Technical Program Manager, Maritime

Shield AI; Washington (District of Columbia); On-site; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Shield AI seeks a maritime TPM to integrate its Hivemind autonomy stack onto unmanned surface vessels, with future undersea programs in scope. You will coordinate program setup, customer alignment, technical integration, test readiness, and deployment across milestones.

This first-of-kind role is defense-heavy and travel-oriented, requiring leadership of complex engineering programs from concept through deployment, with strong stakeholder communication across distributed teams.

Qualifications

• Senior experience leading complex engineering programs from concept to deployment.
• Technical understanding of software-enabled autonomy and maritime systems.
• Experience managing scope, schedule, budget, and risk in fast-moving programs.
• Strong stakeholder communication across distributed teams.

Responsibilities

• Lead USV autonomy integration programs and support future UUV opportunities
• Define program objectives with product, engineering, operations, executive, and customer stakeholders
• Own integrated plans across milestones, dependencies, budgets, risks, and technical readiness
• Coordinate integration, test readiness, lab work, sea-trial preparation, and deployment gates
• Support maritime autonomy proposals, RFIs, RFPs, technical evaluations, and strategic customer conversations

Skills

Senior program leadership

Autonomy systems

Maritime platforms

Stakeholder communication

Job description

What the role actually is

Shield AI is hiring a maritime TPM to integrate its Hivemind autonomy stack onto unmanned surface vessels, with future undersea programs also in scope. The work spans program setup, customer alignment, technical integration, test readiness, and operational deployment.

This is a first-of-kind autonomy integration role. The person would coordinate software, platform integration, labs, ground testing, sea trials, customer priorities, and business-development inputs while keeping scope, schedule, cost, and risk visible.

What you would work on

• Lead USV autonomy integration programs and support future UUV opportunities


• Define program objectives with product, engineering, operations, executive, and customer stakeholders


• Own integrated plans across milestones, dependencies, budgets, risks, and technical readiness


• Coordinate integration, test readiness, lab work, sea-trial preparation, and operational deployment gates


• Support maritime autonomy proposals, RFIs, RFPs, technical evaluations, and strategic customer conversations

What they are asking for

• Senior experience leading complex engineering programs from concept through production or deployment


• Technical understanding of software-enabled systems, autonomy, aerospace, maritime systems, or integrated products


• Experience managing scope, schedule, budget, risk, and technical performance in fast-moving programs


• Strong stakeholder communication across distributed teams


• Preferred experience integrating autonomy or software onto defense platforms

Why this one is worth a look

Maritime autonomy is still early enough that program leaders can shape how the product gets integrated and proven, not just execute an existing playbook. The role is defense-heavy and travel-oriented, but it is squarely in the zone where autonomy strategy becomes deployed capability.