Lead and scale an aircraft sustainment and product health organization. Build teams, processes, metrics, and governance to convert fleet and maintenance data into reliability, readiness, and lifecycle improvements. Drive cross-functional issue resolution, failure tracking, corrective actions, configuration control, obsolescence planning, MRB/repair governance, and executive dashboards. Hire and mentor sustainment leaders and foster a data-driven, accountable culture.
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.
Shield AI is seeking a Senior Manager, Sustainment and Product Health to establish, scale, and lead the aircraft division’s sustainment and product health organization. Reporting to the Director, Fleet Sustainment, this leader will build the team structure, operating model, processes, metrics, and execution rhythm needed to support a growing fleet of advanced aircraft systems.
This role leads a multidisciplinary team spanning Fleet Sustainment Operations, Reliability Data Engineering, Sustainment Analytics, Configuration and Change Control, Reliability and Maintainability Engineering, Sustainment Project Management, MRB Engineering, Structures Sustainment, and Obsolescence and Lifecycle Management.
The Senior Manager will convert fleet data, maintenance activity, field failures, configuration changes, repair needs, and lifecycle risks into coordinated actions that improve fleet readiness, operational availability, reliability, maintainability, repairability, and long-term supportability.
This is a builder-leader role for someone who can create structure, lead technical teams, and drive disciplined execution in a fast-paced fielded aircraft environment.
What you'll do:
- Establish and scale the aircraft division sustainment and product health organization, including team structure, roles, operating rhythms, metrics, reporting, and cross-functional governance.
- Lead sustainment execution across fleet operations, product health, reliability analytics, configuration control, obsolescence management, MRB support, repair governance, and fielded-system issue resolution.
- Develop and mature the product health operating model, including fleet health reviews, reliability readouts, top degrader reviews, corrective action reviews, configuration reviews, and sustainment risk reporting.
- Drive cross-functional resolution of customer-impacting and fleet-impacting issues across Fleet Support, Engineering, Product Support, Quality, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Program Management, Operations, and Customer Success.
- Establish scalable processes for failure tracking, root cause coordination, corrective action closure, field retrofit planning, service actions, maintenance release coordination, and issue escalation.
- Lead analysis of fleet operational data, maintenance activity, failure trends, reliability performance, readiness impacts, repair needs, and maintenance burden.
- Ensure reliability and maintainability insights are converted into product improvements, inspection changes, diagnostics, service guidance, maintenance process improvements, and engineering corrective actions.
- Maintain governance over fielded-configuration discipline for aircraft hardware, software, payloads, ground equipment, support equipment, customer-specific configurations, and fielded modifications.
- Oversee obsolescence and lifecycle management activities, including end-of-life risk tracking, supplier risk visibility, last-time-buy coordination, alternate part planning, redesign coordination, and fleet impact assessment.
- Establish governance for MRB activity, repair dispositions, returned material evaluation, nonconforming hardware, production escapes, depot repairs, and field repair processes.
- Develop executive-level product health dashboards covering fleet availability, reliability trends, readiness degraders, recurring failures, configuration status, obsolescence risk, repair status, and corrective action progress.
- Hire, mentor, and develop sustainment leaders, technical contributors, analysts, and engineering partners as the organization scales.
- Build a team culture centered on operational accountability, engineering rigor, data-driven decision making, disciplined execution, customer urgency, and continuous improvement.
Required qualifications:
- 10+ years of experience in aviation sustainment, fleet operations, sustaining engineering, reliability engineering, maintenance operations, product support, technical operations, or related aerospace/defense environments.
- 5+ years of experience leading technical, operational, engineering, sustainment, reliability, product support, maintenance, or fielded-system teams.
- Proven ability to establish, scale, or mature a technical, operational, engineering, sustainment, product support, or fleet support organization.
- Experience supporting fielded aircraft, UAS, defense systems, complex electromechanical systems, robotics, aerospace platforms, or other mission-critical hardware/software products.
- Strong understanding of fleet sustainment, operational readiness, reliability improvement, maintainability, corrective action systems, configuration control, repair governance, and lifecycle support.
- Experience leading product health, fleet health, reliability, readiness, or sustainment governance mechanisms for deployed or customer-operated systems.
- Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional issue resolution across Engineering, Quality, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Product Support, Fleet Operations, Maintenance, Program Management, Operations, and Customer Success.
- Experience using operational data, maintenance data, reliability trends, field reports, returned material findings, and failure analysis to drive product or sustainment decisions.
- Strong program execution discipline, including action tracking, issue escalation, risk management, prioritization, operating rhythm design, and leadership reporting.
- Ability to balance engineering rigor with operational urgency, customer impact, fleet readiness, and business priorities.
- Strong people leadership skills, including hiring, coaching, performance management, organizational design, and development of technical contributors and emerging leaders.
- Strong executive communication skills, with the ability to brief technical issues, fleet risks, product health trends, organizational needs, and sustainment priorities to senior leaders.
Preferred qualifications:
- Experience supporting military, government, international, or deployed aviation customers.
- Experience with Group 3 or Group 5 UAS, unmanned aircraft, defense aviation, aerospace sustainment, or operational fleet support.
- Familiarity with FRACAS, Reliability and Maintainability programs, RCCA, failure review boards, product health reviews, top degrader management, or fleet readiness reporting.
- Experience with configuration management, engineering change processes, service bulletins, field retrofits, software/hardware release readiness, or as-maintained fleet configuration control.
- Experience with MRB processes, nonconforming material disposition, depot repair, field repair development, returned material analysis, or production escape resolution.
- Experience with obsolescence management, lifecycle management, supplier discontinuance planning, alternate part qualification, redesign coordination, or last-time-buy planning.
- Familiarity with Performance-Based Logistics, Contractor Logistics Support, Integrated Product Support, or lifecycle sustainment planning.
- Experience building dashboards, metrics, or analytics environments for fleet health, operational availability, reliability performance, maintenance burden, repair status, or corrective action execution.
- Familiarity with ITAR, export-controlled technical data, controlled customer environments, or defense operational support.
- Active Secret or Top Secret clearance preferred.
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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.
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