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.
Job Description:
Shield AI is seeking a Strategy & Operations Director to help define enterprise strategy and ensure its operational execution. This role offers immersive exposure to the company’s most critical decisions — spanning aircraft systems, AI software (Hivemind), autonomy hardware, and international growth.
As a core member of the Strategy & Operations team, you’ll apply structured problem‑solving, financial rigor, and operational discipline to turn strategic priorities into actionable, measurable outcomes. The role combines high‑performance expectations with a strong learning and development environment — ideal for professionals seeking to grow into future strategy, operations, or general management leaders.
What you'll do:
Enterprise Strategy Development:
- Lead the multi‑year strategic planning and annual operating strategy cycles.
- Evaluate portfolio tradeoffs across platforms, software, hardware, and emerging growth vectors.
- Conduct market sizing, competitive analysis, and scenario modeling across U.S. and allied defense markets.
Capital Allocation & Business Case Rigor:
- Build financial models and analytic frameworks for investment decisions (new platforms, manufacturing, international expansion).
- Assess TAM, margin structure, capital intensity, payback, and risk‑adjusted returns.
- Contribute to the development of enterprise‑wide capital allocation frameworks and governance processes.
Operationalization of Strategy:
- Translate strategic priorities into cross‑functional execution plans with defined KPIs and milestones.
- Track and report on progress through structured operating cadences (monthly and quarterly performance reviews).
- Identify bottlenecks, analyze root causes, and recommend actionable solutions to sustain execution velocity.
Required qualifications:
- Min 12+ years of experience with Bachelors, 8+ with Masters, and 5+ with PhD.
- Min 4+ years’ experience in a top-tier strategy consulting, corporate strategy or other high‑rigor roles.
- Strong analytical and conceptual problem‑solving abilities.
- Demonstrated ability to structure ambiguous problems and drive insight through analysis.
- Financial modeling and analytical capability (unit economics, forecasting, scenario analysis).
- Experience or strong interest in complex, technical, or regulated industries (aerospace, defense, AI, or advanced manufacturing preferred).
- Ability to work collaboratively across teams and influence senior stakeholders.
- U.S. citizenship required (ability to obtain and maintain a security clearance).
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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.
