Director, Engineering Excellence & Enablement

Shield; Arlington (VA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Bonus

Benefits

Equity

Job summary

Shield AI, a defense-tech innovator, seeks a Director of Engineering Excellence & Enablement to drive strategy, improve execution maturity, and scale engineering capabilities across the organization. You will partner with Engineering, Product, Program Management, and senior leaders to translate company strategy into scalable practices, governance, and enterprise-wide initiatives.

You will lead initiatives to improve developer productivity, apply modern engineering practices, and establish

Qualifications

• 10+ years of engineering leadership, technical program management, engineering operations, or related experience.
• Demonstrated success leading large-scale cross-functional initiatives in complex technology organizations.
• Experience establishing engineering operating models, governance, planning processes, and execution frameworks.
• Strong understanding of modern software engineering organizations, Agile development, DevOps, and engineering metrics in the Aerospace & Defense industry.
• Proven ability to influence senior leaders without relying on direct authority.
• Exceptional communication, facilitation, organizational, and executive presentation skills.
• Strong analytical mindset with experience using data to drive organizational improvements.

Responsibilities

• Translate business and product strategy into engineering capabilities, operating models, and execution plans.
• Develop and evolve the engineering operating system including planning processes, governance, and rhythms.
• Identify capability gaps and recommend investments in people, processes, tooling, and structure.
• Define and drive engineering excellence initiatives focused on productivity, quality, reliability, and continuous improvement.
• Establish engineering metrics and dashboards to monitor health, delivery, and productivity.
• Champion adoption of modern engineering practices and standards.

Skills

Engineering leadership

Cross-functional partnerships

Program management

Agile/DevOps

Data-driven decision making

Executive communication

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.

Job Description

The Director of Engineering Excellence & Enablement is a strategic leader responsible for improving the effectiveness, efficiency, and execution maturity of the engineering organization. Reporting to the VP of Engineering, this leader partners closely with Engineering, Product, Program Management, and other cross‑functional leaders to translate company and product strategy into scalable engineering capabilities, operational rhythms, and enterprise‑wide initiatives.

What You’ll Do

• Engineering Strategy & Organizational Enablement
• Partner with the VP of Engineering to translate business and product strategy into engineering capabilities, operating models, and execution plans.
• Develop and evolve the engineering operating system, including planning processes, governance, decision‑making frameworks, and organizational rhythms.
• Identify capability gaps and recommend investments in people, processes, tooling, and organizational structure.

Engineering Excellence

• Define and drive engineering excellence initiatives focused on developer productivity, quality, reliability, operational maturity, and continuous improvement.
• Establish engineering effectiveness metrics and dashboards that provide visibility into organizational health, delivery performance, and engineering productivity.
• Champion adoption of modern engineering practices, standards, and continuous improvement methodologies.

Operational Cadence & Execution

• Establish and facilitate consistent engineering operating cadences including strategic planning, quarterly planning, roadmap reviews, engineering leadership meetings, business reviews, and operational retrospectives/after‑action reviews.
• Drive accountability for execution across engineering leadership while identifying and resolving organizational bottlenecks.
• Improve planning accuracy, prioritization, dependency management, and execution predictability.

Enterprise Engineering Initiatives

• Lead complex, cross‑functional engineering initiatives that span multiple teams and organizations.
• Drive strategic programs such as AI enablement, developer experience improvements, technical governance, and organizational scaling initiatives.
• Coordinate executive communications, status reporting, risk management, and stakeholder engagement for enterprise programs.

Organizational Effectiveness

• Partner with engineering leaders to improve organizational health, team effectiveness, and leadership maturity.
• Standardize engineering processes where appropriate while preserving team autonomy.
• Foster a culture of operational excellence, continuous learning, and data‑informed decision making.

Required Qualifications

• 10+ years of engineering leadership, technical program management, engineering operations, or related experience.
• Demonstrated success leading large‑scale cross‑functional initiatives in complex technology organizations.
• Experience establishing engineering operating models, governance, planning processes, and execution frameworks.
• Strong understanding of modern software engineering organizations, Agile development, DevOps, and engineering metrics in the Aerospace & Defense industry.
• Proven ability to influence senior leaders without relying on direct authority.
• Exceptional communication, facilitation, organizational, and executive presentation skills.
• Strong analytical mindset with experience using data to drive organizational improvements.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience partnering directly with VP or C‑level technology executives.
• Experience scaling engineering organizations through periods of rapid growth or transformation.
• Familiarity with developer productivity and organizational effectiveness measurement.

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.