Director, Enterprise Strategy and Operations (R5626)

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, V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft, and Aechelon simulation and synthetic reality technologies. 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:

Shield AI is seeking a Strategy & Operations Director to help define enterprise strategy and ensure its operational execution. This role offers immersive exposure to the company’s most critical decisions — spanning aircraft systems, AI software (Hivemind), autonomy hardware, and international growth.

As a core member of the Strategy & Operations team, you’ll apply structured problem‑solving, financial rigor, and operational discipline to turn strategic priorities into actionable, measurable outcomes. The role combines high‑performance expectations with a strong learning and development environment — ideal for professionals seeking to grow into future strategy, operations, or general management leaders.

What you'll do

Enterprise Strategy Development

• Lead the multi‑year strategic planning and annual operating strategy cycles.
• Evaluate portfolio tradeoffs across platforms, software, hardware, and emerging growth vectors.
• Conduct market sizing, competitive analysis, and scenario modeling across U.S. and allied defense markets.

Capital Allocation & Business Case Rigor

• Build financial models and analytic frameworks for investment decisions (new platforms, manufacturing, international expansion).
• Assess TAM, margin structure, capital intensity, payback, and risk‑adjusted returns.
• Contribute to the development of enterprise‑wide capital allocation frameworks and governance processes.

Operationalization of Strategy

• Translate strategic priorities into cross‑functional execution plans with defined KPIs and milestones.
• Track and report on progress through structured operating cadences (monthly and quarterly performance reviews).
• Identify bottlenecks, analyze root causes, and recommend actionable solutions to sustain execution velocity.

Required qualifications

• Min 12+ years of experience with Bachelors, 8+ with Masters, and 5+ with PhD.
• Min 4+ years’ experience in a top-tier strategy consulting, corporate strategy or other high‑rigor roles.
• Strong analytical and conceptual problem‑solving abilities.
• Demonstrated ability to structure ambiguous problems and drive insight through analysis.
• Financial modeling and analytical capability (unit economics, forecasting, scenario analysis).
• Experience or strong interest in complex, technical, or regulated industries (aerospace, defense, AI, or advanced manufacturing preferred).
• Ability to work collaboratively across teams and influence senior stakeholders.
• U.S. citizenship required (ability to obtain and maintain a security clearance).