Director of Business Development, Hivemind (Europe & Africa) (R3511)
Shield AI
What you'll do:
- Lead Regional Product Strategy: Own and execute the Hivemind product and integration strategy across Europe & Africa in coordination with Shield AI’s global product, engineering, and business development teams.
- Drive Adoption: Champion Hivemind with defense customers and OEMs, shaping concept of operations (CONOPS), autonomy requirements, and system architectures to ensure successful adoption.
- Drive Hivemind Solutions: Support end-to-end Hivemind integrations onto third-party platforms in collaboration with platform providers and Shield AI engineers.
- Drive Hivemind Enterprise: Support the delivery and scaling of Hivemind Enterprise.
- Engage Stakeholders: Serve as a key point of contact for government customers, OEMs, integrators, and field users across the region.
- Engage with Engineering & Product: Act as the bridge between regional customers and Shield AI engineering teams—translating mission needs into feature requests, system architectures, and integration priorities.
- Support Bids & Demos: Lead or support regional demonstration campaigns, RFP responses, and customer trials to showcase Hivemind capabilities.
- Influence Product Development: Provide regional customer feedback and mission insights to inform Shield AI’s autonomy roadmap and feature prioritization.
- Ensure Compliance: Navigate the technical aspects of export control, ITAR/EAR compliance, and system certification in coordination with internal legal and security teams.
Required qualifications:
- 10+ years of experience in defense, aerospace, or autonomous systems, including leadership roles in product, program, or technical delivery.
- Deep understanding of defense technology programs and autonomy, especially in unmanned systems.
- Proven track record of delivering complex systems involving software, hardware, and integration across government and industry partners.
- Strong familiarity with European defense procurement processes and operational environments.
- Exceptional communication, leadership, and cross-functional collaboration skills.
- Ability to travel up to 30–50% across Europe and Africa as required.
Preferred qualifications:
- Experience integrating autonomy software into UAVs, loitering munitions, or robotic platforms (hardware/software co-design, GNC, SWaP constraints).
- Experience with AI/ML-driven autonomy stacks, robotics middleware (e.g. ROS/ROS2), and embedded systems on air, land, or sea platforms.
- Knowledge of distributed C2 systems, edge networking, and multi-agent coordination.
- Prior work with Hivemind or similar autonomy frameworks in real-world operational contexts.
- Experience with NATO-standard architectures, STANAGs, or national defense software frameworks.
- Technical degree (e.g. robotics, computer engineering, aerospace, systems engineering) or relevant military/defense background.