Director of Business Development, Shield AI
Collaborative Combat Aircraft, Europe
More information about location
Building AI aircraft pilots
Be an early applicant
Building AI aircraft pilots
501-1000 employees
Be an early applicant
More information about location
501-1000 employees
Company mission
Shield AI's mission is to protect service members and civilians with intelligent systems.
Role
Who you are
- You’ll bring a rare mix of defense sales expertise, technical credibility, and a deep understanding of air domain CONOPS and acquisition frameworks. From identifying new opportunities to closing complex deals and launching early-stage programs, you’ll own the entire business development lifecycle
- 15+ years in a relevant air force occupation, bringing significant depth of understanding of relevant CONOPs and platform applications
- 8–10+ years of experience in defense acquisition, business development, sales, or strategy, ideally with a focus on air platforms or autonomy
- Strong track record of capturing and closing defense programs or tech insertions with European ministries of defence or multinational frameworks
- Understanding of next-gen air combat trends, including CCAs, MUM-T, and AI-enabled CONOPS
- Ability to credibly represent technically complex products to both strategic and operational-level audiences
- Familiarity with key European defense programs (e.g., FCAS/SCAF, Tempest/GCAP, Eurodrone) and regional acquisition pathways
- Willingness to travel extensively across Europe (30–50%)
What the job involves
- At Shield AI, we’re redefining the battlespace with autonomy-enabled airpower. As part of our global expansion, we’re looking for a bold and visionary Director – CCAs, Europe to lead strategic sales, customer engagement, and capture efforts for our Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) initiatives across the region
- This is a high-impact role at the cutting edge of aerospace and defense innovation
- You’ll be on the front lines, driving adoption and revenue for Shield AI’s CCA technologies by engaging directly with top-tier defense stakeholders—military customers, industry primes, and government decision-makers
- Your mission: position Shield AI as the go-to partner for next-generation air combat solutions in Europe
- Drive Strategic Capture: Identify, shape, and capture high-value opportunities across European next-gen airpower programs relevant to CCAs and autonomy
- Own Regional Sales Pipeline: Lead the full business development lifecycle for CCA-focused efforts, from customer engagement through proposal, negotiation, and contract award
- Engage Key Stakeholders: Build and maintain trusted relationships with Ministries of Defence, defense primes, integrators, and NATO-related bodies
- Shape Requirements & CONOPS: Influence customer requirements and future CCA CONOPS to align with Shield AI’s product offerings
- Support Demonstrations & Campaigns: Lead Shield AI’s positioning and participation in regional flight demos, technical trials, and program pilots
- Coordinate Cross-Functionally: Collaborate closely with engineering, product, legal, and program teams to align technical solutions with customer needs and delivery requirements
- Inform Product Direction: Provide field intelligence to guide feature development, integration strategy, and roadmap priorities for Hivemind-enabled CCA solutions
Salary benchmarks
Our take
Self-driving vehicles present enormous benefits for the transportation industry, with the potential to increase the safety and efficiency of cars, trucks, and commercial airlines. However, such technological innovation is less present within the military transportation sector, despite the benefits that AI piloting would produce for the operation of drones and aircraft.
Shield AI is developing Hivemind, an AI-driven pilot that can operate drones and aircraft autonomously, without needing GPS, communications, or pilots. In addition to navigation, the technology is also designed to facilitate indoor building clearance, integrated defense breaching, and has the ability to learn and autonomously execute aircraft missions.
Whilst similar AI-driven pilot software has begun to appear in Chinese military research programs, Shield AI's target is the US. By developing fully autonomous piloting integrations for any type of aircraft, the company aims to future-proof the US military without the need for bespoke aircraft design. It has generated massive amounts of funding to support continued scaling and R&D efforts.
Steph
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
Company
Funding (last 2 of 12 rounds)
Mar 2025
$240m
LATE VC
Oct 2023
$300m
SERIES F
Total funding: $1.0bn
Company benefits
- Excellent Medical Coverage
- Mental Health Employee Assistance Program
- Paid Parental Leave
- Pet Insurance
- Flexible Work Hours
- Work From Home Benefits
- Relaxed Dress Code
- Unlimited Snacks and Beverages
- Gym Discount (San Diego)
- Onsite Gym (DC)
- Commuter Benefits
- 401k services and match
- Stock Benefits
Company HQ
Marina, San Diego, CA
Leadership
Ryan Tseng
(CEO)Experience as CEO, CTO and Founder of WiPower from 2006 to 2010. Technical Lead for Wireless Power Program for Qualcomm from 2010 to 2013.
Brandon Tseng
(President)Naval Officer for the US Navy from 2009 to 2015.
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