Senior Product Manager, Special Projects; r3865

Senior Staff Product Manager, Special Projects (r3865) Bridge early‑stage innovation prototypes into deployable autonomous systems for defense applications

Location:

San Diego, California, United States

Compensation: $190,000 - $290,000 USD / year

Job Tags:
Product

The Special Projects Product Manager will play a critical role in driving innovation within Shield AI's advanced technologies group. This position bridges early‑stage exploration with core product development, ensuring that novel capabilities from Special Projects are strategically transitioned into the Hivemind SDK and effectively leveraged by customer‑facing teams. The PM will serve as both a technical expert and strategic partner—shaping the roadmap, championing usability, and collaborating across engineering, enterprise product, and solutions.

This is a high‑impact role for a product leader passionate about autonomy, innovation, and transforming prototypes into enduring product value.

• Manage and prioritize Special Projects backlog
• Maintain and evolve Special Projects roadmap
• Track Product Engineering roadmaps for integration opportunities
• Coordinate capability transition into Hivemind SDK releases
• Align with Hivemind Solutions on tactical and strategic needs
• Track and elevate SDK usability issues to core PMs
• Serve as expert user and demo leader for SDK
• Serve as expert user and demo leader for Special Projects
• Identify and validate new innovation opportunities
• Drive rapid prototyping and proof‑of‑concept evaluations
• Partner with engineering leads on technical feasibility assessments
• Facilitate stakeholder communication and decision alignment
• Collect customer/field feedback to refine innovation pipeline
• Monitor industry trends and competitor innovation initiatives
• Track success metrics for pilot projects and transitions

• 5+ years product management or innovation experience
• Proven backlog and roadmap management expertise
• Strong technical background in robotics or autonomy
• Demonstrated experience with SDKs or developer platforms
• Excellent communication and cross‑functional collaboration skills
• Ability to synthesize feedback into actionable product direction
• Skilled in rapid prototyping and early‑stage validation
• Hands‑on experience with product demos and customer engagement

• Experience in defense, aerospace, or autonomous systems
• Familiarity with Hivemind SDK or comparable autonomy frameworks
• Strong user empathy and usability problem‑solving skills
• Track record of innovation‑to‑productization success
• MBA or advanced degree in engineering/CS/related field
• Prior experience supporting both product and customer delivery teams
• Skilled at competitive analysis and market trend monitoring
• Comfortable with ambiguity and fast‑changing priorities

$190,000 - $290,000 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.