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 and X-BAT aircraft, Hivemind Enterprise, and the Hivemind Vision product lines. With offices and facilities across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and the 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 Sr Staff Technical Product Manager to define and drive the business and operational performance of sustainment across our UAS platforms and support systems. This role sits within the Aviation Sustainment team and owns the integration of sustainment operations, financial performance, logistics strategy, and fleet readiness outcomes to enable scalable, profitable product support.
You will operate at the intersection of sustainment, operations, business management, and program execution to ensure sustainment products and services are structured to maximize fleet availability, operational responsiveness, customer value, and long-term profitability.
This role will help establish the framework for future Performance-Based Logistics (PBL) and global sustainment offerings by integrating maintenance performance, operational analytics, forecasting, supply chain strategy, and customer support into a cohesive sustainment business model.
What you'll do:
Define and manage sustainment performance metrics across fleet readiness, maintenance burden, turnaround time, material consumption, and operating margin
Drive sustainment business strategy and operational execution to improve profitability, forecast accuracy, and customer support performance
Partner across Aviation Support, Engineering, Supply Chain, Flight Operations, and Program Management to align sustainment execution with operational and financial objectives
Establish scalable sustainment business processes supporting future PBL, CLS, spares, repair, and global support offerings
Develop forecasting models for sustainment demand, repair flow, material requirements, and fleet support capacity planning
Drive data-informed decision making using maintenance, reliability, operational, and financial analytics
Support sustainment proposal development, pricing strategies, Basis of Estimate (BOE) development, and customer engagements
Identify and drive improvements in sustainment cost structure, supply chain performance, and operational efficiency
Develop executive-level reporting and dashboards providing visibility into sustainment health, risks, opportunities, and business performance
Support transition from prototype support concepts to scalable operational sustainment models
Required qualifications:
Bachelor’s degree in business, finance, engineering, aviation, or related field
10+ years of experience in aerospace & defense business operations, sustainment, program finance, logistics, or product support environments
Experience managing financial and operational performance across sustainment, repair, spares, or aviation support activities
Strong understanding of sustainment drivers including maintenance operations, forecasting, readiness, supply chain, and lifecycle support
Experience working cross-functionally across operations, engineering, supply chain, finance, and program management organizations
Ability to translate operational and financial data into actionable business and sustainment decisions
Experience supporting proposal development, pricing strategy, and contract execution
Preferred qualifications:
Experience supporting aviation, UAS, or defense sustainment programs
Familiarity with Performance-Based Logistics (PBL), Contractor Logistics Support (CLS), or Integrated Product Support (IPS) concepts
Experience supporting international programs, FMS, DCS, or global sustainment operations
Experience with ERP, MRO, logistics, or fleet management systems
Familiarity with CBM+, reliability analytics, or sustainment performance modeling
MBA or advanced business degree preferred