international-defense, or other mission-critical customer programs; Experience with manufacturing, production readiness, supplier coordination, cybersecurity, airworthiness/clearance-to-fly, configuration management, export compliance, or field deployment

Benefits

Full-time regular employees: Bonus; Benefits; Equity; Temporary employees: temporary benefits package (applicable after 60 days of employment)