Shield AI is a venture-backed defence technology company building intelligent autonomous systems for aircraft. Our mission is to protect service members and civilians through AI and autonomy.

We’re looking for a Technical Program Manager to join our Port Melbourne team, leading the development, integration, and deployment of the world’s best AI pilots across a range of transformative autonomous systems (UAVs, USVs, UUVs).

This is a high-impact, hands-on role working at the centre of our growing Australian operations. You’ll manage complex engineering programmes from early concept through to field testing and deployment — and work directly with customers, defence stakeholders, and internal teams to make it happen.

Shield AI is hiring a Field Solutions Engineer, Hivemind to support technical sales, customer engagements, demonstrations, and capture activities for Hivemind, Shield AI’s autonomy solution for intelligent, mission-capable unmanned systems. 

Hivemind enables autonomous operation across complex mission environments, allowing aircraft and other robotic systems to perceive, decide, coordinate, and execute with reduced operator burden. This role will serve as a customer-facing technical expert for Hivemind, helping defense and security customers understand how autonomy can solve operational problems, improve mission outcomes, and integrate into existing and future force structures. 

The Field Solutions Engineer will translate customer mission needs, CONOPs, operational constraints, and platform integration considerations into credible, technically feasible Hivemind solution concepts. This includes supporting customer discovery, technical briefings, demonstrations, RFIs, RFPs, white papers, technical interchange meetings, and customer-specific solution development. 

Success requires technical credibility, strong communication, product truth, and the ability to connect Hivemind’s autonomy capabilities to real customer missions across varied operational environments. 

Shield AI is hiring a Field Solutions Engineer, Hivemind to support technical sales, customer engagements, demonstrations, and capture activities for Hivemind, Shield AI’s autonomy solution for intelligent, mission-capable unmanned systems. 

Hivemind enables autonomous operation across complex mission environments, allowing aircraft and other robotic systems to perceive, decide, coordinate, and execute with reduced operator burden. This role will serve as a customer-facing technical expert for Hivemind, helping defense and security customers understand how autonomy can solve operational problems, improve mission outcomes, and integrate into existing and future force structures. 

The Field Solutions Engineer will translate customer mission needs, CONOPs, operational constraints, and platform integration considerations into credible, technically feasible Hivemind solution concepts. This includes supporting customer discovery, technical briefings, demonstrations, RFIs, RFPs, white papers, technical interchange meetings, and customer-specific solution development. 

Success requires technical credibility, strong communication, product truth, and the ability to connect Hivemind’s autonomy capabilities to real customer missions across varied operational environments. 

NATIONAL AND REGIONAL OPERATIONS LEADERSHIP 

• Own day-to-day and lifecycle performance across the U.S. facilities portfolio after formal project turnover. 
• Establish and lead a regional operating model across West, Central, and East locations with clear site accountability and escalation paths. 
• Develop annual site operating plans, service models, staffing approaches, and priorities based on site tier, mission criticality, hours of operation, and risk. 
• Serve as the senior U.S. escalation point for facility reliability, workplace service, landlord, vendor, and site-continuity issues. 

RELIABILITY, MAINTENANCE, AND ASSET MANAGEMENT 

• Establish consistent asset registers, preventive-maintenance programs, work-order practices, critical-spares strategies, and lifecycle-risk visibility. 
• Set and monitor service levels for critical systems, maintenance, employee requests, and workplace services. 
• Identify infrastructure risks early and develop operating, maintenance, or capital recommendations with the appropriate functional owner. 
• Drive root-cause analysis and durable corrective action for recurring failures, outages, backlogs, and service issues. 

PEOPLE, VENDORS, AND CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE 

• Lead, coach, and develop regional and site Facilities teammates; establish clear roles, goals, and performance expectations. 
• Manage IFM and specialist providers through scopes, service levels, scorecards, performance reviews, corrective actions, and renewal recommendations. 
• Create a consistent workplace and customer-service experience while adapting delivery to manufacturing, engineering, office, hangar, and classified environments. 
• Build trusted relationships with site leaders and business partners; translate business demand into clear operating plans and service requirements. 

FINANCIAL AND OPERATIONAL GOVERNANCE 

• Own the U.S. Facilities operating plan, budget inputs, forecast, variance explanations, and resource recommendations in partnership with the Global Facilities Leader and Finance. 
• Maintain a U.S. site risk register, vendor-performance view, critical-action plan, and forward-looking capacity and lifecycle concerns. 
• Use common KPIs and operating reviews to manage performance, prioritize resources, and escalate material decisions. 
• Ensure vendors, purchase orders, invoices, contracts, and operating commitments follow Finance, Procurement, and delegation requirements. 

LIFECYCLE INTEGRATION AND RISK PARTNERSHIP 

• Provide operational requirements during site selection, design, and project delivery; participate in design reviews, commissioning, readiness, and move planning. 
• Formally accept or reject project turnover against documented criteria, then lead post-occupancy stabilization and defect closure. 
• Partner with EH&S and Security to implement standards, address findings, coordinate incidents, and maintain emergency and continuity readiness. 
• Coordinate with Real Estate on lease obligations and capacity, while preserving Real Estate ownership of portfolio strategy and transactions. 

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience in facilities management, engineering, operations, construction, business, or a related field. 
• 12+ years of progressive experience in facilities management, integrated facilities management, corporate real estate operations, engineering operations, or a comparable field. 
• 5+ years leading complex multi-site or regional operations, including direct people leadership and management of outsourced service providers. 
• Experience operating facilities that support manufacturing, engineering, laboratories, aviation, critical infrastructure, secure environments, or other technically complex work. 
• Demonstrated ownership of operating budgets, forecasts, contracts, vendor performance, service levels, and facility risk. 
• Strong working knowledge of maintenance, building systems, preventive maintenance, work-order management, asset lifecycle, and incident response. 
• Proven ability to build teams, standardize operations, and drive accountability across geographically dispersed locations. 
• Executive-level communication and judgment, with the ability to translate technical and operational issues into clear business decisions. 
• Ability to travel frequently across the United States and respond to time-sensitive facility priorities as required. 

• Experience in aerospace, defense, advanced manufacturing, autonomous systems, technology, or another high-growth regulated environment. 
• Experience with SCIFs, classified environments, hangars, high-bay spaces, production facilities, or 24/7 critical operations. 
• Experience establishing a regional operating model or scaling Facilities operations across a rapidly growing portfolio. 
• Familiarity with CMMS/EAM, IWMS, service-management, building-automation, business-intelligence, and financial systems. 
• CFM, FMP, CPMM, IFMA, engineering, project-management, or related professional credential. 
• Experience leading major vendor transitions, IFM sourcing, commissioning, or project turnover. 
• Current or prior security clearance, or experience operating in controlled-access environments. 

The ideal candidate is a visible, credible operations leader who sets high standards and stays close to the work. This person can build structure at national scale while understanding that each site has different mission, technical, workforce, and risk requirements. 

Success requires calm judgment, customer empathy, technical curiosity, financial discipline, and strong people leadership. The leader should earn trust, put the team first, move with rigor and speed, and make prudent use of internal and external resources.