Staff, Field Solutions Engineer - Asia / Middle East

Shield AI; Dallas, Northern (TX, KY); On-site; USD 187,000 - 281,000; Full time

Job summary

Shield AI in the United States is seeking a Presales Solutions Engineer to provide technical leadership for Asia, the Middle East and Oceana opportunities. You will align customer requirements with Shield AI’s product roadmap, and act as the technical force multiplier for the GTM team across engineering, operations and sales.

The role requires 5+ years in technical presales in defense or aerospace, strong knowledge of uncrewed aircraft, and excellent written and verbal communication.

Qualifications

• 5+ years in technical presales or similar in defense/aerospace.
• Bachelor's degree in engineering or related field; practical experience acceptable.
• Strong technical acumen in uncrewed aircraft systems and autonomy concepts.
• Excellent written and verbal communication for technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Ability to work cross-functionally and travel up to 25%.
• Experience with international defense customers and procurement processes.
• Active DoD security clearance (preferred).

Responsibilities

• Lead technical capture efforts for Asia, Middle East, and Oceana to align solutions with product roadmap.
• Manage multiple priorities including customer engagements and pre-sales support.
• Develop and execute technical strategies for high-quality proposals.
• Serve as primary technical lead for GTM engagements across functions.
• Manage content for RFIs, white papers, and capability briefs.
• Provide SME training to GTM teams on Shield AI products.
• Collaborate with GTM and Engineering to ensure feasibility with timelines.
• Contribute to technical documentation repository with briefs and specs.
• Drive market intelligence and competitive analysis.

Skills

Technical presales

Defense/aerospace

Uncrewed aircraft systems

Autonomy concepts

Cross-functional collaboration

DoD security clearance

Travel up to 25%

Technical storytelling

RFIs/proposals

Education

Bachelor's degree in engineering or related field

Equivalent practical experience

Graduate degree (preferred)

Tools

V-BAT

Hivemind

Vision Systems

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-BATaircraft, 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.

The Presales Solutions Engineer will provide technical expertise and support to customers in the Asia, Middle East, and Oceana regions prior to the sale of Shield AI Aircraft and other products. This role involves collaborating closely with customers to understand their requirements and demonstrating how our solutions can meet their needs. You will play a key role in ensuring successful product development throughout the presales process. The Solutions Engineer serves as a technical force multiplier for the Go To Market (GTM) team, providing expertise on Shield AI’s products and services to drive customer engagement, solution alignment, and successful deal capture. This role bridges the gap between our technology roadmap and our customers' operational needs.

What you will do:

• Lead technical capture efforts for Asia, Middle East, and Oceana opportunities, ensuring solutions are technically sound,feasible, and aligned with Shield AI’s product roadmap. Capture efforts will focus onV-BAT, butwill require familiarity with the entire Shield AI Product suite.
• Manage multiple priorities in a dynamic, fast-paced environment, including customer engagements, pre-sales technical support, proposal contributions, and solution development.
• Develop and execute technical strategies that result in high-quality, compliant, and compelling proposals to maximize win probability.
• Serve as the primary technical lead for GTM engagements in Asia,interfacingcross-functionally with BD, GTM Operations ,Engineering, Operations, Program Management, and Product Management to ensure customer needs are met.
• Manage technical content for proposals, requests for information (RFIs), white papers, and capability briefs, ensuring accuracy, clarity, and compliance.
• Support GTM and Account Executives by becoming a Subject Matter Expert in Shield AI products, providing technicalexpertisein customer engagements, capability briefings, and solution discussions to drive successful sales outcomes.
• Act as a liaison between GTMand Engineering, ensuring that new customer requests are technicallyfeasibleand align with product capabilities, timelines, and roadmaps.
• Contribute to the technical documentation repository,maintainingcapability briefs, specifications, FAQs, and other sales collateral for internal and external use.
• Provide training and mentorship to GTMteams on technical aspects of Shield AI’s solutions, enabling them to articulate our value proposition confidently.
• Support competitive analysis and market intelligence, ensuring the GTMteamremainsinformed on industry trends and competitor capabilities.
• Contribute to process improvement efforts,leveraginglessons learned from customer engagements to refine GTMworkflows and technical capture strategies.
• Analyze the unique operational and environmental factors of the assigned region, producing high-impact white papers and briefs that inform the product roadmap and drive solutions aligned to customer mission needs.

Required Qualifications:

• 5+ years of experience in technical presales, business development, or solutions engineering, preferably in defense, aerospace, AI-driven technology, or U.S. Federal/International government environments.
• Bachelor's degree in engineering, applied science, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.
• Strong technical acumen in uncrewedaircraftsystemsmission payloads, and autonomy enabled concepts of operation, with the ability to reason across air vehicle, sensor, datalink, and ground system elements (experience with V-BAT, Hivemind, and Vision Systems preferred).
• Outstanding analytical and quantitative problem-solving skills, with a demonstrated aptitude for technical assessments and solution development.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to translate complex technical concepts into clear, compelling messaging for both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Ability to work collaboratively in a cross-functional team environment and effectively engage with stakeholders at all levels of an organization. Demonstratedsuccess interfacing between technical program teams and customer facing business development organizations.
• Track recordof high performance, including a demonstrated work ethic, reliability as a teammate, kindness, and commitment tohigh standards.
• Demonstratedability to lead in fast paced, ambiguous environments requiring cross functional coordination and executive judgment.
• Proven ability to shape early capture pursuits, including RFIs, AOAs, draft RFPs, and white papers, andthe ability toalignsolution concepts with long term program strategy.
• Experience working with international defense customers, includingexposure to procurement processes, operational evaluations, andinformationsecurity orexportconsiderations.
• Demonstratedability to lead complex customer engagements end to end, including requirements discovery, solution shaping, and technical proposalownership.
• Willingness and ability to travelup to 25%, domestically andinternationallyto support customers, partners, tests, and demonstrations.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Graduate degree in engineering, applied science, systems management, business, or equivalent practicalexperience.
• Priorhands onexperience with V-BAT operations, employment, testing, or integration, or directexperience with comparable vertical takeoff tactical UAS platforms.
• Familiarity with Shield AI's autonomy stack, mission software, and payload ecosystem, including Hivemind, AI Pilot, ISR payloads, and associated ground systems, or similar autonomy enabled mission systems.
• Deep familiarity with international defense market dynamics, including key ministries, acquisition paths such as FMS and DCS, and Asia nation processes, and regional operational trends relevant to V-BAT missions.
• Experience owning recurring product line or program governanceforums such asforecastreviews, readiness reviews,exportreviews, or configuration and obsolescence boards.
• Experience managing or contributing to complex multinational capture efforts, including coalition or partnered operations, offset requirements, and industrial participation structures.
• Background spanning both systems engineering and customer facing work, withdemonstratedability to translate operational problems into implementable technical architectures and configurations.
• Experience influencingpricing, product offering definition, or production planning based on field and customer input.
• Three or more years ofexperience in a startup or high growth environment where processes, products, and markets evolve quickly.
• Prior military aviation, operational UAS, or defense acquisitionexperience.
• Fluency or strongproficiencyin one or moreadditionallanguages relevant to key V-BAT markets.
• Familiarity with the militaryobjectives, limitations, procurement processes, military structures and technology of US Allies and Partners in Asia.
• Active DoD security clearance.

$187,440 - $281,160 a year

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 toequal 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.