Director, Enterprise Strategy and Operations (R5626)

The role

This role leads enterprise strategy work at Shield AI, including multi-year planning, portfolio tradeoffs and market analysis across U.S. and allied defense markets. It also covers capital allocation with financial models and business cases, and turning strategy into cross-functional execution plans with KPIs.

What you will do

• 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.
• Build financial models and analytic frameworks for investment decisions such as new platforms, manufacturing, and international expansion.
• Assess TAM, margin structure, capital intensity, payback, and risk-adjusted returns.
• Contribute to enterprise-wide capital allocation frameworks and governance processes.
• Translate strategic priorities into cross-functional execution plans with defined KPIs and milestones.
• Track and report progress through monthly and quarterly performance reviews.
• Identify bottlenecks, analyze root causes, and recommend solutions to sustain execution velocity.

Required qualifications

• 12+ years of experience with a Bachelor's degree, 8+ years with a Master's, or 5+ years with a PhD.
• 4+ years in a top-tier strategy consulting, corporate strategy or other high-rigor role.
• Strong analytical and conceptual problem-solving abilities.
• Demonstrated ability to structure ambiguous problems and drive insight through analysis.
• Financial modeling and analytical capability, including unit economics, forecasting and scenario analysis.
• Ability to work collaboratively across teams and influence senior stakeholders.
• U.S. citizenship required, with ability to obtain and maintain a security clearance.

Nice to have

• Experience or strong interest in complex, technical, or regulated industries such as aerospace, defense, AI, or advanced manufacturing.

Benefits

• Full-time regular employees: bonus, benefits and equity.
• Temporary employees: temporary benefits package, applicable after 60 days of employment.

Before you apply

• U.S. citizenship is required.
• Ability to obtain and maintain a security clearance is required.
• All offers are contingent on a cleared background and possible reference check.
• Military fellows and part-time employees are not eligible for benefits.

About the company

Shield AI is a venture-backed defense-tech company whose mission is protecting service members and civilians with intelligent systems. Its products include Hivemind autonomy software, V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft, and Aechelon simulation technologies.