Principal Technical Program Manager, Ranger

Shield; San Diego (CA); On-site; USD 220,000 - 350,000; Full time

Job summary

Shield AI seeks a Principal Technical Program Manager to lead the Ranger aircraft development for the U.S. Air Force program.

You will translate customer objectives into an integrated execution plan spanning concept development, integration, flight test, and production readiness. The ideal candidate combines engineering depth with program leadership, delivering complex aerospace systems on demanding schedules while balancing capability, affordability, modularity, and speed through disciplined

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering or equivalent.
• 10+ years in aerospace engineering or technical program management.
• Experience leading major aircraft or unmanned systems programs.
• Ability to manage schedules, budgets, and risks across disciplines.
• Experience with government customers or aerospace partners.
• Clear written and verbal communication with executives.

Responsibilities

• Own integrated program execution across engineering, suppliers, and milestones.
• Translate customer needs into executable program plans and criteria.
• Drive multidisciplinary coordination across air vehicle, propulsion, avionics, and autonomy.
• Keep affordability and production at the center of execution and planning.
• Lead reviews with government stakeholders and industry partners.
• Identify risks early; assign owners and drive timely mitigation.
• Align development schedules with manufacturing readiness and tooling.
• Provide executive visibility on progress and milestones.

Skills

Program management

Aerospace engineering

Cross-functional leadership

Systems integration

Budget management

Clear communication

Active security clearance

Education

Bachelor’s degree in engineering

Job description

Principal Technical Program Manager — Ranger

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 Ranger 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.

220000 - 350000 USD a year