---
title: 'Manager, Autonomy Applications Engineering (R5188) at Shield AI'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/manager-autonomy-applications-engineering-r5188-shield-ai-london-qb4scyqvacj6'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-10-17'
---

# Manager, Autonomy Applications Engineering (R5188) at Shield AI

- **Company:** Shield AI
- **Location:** London, United Kingdom
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** hybrid
- **Posted:** 2026-06-17
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-17
- **Apply:** https://jobs.lever.co/shieldai/7cc0e741-8e36-4d49-8046-ba051a535705

## Job description

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, V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft, and Aechelon simulation and synthetic reality technologies. 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 www.shield.ai. Follow Shield AI on LinkedIn, X, Instagram, and YouTube.

Shield AI is seeking a Manager, Autonomy Applications Engineering to lead a team of Forward Deployed Engineers supporting customer deployment, adoption, and operational success with the Hivemind SDK. This is a highly technical, customer-facing leadership role focused on enabling the team to deliver excellent on-site customer support, deployment execution, and success in real-world environments. The manager will own team performance, customer outcomes, and the flow of actionable field feedback back into the company. In this role, you will manage, coach, and develop Forward Deployed Engineers who work directly with customer operators, engineers, and technical stakeholders to support onboarding, deployment, troubleshooting, and sustained use of Hivemind. You will help the team navigate complex technical environments, translate mission and program goals into concrete technical milestones, and drive progress during active engagements. You will also partner closely with internal engineering, product, Applications Engineering, and program teams to improve customer readiness, product usability, deployment playbooks, and long-term customer success.

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.

## #LI-LD2

#LD

Our international teammates receive a comprehensive total rewards package aligned to your country office location. For full details on compensation and benefits, please consult your talent acquisition partner.

## About Shield AI

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Shield AI builds AI pilots and autonomous systems for military aircraft to protect service members and civilians.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Series G, venture-backed)
- **Headquarters**: San Diego, California, United States
- **Founded**: 2015
- **Founders**: Brandon Tseng, Ryan Tseng, Andrew Reiter

## Core Business
- Primary industry/industries: Defense technology, artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, aerospace
- Target customers: U.S. Department of Defense, allied nations’ military forces (B2G / Government)
- Mission or purpose statement: “Protect service members and civilians with intelligent systems.”

## Products & Services
- **Hivemind**: A combat‑tested, modular autonomy stack for aircraft – self‑driving technology for drones, jets, and helicopters. Includes path‑planning, mapping, state‑estimation, computer vision, and reinforcement learning. Type: Software (AI/autonomy).
- **V‑BAT**: A vertical take‑off and landing (VTOL) unmanned aerial system (UAS) designed for persistent ISR and strike missions. Type: Hardware (drone).
- **X‑BAT**: An advanced unmanned aircraft system with extended endurance and payload capacity, built for multi‑domain operations. Type: Hardware (drone).
- **Hivemind Vision Systems**: Computer‑vision and sensor‑fusion capabilities integrated into Hivemind for GPS‑denied environments. Type: Software + sensors.
- **Hivemind Enterprise**: A deployable version of Hivemind for third‑party platforms and commercial applications. Type: Software.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly disclosed (private company). Total funding raised: $3.6B (as of Series G in March 2026).
- **Key Metric**: Annual Revenue ~$21.7M (estimated, private) | Total Funding $3.6B (including $2B Series G led by JP Morgan Chase and Advent International, March 2026).
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: JP Morgan Chase, Advent International, Blackstone, Riot Ventures, SnowPoint Ventures, Disruptive (55+ investors total). Strategic partners include U.S. DoD and allied defense forces.
- **Growth Signals**: Headcount grew 68.3% YoY to 1,283 employees; 338 active job postings (+57.2% YoY); operates in 5 countries (U.S., Australia, UAE, Norway, Ukraine); recent acquisitions of Sentient Vision Systems (2024), Heron Systems, MARTIN UAV.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Combat‑proven autonomy**: Hivemind has been tested in live military operations, providing a first‑mover advantage in contested, GPS‑denied environments.
- **Full‑stack integration**: Combines software (AI pilot), hardware (V‑BAT, X‑BAT), and sensor systems, creating a tightly integrated product ecosystem.
- **Cross‑functional engineering culture**: Engineers work across AI, robotics, aerospace, and defense – not siloed – enabling rapid iteration and field deployment.
- **Top talent pipeline**: Employees drawn from Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Amazon, Anduril, and other leading defense/tech firms.

## Strategic Focus
- **Scale AI pilots across all domains**: Extend Hivemind from aircraft to ships, satellites, and ground vehicles (“every military asset”).
- **International expansion**: Growing presence in Australia, Europe, and Middle East via mission autonomy centers and partnerships.
- **Deepen autonomy stack**: Continued investment in reinforcement learning, simulation, and computer vision to maintain leadership in contested‑environment autonomy.

## Why Work Here
- **Mission‑driven work**: Directly contribute to protecting service members and civilians with cutting‑edge AI and robotics.
- **Cross‑functional teams**: Engineers collaborate across disciplines (AI, hardware, software, systems) on real‑world defense challenges.
- **Benefits**: Excellent medical coverage, mental health EAP, paid parental leave, pet insurance, flexible work hours, gym discounts (SD) / on‑site gym (DC), free parking, competitive compensation, 401k with match, stock benefits.
- **Work policy**: Flexible work hours; some offices (e.g., San Diego HQ, Arlington, DC) have on‑site facilities. Remote/hybrid options available depending on role.
- **Growth trajectory**: Rapidly scaling (68% headcount growth) with hundreds of open roles across engineering, operations, and program management.

## Sources
1. [shield.ai/about](https://shield.ai/about/)
2. [shield.ai/careers](https://shield.ai/careers/)
3. [LinkedIn – Shield AI](https://www.linkedin.com/company/shield-ai)
4. [CBInsights – Shield AI](https://www.cbinsights.com/company/shield-ai)
5. [Lever – Shield AI Jobs](https://jobs.lever.co/shieldai)

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