Senior Director, Hivemind Operations & Sustainment (R5855)
Shield AI · Washington
- Level
- Director+
- Team
- Production
- Degree
- Required
- Experience asked
- 15+ years
- Industry
- Aerospace & defense
- Posted
- 30+ days ago
The role in 30 seconds
A director-level production role at Shield AI (aerospace & defense) in Washington.
- They ask for
- 15+ years · degree required
- Tools it names
- Root cause, Validation (IQ/OQ/PQ)
Read from the posting. The full description is below.
From the plant jobs report · week of October 19, 2026
Production Engineer roles in Washington: typical posted base $120k–$175k.
Median of the low and high ends of 19 live postings that list pay, out of 31 production engineer openings in Washington, read from manufacturers' own careers sites.
Washington plant jobs report →Pay by team and state →What moves pay →
How this role compares
Against 30 other live production postings in Washington.
- Base pay
- Not listed in this posting
- Experience asked
- More than usual (15+ vs 5+)
Typical $120k–$175k, from 18 postings that list pay.
Similar roles usually ask 5+ years.
Skills these teams ask for most
- Python 39%
- ✓ Root cause 29%
- Team leadership 26%
- Lean 26%
- New product launch 23%
✓ = this posting asks for it too. % = share of similar postings that mention it.
Stands out: this posting asks for Validation (IQ/OQ/PQ), which few similar roles mention. If you have it, lead with it.
At a glance
Pulled from the posting text. If it's not listed here, the posting didn't say.
How to get in at this plant
Five moves over a week or two. The first one takes ten minutes.
- 1
Pick 2–3 people on the Production team at Shield AI
Engineers who joined in the last year or two reply the most. Use the team search on this page to find them.
- 2
Send a short, curious note
One real question about their work. No favors yet. Each person gets a different note, written for this role.
- 3
Turn a reply into a short call
Questions worth asking about this team:
- What does a normal week look like on your team?
- How did you land the job? What stood out in your interviews?
- 4
Apply with someone vouching for you
If the call went well, ask whether they’d pass your résumé to the hiring manager. Send your résumé link, apply that day, and let them know.
- 5
Bring proof to the interview
One page of before-and-after numbers from projects you led: scrap, OEE, cycle time, cost. Plant managers hire on results.
Full description from Shield AIAs posted on their careers site.ShowHide
What you'll do
Establish the organization, practices, tools, and ways of working which manage the following:
Required qualifications
- ✓Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Computer Science, or related technical field.
- ✓15 years of experience leading software operations, sustaining engineering, technical support, or product lifecycle organizations.
- ✓Experience with government, defense, or mission-critical software systems
- ✓Experience supporting sustainment or ILS organizations for integrated hardware and software products.
- ✓Demonstrated success building operational organizations from the ground up supporting both product and customer delivery teams.
- ✓Strong systems engineering mindset with experience establishing scalable operational processes.
- ✓Experience leading cross-functional technical teams through complex customer issues and product improvements.
- ✓Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills.
Preferred qualifications
- ✓Experience in AI/ML platforms or autonomous systems
- ✓Experience with Software Development Kits (SDKs), APIs, or developer platforms.
- ✓Experience supporting both commercial software products and customized customer solutions.
- ✓Familiarity with technical training development, knowledge management, and documentation systems.
Show full description ↓Show less ↑
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.
Product Deployment & Integration
- •Lead teams responsible for installation, integration, and operational deployment of the HME Software within customer environments.
- •Develop repeatable deployment methodologies, tools, and best practices that reduce deployment timelines and improve customer outcomes.
- •Support direct HME customers integrating and building upon the HME, HMS teams delivering customized customer solutions, and HMV customers integrating VIDAR and associated software.
Training, Documentation & Knowledge Enablement
- •Own the strategy and execution for customer education and operational knowledge management.
- •Maintain and continuously improve training curriculum, technical publications, installation guides, troubleshooting documentation, and operational manuals.
- •Develop knowledge transfer materials that enable customers to effectively deploy, configure, maintain, troubleshoot, and enhance their systems.
- •Produce technical content and playbooks for Forward Deployed Engineers, Customer Support Engineers, and field personnel to resolve recurring issues and efficiently collect diagnostic data.
Sustaining Engineering
- •Lead engineering efforts supporting products operating in customer environments.
- •Track and manage customer configurations and upgrades.
- •Provide technical expertise for deployment support, issue resolution, and operational readiness.
- •Ensure technical issues are documented, reproduced, prioritized, and communicated effectively to HMV, HME, and HMS Engineering organizations.
- •Drive root cause analysis and corrective actions that improve product reliability and customer experience.
Test & Evaluation
- •Drive rapid validation and verification activities supporting customer-critical hardware repairs, bug fixes and software updates.
- •Develop lightweight but rigorous test methodologies for sustaining engineering changes.
- •Coordinate closely with Engineering to accelerate customer-impacting releases.
Customer Support Engineering
- •Own the technical support engineering organization serving as the initial point of contact for customer-reported issues and feature requests.
- •Establish technical triage processes that rapidly classify, prioritize, and route customer issues.
- •Provide technically proficient support beyond traditional call-center functions.
- •Define service level objectives and operational metrics for customer responsiveness.
- •Ensure customer feedback is systematically captured and incorporated into product planning as appropriate.
Operational Excellence & Engineering Enablement
- •Establish the systems engineering discipline, operational processes, and governance supporting all Operations & Sustainment functions.
- •Define standard operating procedures, workflows, quality standards, and engineering best practices.
- •Develop operational metrics and dashboards to monitor deployment performance, customer support effectiveness, issue resolution, and sustainment health.
- •Drive continuous improvement initiatives that increase efficiency, scalability, and customer satisfaction.
Cross-Functional Leadership
- •Serve as the operational interface between Engineering, Program Management, Customer Success, Forward Deployed Engineering, and Customer Support.
- •Translate operational insights and customer feedback into actionable product improvements.
- •Partner with HMV, HME, and HMS leadership to ensure sustainment capabilities evolve alongside product growth.
- •Balance customer responsiveness with long-term product quality and engineering priorities.