Manager of Engineering - Autonomous Pilot Integration - Emerging Domains; R5176

Founded in 2015, Shield AI is a venture‑backed defense‑tech company with the mission of protecting service members and civilians with intelligent systems. Its products include Hivemind autonomy software and V‑BAT and X‑BAT aircraft. With offices and facilities across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and Asia‑Pacific, Shield AI’s technology actively supports operations worldwide. For more information, visit (Use the "Apply for this Job" box below). Follow Shield AI on Linked In, X, Instagram, and You Tube.

The Autonomous Pilot Integration team for emerging domains builds autonomy solutions for new platforms and mission profiles outside Shield AI’s established portfolios — including space (satellites, missile defense), maritime (USV and UUV integration), and contested logistics (unmanned helicopters and related autonomous resupply platforms). The team takes on short‑term R&D and integration efforts — often standing up the first autonomy on a brand‑new platform or for a brand‑new mission — with the intent that successful efforts grow into larger, multi‑year programs.

We combine capabilities from the Autonomy Capabilities team (motion planning, tactics), the Perception team (e.g., ViDAR, ATR), and the Hivemind

SDK — selectively leveraging existing Shield AI autonomy solutions where they apply — to develop autonomy that runs on these new platforms. Our engineers write new autonomy code — such as mission behaviors, platform‑specific control, multi‑agent coordination, contingencies, and executive autonomy — and own it end‑to‑end from software‑in‑the‑loop, to hardware‑in‑the‑loop, to vehicle‑in‑the‑loop, to live test exercise.

In this role, you’ll lead a team of autonomy engineers tackling autonomy across Shield AI’s emerging‑domain efforts — owning their delivery, their growth, and the technical health of your area. A core part of the job is growing the team
: hiring strong engineers, mentoring them through hard technical work, and shaping their career development. You’ll stay technically active — writing code where it best serves the team, staying close to the integration work, making sound technical decisions, and leading them through the design, development, and delivery of efforts that may shift in shape, scope, and timeline. This role demands a problem solver who thrives in the unknown — you’ll be standing up first autonomy on platforms that often don’t have an established autopilot interface, mission autonomy, or operator base yet, and you’ll be comfortable with priorities and deadlines that shift as programs mature.

You’ll partner closely with the platform teams that build each new piece of hardware (spacecraft, vessel, helicopter, etc.), the Autonomy Capabilities, Perception, and GCS teams, and customer/program offices on each effort. Success here means turning short‑term R&D and integration efforts into longer‑term programs that scale — with the growth opportunity, if desired, to lead the new portfolios that emerge from this work as they mature and graduate from emerging domains.

• Lead the Team — Manage an engineering team (typically 5–10 engineers spanning multiple emerging‑domain efforts); own performance, growth, leveling, and delivery; run 1:1s, performance reviews, and team rituals.
• Grow the Team via Hiring — Drive hiring for your area: identify the skills you need, partner with recruiting, run interviews, set the bar, and personally close strong candidates.
• Grow Engineers Technically — Mentor engineers through hard problems; create stretch opportunities; give direct, actionable technical feedback; help engineers level up in both skill and impact.
• Stand Up New Programs — Stand up autonomy on new platforms and missions — often as the first autonomy engineering presence on the program. Define what the autonomy stack looks like, decide what to build versus what to leverage from existing Shield AI capabilities, and set the technical direction for the effort.
• Navigate Ambiguity & Shifting Priorities — Operate effectively in an environment where program shape, scope, and timeline often shift. Make sound technical and staffing decisions with incomplete information, communicate changes clearly…