Principal Technical Program Manager, MMA

San Diego, California / Seattle, Washington / Dallas, TexasX-BAT Division – X-BAT Technical Program Management /Full Time Employee /On-site Principal Technical Program Manager — MMAShield AI’s mission is to protect service members and civilians with intelligent systems. We develop autonomy software and advanced aircraft to help U.S. and allied forces accomplish their missions in challenging environments.

About the Role Shield AI is seeking a Principal Technical Program Manager to lead execution of our aircraft development efforts supporting the U.S. Air Force’s MMA program. This leader will translate customer objectives into an integrated execution plan spanning concept development, aircraft and mission systems integration, prototype demonstration, flight test, and production readiness.

You will partner closely with the program leader, Chief Engineer, engineering teams, manufacturing, supply chain, and government stakeholders to deliver against technical, schedule, and cost commitments. Success requires balancing mission capability with affordability, modularity, and speed—making disciplined decisions about what must be developed, what can be reused, and what is required to demonstrate readiness for the next phase.

The ideal candidate combines engineering depth with program leadership experience and a record of delivering complex aerospace systems under demanding timelines. You can challenge assumptions, resolve competing priorities, and build alignment across organizations while maintaining clear ownership of program outcomes.

What You’ll DoOwn integrated program execution. Establish and maintain the program baseline, connecting engineering deliverables, hardware availability, supplier commitments, integration activities, test events, and customer milestones.

Translate customer needs into executable plans. Partner with systems engineering and technical leadership to define program scope, measurable success criteria, requirements priorities, and verification milestones as the program evolves.

Drive multidisciplinary coordination. Align air vehicle, propulsion, avionics, flight controls, autonomy, mission systems, and ground systems teams around dependencies and interface commitments.

Keep affordability and production at the center of execution. Incorporate unit-cost targets, component availability, manufacturing complexity, and sustainment considerations into program planning and decision-making.

Manage customer and partner commitments. Lead program reviews with government stakeholders and industry partners, communicate progress candidly, and coordinate contractual deliverables with contracts and program leadership.

Anticipate and retire risk. Identify critical-path threats, immature technologies, supplier constraints, and resource gaps early; assign mitigation owners and drive timely resolution.

Build the path to production. Align development schedules with tooling, long-lead procurement, manufacturing readiness, configuration control, and quality requirements.

Provide clear executive visibility. Present concise assessments of milestone confidence, financial performance, technical progress, and decisions requiring leadership action.

Required Qualifications Bachelor’s degree in engineering or a related technical discipline, or equivalent relevant experience.
10+ years of progressive experience in aerospace engineering, technical program management, or complex hardware and software development.

Experience leading a major aircraft, spacecraft, unmanned system, or similarly integrated aerospace program through significant development and test milestones.

Technical breadth sufficient to evaluate integration dependencies, understand engineering tradeoffs, and challenge execution assumptions across…