Manager, Autonomy Applications Engineering

About the role

Shield AI is looking for a Manager, Autonomy Applications Engineering to lead a team of Forward Deployed Engineers who support customer deployment, adoption, and operational success with the Hivemind SDK. This senior, customer‑facing role combines technical leadership with people management and requires up to 30% travel.

Key responsibilities

• Lead, manage, mentor, and develop a team of Forward Deployed Engineers responsible for customer deployments and technical success.
• Own team planning, prioritization, staffing, and execution for on‑site and virtual customer engagements.
• Provide technical leadership for 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 and mission needs into clear technical milestones and execution plans.
• Guide the team through debugging and resolution of complex software and integration issues.
• Collect and communicate recurring customer pain points and field insights to internal product and engineering teams.

Required profile

• 8+ years of software, deployment, or solutions engineering experience.
• 2+ years of people management or formal technical leadership experience.
• Strong engineering fundamentals with ability to review and debug complex systems.
• Excellent communication, coaching, and interpersonal skills.
• Comfort operating with high autonomy in ambiguous environments.
• Willingness to travel up to 30% of the time.

Required skills

• Modern C++ programming.
• Professional Python experience.

What we offer

• Opportunity to help build a defining defence technology company.
• Work at the forefront of AI, autonomy, and next‑generation defence systems.
• Entrepreneurial and mission‑driven environment.
• Direct impact on international growth and strategic defence partnerships.
• Collaboration with exceptional teams solving complex operational challenges.