Staff Technical Program Manager, Air Vehicle Systems

Shield; Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

Shield AI is seeking a Staff Technical Program Manager to lead air-vehicle systems work for our next‑generation autonomous aircraft. This hardware‑centric role spans subsystem leads, integration, verification, suppliers, and flight-readiness milestones.

You will build schedules, coordinate across flight controls, avionics, power, thermal, structures, manufacturing, supply chain, and flight test, and translate subsystem status into decisions for engineering, program teams, and executives.

Qualifications

• Experience in technical program management, systems engineering, or engineering leadership for aerospace or complex hardware
• Working understanding of subsystem interfaces, design maturation, verification, hardware testing, and integration
• Ability to manage schedules, decisions, dependencies, technical risk, and supplier execution
• Clear communication with responsible engineers, technical leads, and program leadership

Responsibilities

• Build integrated schedules and execution plans for aircraft subsystems and vehicle-level milestones
• Coordinate across flight controls, avionics, electrical power, thermal systems, structures, manufacturing, supply chain, and flight test
• Track interfaces, requirements, verification plans, supplier deliverables, and cross-system risks
• Translate subsystem status into clear decisions for engineering, program, and executive stakeholders

Skills

Technical program management

Systems engineering

Engineering leadership

Job description

What the role actually is

This Staff TPM role plans and coordinates air-vehicle systems work for Shield AI's next-generation autonomous aircraft. It is a hardware-centric program role spanning subsystem leads, integration, verification, suppliers, and flight-readiness milestones.

What you would work on

• Build integrated schedules and execution plans for aircraft subsystems and vehicle-level milestones
• Coordinate across flight controls, avionics, electrical power, thermal systems, structures, manufacturing, supply chain, and flight test
• Track interfaces, requirements, verification plans, supplier deliverables, and cross-system risks
• Translate subsystem status into clear decisions for engineering, program, and executive stakeholders

What they are asking for

• Experience in technical program management, systems engineering, or engineering leadership for aerospace or complex hardware
• Working understanding of subsystem interfaces, design maturation, verification, hardware testing, and integration
• Ability to manage schedules, decisions, dependencies, technical risk, and supplier execution
• Clear communication with responsible engineers, technical leads, and program leadership

Why this one is worth a look

The listing is deeply technical, but the role is about making autonomous aircraft development legible and executable across many teams. It fits the board because it is a program/product execution seat for a physical autonomy platform, not a narrow component-design job.