Description
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.
The Senior Director, Deal Strategy Execution (DSE) owns the operating model that turns Shield AI's most complex, highest-value domestic and international opportunities into repeatable, executable transactions. This is not a traditional deal desk. It is a strategic deal architecture and execution function: a force multiplier for the field that helps teams build winning deal structures, terms, and negotiation approaches faster, accelerate cross-functional decisions, protect margin and risk posture, and convert successful one-off transactions into reusable plays.
The role exists because Shield AI's opportunity set is increasingly defined by complex government and international transactions where a product sale alone is insufficient. Customers require combinations of autonomous platforms, software subscriptions, payloads, training, field services, integration, sustainment, and partner-led delivery. Each transaction introduces unique constraints around product maturity, delivery capacity, exportability, contracting pathway, pricing, and risk, and the company needs a single operating mechanism that translates all of it into viable, approvable, and scalable transactions.
This is a leadership role. The Head of DSE builds and directs three functions: Regional Deal Strategists embedded with BD teams, a central Business Proposals function, and an Architecture and Packaging capability. The constant is the operating principle: standardize what can be standardized, and elevate and deliberately govern what must be bespoke.
Key Responsibilities:
- Team charter and operating model: Set engagement criteria, service levels, decision rights, approval thresholds, and the escalation framework.
- Cross-functional deal governance: Chair cross-functional deal reviews and ensure executives receive clear decisions, trade-offs, and recommendations.
- Strategic deal architecture: Own the quality of deal strategy on priority pursuits.
- Modular deal catalog and packaging: Direct the build and maintenance of the authoritative capability catalog.
- Deal plays and repeatability: Establish the deal-play roadmap aligned to GTM priorities, product maturity, and international growth.
- Exception governance: Govern pricing, terms, and delivery exceptions through clear thresholds and fast escalation.
- Measurement and continuous improvement: Measure business impact and lead postmortems on won and lost strategic business.
- Team leadership and role boundaries: Build and lead Regional Deal Strategists, the Business Proposals team, and the Architecture and Packaging function.
- Enablement and incentives: Partner with the GTM Enablement Lead on trainings and enablement.
Current Priorities:
- Stand up the organization.
- Deal intake and triage.
- Modular capability catalog.
- Deal plays for priority segments.
- Pre-sales inspection.
- Post-deal learning.
How the Role Operates:
- Advisory, not administrative.
- Clear guardrails.
- Speed by design.
- One source of truth.
- Cross-functional accountability.
- Decision rights.
- Measurement.
Requirements:
- Experience: 10+ years in revenue, commercial, or deal or sales leadership roles in B2B technology.
- Demonstrated experience building or leading a deal desk, deal strategy, or commercial structuring function.
- Deep familiarity with international government contracting, international sales, and partner-led motions.
- Defense, dual-use, or public-sector commercial exposure strongly preferred.
- Experience hiring and developing high-performing teams of strategists and proposal professionals.
Skills and Disposition:
- Deal architect.
- Cross-functional orchestrator.
- Negotiation craft.
- Writes well.
- Standardizer by instinct.
- Calibrated on the line between governing exceptions and adding bureaucracy.