Manager, Autonomy Applications Engineering (R3722)
Shield AI
IT
San Diego, CA, USA · New York, USA · San Diego, CA, USA
Posted on Sep 11, 2025
Founded in 2015, Shield AI is a venture-backed deep-tech company with the mission of protecting service members and civilians with intelligent systems. Its products include the V-BAT aircraft, Hivemind Enterprise, and the Hivemind Vision product lines. With offices in San Diego, Dallas, Washington, D.C., Boston, Abu Dhabi (UAE), Kyiv (Ukraine), and Melbourne (Australia), Shield AI’s technology actively supports U.S. and allied operations worldwide. For more information, visit www.shield.ai. Follow Shield AI on LinkedIn, X and Instagram.
Job Description:
As Manager of Autonomy Applications Engineering, you will lead a team of 4–5 engineers focused on developing internal demonstrations that reflect realistic customer use cases. Your team will act as the voice of the customer—building and validating Concepts of Operations (CONOPs) that demonstrate how our SDK is used in autonomy applications. Leveraging reference platforms and test environments, your team will ensure our solutions are operationally ready prior to customer engagement. In addition, the team will be responsible for developing advanced training content to help customers and internal teams gain deep proficiency in our SDK. A key motivator for the team is seeing customers successfully deploy autonomy applications in 120 days—a milestone that brings a deep sense of accomplishment and validates the team’s impact.
What you'll do:
- Manage and mentor a team of 4–5 applications engineers focused on customer-aligned workflows and solutions
- Lead cross-functional projects to build and maintain internal CONOPs that mirror real-world use of the SDK
- Work hands-on with reference autonomy platforms (e.g., quadcopters, UAV, simulations) to validate system functionality
- Act as the voice of the customer, turning field feedback into actionable insights for product and engineering teams
- Collaborate across product, engineering, and GTM teams to ensure our tools and demos anticipate customer needs
- Ensure internal validation and demonstration of features ahead of customer delivery
- Oversee the development and rollout of advanced technical training courses and materials
- Align demonstrations and training with the goal of enabling customers to achieve first deployment within 120 days
- Celebrate and share learnings from customer successes, reinforcing the team’s contribution to fast and effective adoption
- Track team performance, project milestones, and training delivery outcomes
Required qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering, Computer Science, or a related technical field
- 7+ years of industry experience, including:
- 2+ years in a customer-facing or autonomy-focused engineering role
- 2+ years leading technical teams or engineering projects
- Experience with autonomy platforms or robotic systems (hardware and/or simulation)
- Proficiency in C++ and working knowledge of Python
- Strong communication, organizational, and cross-functional collaboration skills
- Ability to convert technical workflows into high-quality training and documentation
Preferred qualifications:
- Experience developing or validating autonomy software for aerial or ground robotics platforms
- Familiarity with concept development, mission rehearsal, or operational planning
- Experience creating and delivering technical training programs or enablement content
- Background in defense, aviation, or high-assurance embedded systems environments
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Full-time regular employee offer package:
Pay within range listed + Bonus + Benefits + Equity
Temporary employee offer package:
Pay within range listed above + temporary benefits package (applicable after 60 days of employment)
Salary compensation is influenced by a wide array of factors including but not limited to skill set, level of experience, licenses and certifications, and specific work location. All offers are contingent on a cleared background and possible reference check. Military fellows and part-time employees are not eligible for benefits. Please speak to your talent acquisition representative for more information.
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Shield AI is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know.