Principal Technical Product Manager (R5249)

The Rundown AI, Inc.; United States; On-site; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Bonus

Benefits

Equity

Job summary

The Rundown AI, Inc. is looking for an experienced Product Manager for its Special Projects team. This role involves owning product definition, driving adoption, and engaging with technical teams to support AI initiatives.

The ideal candidate will have over 8 years of product management experience, technical fluency, and exceptional stakeholder management skills. The position requires travel to company locations several times a year and offers competitive compensation with benefits.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of product management for deeply technical products.
• Experience with LLM-based systems.
• Proven track record in driving adoption of AI or ML products.

Responsibilities

• Own product definition and roadmap for AI portfolio.
• Translate CTO strategy into requirements and KPIs.
• Drive adoption of internal platforms and metrics.

Skills

Product management expertise

Technical fluency with APIs/CLIs

Metrics-driven approach

Exceptional written communication

Stakeholder management

Education

Engineering or Computer Science background

Job description

Job Description:

The Special Projects team at Shield AI is an elite force within the office of the CTO, consisting of very senior (L5‑L8) highly experienced software engineering experts from diverse fields such as aerospace, robotics, cloud infrastructure, game development and interactive media design. The charter is to steer technology development toward the CTO's vision, through tactical insertion into teams and technologies across the organization. Individuals make direct and forward‑sprinting contributions to all three pillars of Hivemind, Shield AI’s software ecosystem for developing and deploying resilient intelligent teaming for aircraft. Hivemind consists of four products: EdgeOS, Pilot, Forge and Commander. The Special Projects team is chartered to operate effectively within ambiguity. Though it does not own any software products, it impacts the development of all foundational Hivemind products and leverages those technologies to rapidly deliver low‑TRL solutions, both in partnership with product teams and in a forward‑sprinting internal capability.

Individuals who join the Special Projects team rapidly gain depth and breadth in the Hivemind ecosystem, positioning them well for leading technology development across the product and solution organization.

What you’ll do:

• Own product definition, roadmap, and metrics across the office of the CTO’s agentic AI portfolio: an enterprise knowledge assistant (Brain), an agent‑driven engineering platform (Springboard), and enterprise AI/data modernization and app development.
• Translate CTO strategy into crisp requirements, milestones, exit criteria, and KPIs, then hold the line on them.
• Drive adoption of internal platforms: reduce onboarding friction, instrument usage, track NPS and active users, and run developer advocacy and objection handling.
• Shape product direction for foundation‑model based autonomy architectures and model lifecycle tooling (evaluation, fine‑tuning, verification, deployment).
• Run continuous discovery with engineers, operators, and executive stakeholders; turn findings into prioritized backlogs.
• Prioritize ruthlessly across competing initiatives with small teams and aggressive timelines.
• Analyze the agentic tooling, enterprise AI platform, and foundation model ecosystem; recommend build/buy/partner positions to leadership.
• Author strategy documents, product briefs, and executive updates that drive decisions.
• Manage transitions of maturing products from incubation to owning organizations.

Required qualifications:

• 8+ years of product management for deeply technical products; engineering or CS background.
• Technical fluency: you read code, work APIs and CLIs from a terminal, and prototype with AI coding tools yourself.
• Shipped developer tools, internal platforms, or AI/ML products — and drove their adoption.
• Working fluency in LLM‑based systems: agents, evaluation, context management, fine‑tuning trade‑offs.
• Metrics‑driven operating style: you define KPIs, instrument products, and report against thresholds and objectives.
• Exceptional written communication — requirements, strategy docs, executive briefs.
• Proven stakeholder management up to the executive level across engineering, product, and business functions.
• Fluid intelligence that allows one to operate effectively in ambiguous conditions while finding opportunities to drive technical efforts and force multiply.
• This role requires travel to a Shield AI location 1‑3 times per quarter

Preferred qualifications:

• Prior experience as a software engineer.
• Experience in defense, aerospace, or other regulated environments (CUI/ITAR, restricted or disconnected deployments).
• Experience with enterprise data platforms (e.g., Databricks) and ERP/business‑system integration.
• Experience with safety‑critical or assurance‑driven software processes (requirements traceability, V&V, certification artifacts).
• Experience taking zero‑to‑one internal products through incubation, adoption, and handoff.
• Experience with robotics or autonomy products.

Benefits and Compensation:

• Pay within range listed + Bonus + Benefits + Equity (Full‑time regular employee).
• Pay within range listed above + temporary benefits package (applicable after 60 days of employment) (Temporary employee).
• 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.

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.