Principal Technical Program Manager, MMA

Shieldai; San Diego (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Active U.S. security clearance

Job summary

Shield AI is seeking a Principal Technical Program Manager to lead the execution of its aircraft development efforts for the U.S. Air Force MMA program.

You will translate objectives into an integrated plan spanning concept development, systems integration, flight tests, and production readiness. You will partner with engineering, manufacturing, supply chain, and government stakeholders to meet technical, schedule, and cost commitments.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in engineering or related technical discipline or equivalent experience.
• 10+ years of aerospace engineering, technical program management, or complex hardware/software development.
• Experience leading a major aircraft/spacecraft/unmanned system program through development and test milestones.
• Ability to lead through influence and manage cross-functional delivery.

Responsibilities

• Own integrated program execution and establish the program baseline.
• Translate customer needs into executable plans with measurable milestones.
• Drive multidisciplinary coordination across air vehicle, propulsion, avionics, and mission systems.
• Keep affordability and production at the center of execution and planning.
• Manage customer and partner commitments and lead reviews with government stakeholders.
• Identify risks early and drive mitigation owners to resolution.
• Build the path to production with scheduling, procurement, and quality considerations.
• Provide clear executive visibility on milestone confidence and progress.

Skills

Program leadership

Aerospace engineering

Cross-functional leadership

Executive communication

Risk management

Education

Bachelor's degree in engineering or related technical discipline

Job description

Principal Technical Program Manager - MMA

Shield AI's mission is to protect service members and civilians with intelligent systems. We develop autonomy software and advanced aircraft to help U.S. and allied forces accomplish their missions in challenging environments.

About the Role

Shield AI is seeking a Principal Technical Program Manager to lead execution of our aircraft development efforts supporting the U.S. Air Force's MMA program. This leader will translate customer objectives into an integrated execution plan spanning concept development, aircraft and mission systems integration, prototype demonstration, flight test, and production readiness.

You will partner closely with the program leader, Chief Engineer, engineering teams, manufacturing, supply chain, and government stakeholders to deliver against technical, schedule, and cost commitments. Success requires balancing mission capability with affordability, modularity, and speed-making disciplined decisions about what must be developed, what can be reused, and what is required to demonstrate readiness for the next phase.

The ideal candidate combines engineering depth with program leadership experience and a record of delivering complex aerospace systems under demanding timelines. You can challenge assumptions, resolve competing priorities, and build alignment across organizations while maintaining clear ownership of program outcomes.

What You'll Do

• Own integrated program execution. Establish and maintain the program baseline, connecting engineering deliverables, hardware availability, supplier commitments, integration activities, test events, and customer milestones.
• Translate customer needs into executable plans. Partner with systems engineering and technical leadership to define program scope, measurable success criteria, requirements priorities, and verification milestones as the program evolves.
• Drive multidisciplinary coordination. Align air vehicle, propulsion, avionics, flight controls, autonomy, mission systems, and ground systems teams around dependencies and interface commitments.
• Keep affordability and production at the center of execution. Incorporate unit-cost targets, component availability, manufacturing complexity, and sustainment considerations into program planning and decision-making.
• Manage customer and partner commitments. Lead program reviews with government stakeholders and industry partners, communicate progress candidly, and coordinate contractual deliverables with contracts and program leadership.
• Anticipate and retire risk. Identify critical-path threats, immature technologies, supplier constraints, and resource gaps early; assign mitigation owners and drive timely resolution.
• Build the path to production. Align development schedules with tooling, long-lead procurement, manufacturing readiness, configuration control, and quality requirements.
• Provide clear executive visibility. Present concise assessments of milestone confidence, financial performance, technical progress, and decisions requiring leadership action.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in engineering or a related technical discipline, or equivalent relevant experience.
• 10+ years of progressive experience in aerospace engineering, technical program management, or complex hardware and software development.
• Experience leading a major aircraft, spacecraft, unmanned system, or similarly integrated aerospace program through significant development and test milestones.
• Technical breadth sufficient to evaluate integration dependencies, understand engineering tradeoffs, and challenge execution assumptions across disciplines.
• Demonstrated ownership of integrated schedules, budgets, program risks, and cross-functional delivery.
• Experience working directly with government customers or major aerospace partners on requirements, reviews, and delivery commitments.
• Ability to lead through influence, establish accountability, and make sound decisions with incomplete information.
• Clear written and verbal communication, including executive briefings and customer-facing technical discussions.
• Has lived and experienced a demo-build cycle

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with Group 5 unmanned aircraft, clean-sheet aircraft development, or rapid aerospace prototyping.
• Familiarity with Air Force acquisition programs and competitive prototype-to-production efforts.
• Experience integrating autonomy, mission payloads, avionics, or ground control systems into aircraft.
• Understanding of modular open systems approaches and their implications for integration, supplier coordination, and future upgrades.
• Experience preparing for flight-test campaigns and coordinating airworthiness and safety-review activities.
• Demonstrated success applying design-to-cost principles and transitioning development hardware into repeatable production.

Active U.S. security clearance.