Technical Program Director (R3982)
Shield AI
IT, Operations
London, UK
GBP 116k-174k / year
Posted on Dec 4, 2025
Founded in 2015, Shield AI is a venture-backed deep-tech company with the mission of protecting service members and civilians with intelligent systems. Its products include the V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft, Hivemind Enterprise, and the Hivemind Vision product lines. With nine offices and facilities across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and the 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.
Job Description:
Shield AI is seeking a Technical Program Director to drive the development, integration, and deployment of the World’s Best AI Pilots onto various transformative unmanned vehicles.
What you'll do:
- Ensure all program elements are flawlessly executed
- Deliver exceptional, proven, and reliable performance in support of customer and end-user’s needs through execution of each phase (Initiation, Planning, Execution, Monitoring, Closure) of Shield AI’s programs.
- Support internal team and customer relationships
- Facilitate execution and address or escalate issues for programs, projects, and operational performance.
- Own development and ongoing execution of project plans, scope, schedule, and management, astutely evaluating the balance and re-balance the often-shifting customer cost, schedule, and technical parameters/priorities of each program as it progresses during the overall life cycle.
- Develop and maintain effective relationships with a broad range of stakeholders including managers, customers, key partners and suppliers, both locally and internationally. Be able to operate and make decisions that reflect cultural nuances and overarching political and/or military factors.
- Drive the accurate and timely tracking and reporting of internal budget, resource, and project management standard metrics
- Drive the accurate and timely tracking and reporting of all customer or end user contractually required deliverables
- Drive a consistent cadence of well-organized, well-facilitated, and effective meetings, including preparation and follow up activities
- Complete critical path analyses including the evaluation of potential means to accelerate the pace or mitigate identified risks
- Identify potential bottlenecks or delays in programs and drive efforts to achieve schedule milestones.
- Support business development efforts as they develop & evolve from current programs and related opportunities, including requests for tender, proposal, or information, expressions of interest, and unsolicited offers.
Required qualifications:
- Ideally 15+ years of experience as a technical decision-maker with a bachelor’s degree in Engineering or similar; or 8 years and a master’s degree in Engineering or similar.
- Exceptional interpersonal skills (verbal and written) and ability to lead by influence and collaboration.
- Proven experience driving complex program execution and ability to focus on long-term business objectives.
- Experience with Earned Value and managing Gate Reviews, Estimates at Completion (EACs) and Program Management Reviews (PMRs).
- Experience in technical program management and ability to run multiple projects.
- Significant experience and excellent skills with Microsoft Office Suite and experience with scheduling tools such as Microsoft Project or similar.
- Superb skills in leadership, time management, organization, team management.
- Expert understanding of complex project financials.
- Demonstrated record of working hard, being a trustworthy teammate, holding yourself and others to high standards, and being kind to others
Preferred qualifications:
- Project Management Professional (PMP) certification.
- Certified Scrum Master (CSM).
- Experience in software development.
- Experience in autonomy development.
- DOD Contracting Experience .
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Our international team members are employed through our Employer of Record (EOR) and receive a comprehensive international benefits package on top of base salary. For full details on compensation and benefits, please consult your talent acquisition partner.
116000 - 174000 GBP a year