Senior Manager, Autonomy Applications Engineering

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 nine 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 Follow Shield AI on LinkedIn , X , Instagram , and YouTube .

JOB DESCRIPTION:

As a Senior Manager of Autonomy Applications, you'll lead a team of applications engineers, providing expert support for customers using our SDK. You'll prioritize and resolve complex issues, mentor your team, and collaborate with internal teams to drive product improvements. With your technical expertise and leadership, you'll play a key role in enhancing customer engagement and supporting the growth of our robotics and autonomy solutions.

WHAT YOU'LL DO:

• Serve as the functional team lead for a team of customer facing applications engineers
• Guide, mentor, and develop a team of applications engineers to provide expert support and troubleshooting for customers
• Manage, prioritize and delegate customer issues
• Support BD in pre-sales and post-sales activities as a technical resource
• Ensure timely and effective technical assistance, troubleshooting, and onboarding support for customers implementing the SDK
• Maintain a deep understanding of the SDK's features, updates, and use cases to guide the team and assist customers
• Oversee and contribute to the creation and continuous improvement of technical resources, such as user guides, FAQs, and knowledge bases
• Act as an escalation point for complex customer issues and provide hands-on support when necessary
• Coordinate closely with product development, sales, and customer success teams to ensure customer feedback informs SDK improvements and new features
• Act as a liaison between customers and internal teams to advocate for customer needs and communicate product updates
• Develop and grow your teammates through mentorship and training
• Set performance goals, conduct regular evaluations, and foster a collaborative team environment
• Develop and refine support processes to improve team efficiency, customer satisfaction, and response times.
• Track and report on key metrics related to customer engagement, issue resolution, and team performance to stakeholders.
• Conduct minimal travel (~10%) to other Shield AI sites for demos, team offsites, etc.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Experience developing software for mobile robot / autonomy applications
• Experience in the defense aviation or robotics industry
• Experience building and running a 5–7-person enterprise software applications/solutions engineering team
• Typically requires a minimum of 10 years of related experience with a Bachelor's degree; or 9 years and a Master's degree; or 7 years with a PhD; or equivalent work experience.

$189,561 - $284,341 a year

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.

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.

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.