Staff Technical Program Manager (R6183)

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.

The Staff Technical Program Manager – Enterprise Technology & Systems Delivery is a senior program leader within the PMO who owns complex, multi-project technology programs and enterprise transformation initiatives from strategy through delivery and sustained adoption.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end delivery of large, multi-workstream technology programs, including enterprise platform implementations, ERP and business system rollouts, cloud and infrastructure migrations, identity and security programs, and system integrations.
• Define program structure, roadmap, phasing, and delivery strategy in partnership with business and technology leadership, including shaping scope and sequencing before execution begins.
• Lead and coordinate multiple project managers, workstream leads, and vendor teams under a single integrated program plan.
• Drive technical delivery conversations across architecture, integrations, data migration, environments, security, testing, and cutover, and challenge technical plans and estimates when risks aren't adequately addressed.
• Establish and run program governance, including steering committees, executive reporting, decision forums, and escalation paths, and present directly to senior leadership.
• Own program-level risk management and proactively identify systemic risks, cross-program dependencies, and resource conflicts across the portfolio.
• Manage program budgets, forecasts, and resource plans, and own variance explanations and tradeoff recommendations.
• Lead vendor and systems integrator management, including SOW scoping, performance management, milestone acceptance, and escalation of delivery gaps.
• Own go-live readiness decisions, including readiness criteria, cutover strategy, rollback planning, and hypercare exit.
• Partner with OCM to ensure change, communications, training, and adoption are built into program plans from the start.
• Define and improve PMO standards, templates, tooling, and delivery practices, and raise the bar for program management across the organization.
• Mentor and coach IC2/IC3 project managers and act as a senior escalation point for delivery challenges.
• Translate complex technical status into clear, decision-oriented narratives for executives.

Requirements

• 8+ years of project or program management experience, including 5+ years leading complex technology programs with multiple workstreams and cross-functional teams.
• Proven track record of delivering large-scale enterprise technology programs (e.g., ERP, cloud migration, identity/security, platform consolidation, or major system integrations) through go-live and stabilization.
• Strong technical fluency across enterprise architecture, integrations and APIs, data migration, infrastructure and cloud, security controls, and SDLC/testing practices, with enough depth to challenge technical teams and vendors credibly.
• Experience owning program governance and presenting directly to executive stakeholders and steering committees.
• Demonstrated experience managing vendors and systems integrators, including SOW oversight and delivery accountability.
• Experience managing program budgets, forecasts, and resource plans.
• Ability to lead through influence across engineering, IT, business, and vendor organizations without direct authority.
• Exceptional communication and executive presence, with the ability to simplify complexity and drive decisions.
• PMP, PgMP, or equivalent certification is a plus.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience delivering technology programs in defense, aerospace, or other highly regulated environments, including familiarity with compliance and security frameworks such as CMMC, NIST 800-171, ITAR, DFARS, or FedRAMP, and how they affect program scope, timelines, and system design.
• Experience building or maturing PMO practices, standards, or tooling.
• Experience leading programs across IT, Enterprise Operations, and Cybersecurity simultaneously.
• Background as an engineer, solutions architect, systems administrator, or technical lead before moving into program management.
• Familiarity with Agile at scale, hybrid delivery models, and tools such as Jira, Smartsheet, or ServiceNow SPM.
• Experience partnering with OCM functions on enterprise adoption.