Senior Lead, Strategy & Operations

Shield AI is seeking a Strategy & Operations Lead 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 early-career professionals seeking to grow into future strategy, operations, or general management leaders.

Enterprise Strategy Development:

• Support 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 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).

$150,000 - $230,000 a year