Senior Technical Project Manager, IT (R5279)

Founded in 2015, 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 and V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft. 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.

Job Description:
The Senior Project Manager – Technical Delivery & Cross-Functional Execution is an experienced practitioner responsible for driving the end-to-end delivery of complex, technically-led programs across distributed, cross-functional organizations. Operating at the intersection of IT, Product, Data, and Business Operations, this person brings the structure, process rigor, and delivery discipline needed to execute at pace without sacrificing quality or alignment.
This role is defined by its breadth: the ability to work fluently across organizational boundaries — aligning engineering squads, product teams, platform and infrastructure groups, and business stakeholders toward shared delivery outcomes. Beyond project execution, this person actively designs and implements the processes, workflows, and tooling that enable teams to operate more effectively and deliver more predictably over time.
The ideal candidate is technically literate, process-oriented, and deeply comfortable building structure in ambiguous environments. They bring the credibility to engage meaningfully with engineering and architecture teams, the communication skills to translate complexity for executive audiences, and the operational rigor to keep delivery on track across multiple concurrent workstreams.
Success in this engagement is defined by on-time delivery of technical programs, clear and consistent cross-functional alignment, measurable improvements in delivery predictability, and the establishment of durable processes that outlast the engagement.

What you'll do:
Lead end-to-end delivery of complex technical programs and projects — spanning software development, platform engineering, cloud infrastructure, data and analytics, and system integrations — from initiation through to production release and stabilization Act as the connective tissue across cross-functional teams including Engineering, Product, Design, Data, DevOps, Security, and Business Operations — aligning priorities, resolving blockers, and maintaining delivery momentum Design, implement, and continuously improve project delivery processes and workflows tailored to the organization’s technical context — including intake and scoping, sprint ceremonies, release coordination, dependency tracking, and post-delivery retrospectives Develop and own project delivery artefacts: project charters, detailed plans and schedules, RACI matrices, risk registers, status dashboards, and decision logs; always keep them current and decision-relevant Establish and manage governance structures including steering committees, technical review checkpoints, change control processes, and escalation paths appropriate to the complexity and risk profile of each initiative Partner with Engineering and Product leadership to align technical roadmaps with business priorities; facilitate trade-off conversations around scope, capacity, technical debt, and delivery sequencing Proactively surface and manage risks, issues, and dependencies across workstreams; develop mitigation strategies and drive resolution with clarity, urgency, and accountability Own project financials — track budgets, actuals, and forecasts; report variances to leadership with context and corrective actions Facilitate requirements clarification, technical scoping, and estimation sessions in partnership with engineering leads, architects, and product managers; translate business needs into well-defined delivery scope Drive and coordinate cross-team release planning, sprint reviews, and PI planning ceremonies in agile and scaled agile environments; ensure dependencies between squads are visible and managed Define and embed delivery metrics and reporting frameworks — velocity, cycle time, delivery predictability, risk exposure — to give leadership clear, real-time visibility across the portfolio Lead change management and communication planning for technically complex initiatives; ensure impacted teams and stakeholders are informed, prepared, and aligned throughout delivery Develop and maintain process documentation, delivery playbooks, workflow standards, and tooling guidance; institutionalize best practices so delivery quality scales beyond individual programmes Prepare and present concise, well-structured executive status updates, programme reviews, and decision packages for senior technical and business leadership

Required qualifications:
5+ years of project or program management experience, with a consistent focus on technical or technology-led initiatives including software development, platform engineering, data or cloud program Demonstrable experience working across cross-functional technical teams — IT, Product, Design, Data, DevOps, Infrastructure, and Security — acting as an integrator who drives alignment and delivery across organizational boundaries Proven ability to design and implement delivery processes and workflows from scratch or in under-defined environments; able to assess what’s needed, build pragmatically, and iterate based on what works Strong grasp of the Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) and technical delivery patterns — including CI/CD pipelines, sprint-based delivery, release trains, and environment management — sufficient to manage delivery risk and engage credibly with engineering teams Hands-on experience with agile and hybrid delivery frameworks: Scrum, Kanban, SAFe, or equivalent; comfortable designing the right delivery model for the program rather than applying a single methodology dogmatically Strong command of core PM disciplines: scope management, scheduling, risk and issue management, dependency tracking, budget oversight, resource planning, and executive reporting Experience with modern project and engineering tooling: Jira, Confluence, Smartsheet, Linear, Notion, or equivalent; able to configure and adapt tooling to support team workflows and leadership visibility Excellent facilitation and communication skills — able to run complex multi-team workshops, lead technical planning sessions, and present clearly to both engineering audiences and executive stakeholders PMP, PRINCE2, PMI-ACP, or equivalent certification (or demonstrated applied experience at equivalent level); agile certifications welcomed High degree of autonomy and self-direction — comfortable operating in ambiguous environments with minimal structural support; able to build structure where it doesn’t yet exist

Preferred qualifications:
Experience delivering across multiple technical domains simultaneously — e.g., concurrent platform, data, and product workstreams — with the ability to manage inter-team dependencies at program level Background in cloud migration or cloud-native program delivery (AWS, Azure, GCP); understanding of infrastructure-as-code, containerization, and DevSecOps practices and how they affect delivery planning Exposure to data and analytics program delivery including data platform buildouts, data pipeline implementations, BI and reporting tooling, and data governance workstreams Experience with API-led integration program and the delivery complexity of connecting internal systems, third-party platforms, and data sources across distributed architectures Familiarity with technical architecture review processes; able to participate in architecture decision discussions and understand delivery implications of architectural choices Background in regulated technical environments (SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, GDPR) with experience managing compliance requirements as a delivery constraint Experience deploying AI, machine learning, or data science capabilities in a production context; understanding of the unique delivery challenges in probabilistic and iterative ML development Prior background as a software engineer, technical business analyst, or solutions architect — bringing ground-level technical credibility that enhances delivery quality and stakeholder trust

#LC

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.
 
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Shield AI is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. We are committed to equal 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.