Manager, Autonomy Applications Engineering

What you'll do:

Lead, manage, mentor, and develop a team of Forward Deployed Engineers responsible for customer deployments and technical customer success 
Own team planning, prioritization, staffing, and execution for on-site and virtual customer engagements 
Provide technical leadership for customer onboarding, deployment, adoption, and operational success with the Hivemind SDK 
Serve as an escalation point and trusted technical leader for customers using Hivemind in real-world environments 
Translate customer goals, mission needs, and program objectives into clear technical milestones, execution plans, and team priorities 
Drive accountability across the team for achieving intended customer outcomes during active engagements 
Guide the team through debugging and resolution of complex software and integration issues 
Partner with customer teams and internal stakeholders to remove blockers, improve time-to-value, and sustain adoption 
Build mechanisms to collect, synthesize, and communicate recurring customer pain points, product gaps, and field insights to internal teams 
Represent the voice of the customer in internal planning and prioritization discussions 
Collaborate with product and engineering teams to improve product quality, usability, deployment readiness, and repeatable field execution 

You should apply if:

You enjoy leading technical teams while staying close to customers and field execution 
You are energized by coaching engineers through dynamic on-site challenges in real operational contexts 
You can translate ambiguous customer needs into structured technical plans, team priorities, and measurable outcomes 
You are comfortable making decisions, removing blockers, and helping a team drive progress under pressure 
You have strong engineering fundamentals and can build credibility quickly with technical stakeholders, customers, and direct reports 
You enjoy working across engineering, product, and customer teams to improve both product outcomes and customer success 
You are passionate about or have great interest in autonomy, robotics, aerospace, defense technology, or deploying advanced software in the field 

Required qualifications:

Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Computer Science, or a related technical field 
8+ years of relevant technical experience in software engineering, deployment engineering, solutions engineering, applications engineering, or forward deployed engineering 
2+ years of people management or formal technical leadership experience for engineers 
Experience in a customer-facing technical leadership role such as forward deployed engineering, solutions engineering, applications engineering, or customer engineering 
Strong technical background in software engineering, including the ability to review and debug complex systems and guide technical tradeoffs 
Strong proficiency with modern C++ and experience with Python in a professional setting 
Excellent communication, presentation, interpersonal, coaching, and people leadership skills 
Strong problem-solving and analytical skills, with sound judgment under pressure  
Ability to travel up to 30% 

Preferred qualifications:

Experience working in a startup environment 
Experience managing or leading teams in the defense, robotics, aerospace, or autonomous systems industry 
Experience building or scaling a forward deployed engineering, solutions engineering, applications engineering, or customer engineering function 
Experience gathering field feedback, influencing product direction based on customer needs, and establishing repeatable customer success playbooks 

Why join Shield AI:

Help build the defining defence technology company of this century.  
Work at the forefront of AI, autonomy, and next-generation defence systems.  
Operate in a highly entrepreneurial and mission-driven environment.  
Make a direct impact on international growth and strategic defence partnerships.  
Collaborate with exceptional teams solving some of the world’s most complex operational challenges.