Product Manager, Special Projects (R3865) - Shield AI

Job Title: Product Manager, Special Projects (R3865)
Job Location: San Diego Metro Area
Job Listing URL: https://jobs.lever.co/shieldai/7886f437-2d5e-4616-8dcb-3dc488f1f585
Job Description: Founded in 2015, Shield AI is a venture-backed deep-tech company with the mission of protecting service members and civilians with intelligent systems. Its products include the V-BAT aircraft, Hivemind Enterprise, and the Hivemind Vision product lines. With offices in San Diego, Dallas, Washington, D.C., Boston, Abu Dhabi (UAE), Kyiv (Ukraine), and Melbourne (Australia), Shield AI’s technology actively supports U.S. and allied operations worldwide. For more information, visit www.shield.ai. Follow Shield AI on LinkedIn, X and Instagram.

Job Description:
The Special Projects Product Manager will play a critical role in driving innovation within Shield AI’s advanced technologies group. This position bridges early-stage exploration with core product development, ensuring that novel capabilities from Special Projects are strategically transitioned into the Hivemind SDK and effectively leveraged by customer-facing teams. The PM will serve as both a technical expert and strategic partner—shaping the roadmap, championing usability, and collaborating across engineering, enterprise product, and solutions. This is a high-impact role for a product leader passionate about autonomy, innovation, and transforming prototypes into enduring product value.
What you'll do:
Manage and prioritize Special Projects backlog
Maintain and evolve Special Projects roadmap
Track Product Engineering roadmaps for integration opportunities
Coordinate capability transition into Hivemind SDK releases
Align with Hivemind Solutions on tactical and strategic needs
Track and escalate SDK usability issues to core PMs
Serve as expert user and demo leader for SDK
Serve as expert user and demo leader for Special Projects
Identify and validate new innovation opportunities
Drive rapid prototyping and proof-of-concept evaluations
Partner with engineering leads on technical feasibility assessments
Facilitate stakeholder communication and decision alignment
Collect customer/field feedback to refine innovation pipeline
Monitor industry trends and competitor innovation initiatives
Track success metrics for pilot projects and transitions
Required qualifications:
5+ years product management or innovation experience
Proven backlog and roadmap management expertise
Strong technical background in robotics or autonomy
Demonstrated experience with SDKs or developer platforms
Excellent communication and cross-functional collaboration skills
Ability to synthesize feedback into actionable product direction
Skilled in rapid prototyping and early-stage validation
Hands-on experience with product demos and customer engagement
Preferred qualifications:
Experience in defense, aerospace, or autonomous systems
Familiarity with Hivemind SDK or comparable autonomy frameworks
Strong user empathy and usability problem-solving skills
Track record of innovation-to-productization success
MBA or advanced degree in engineering/CS/related field
Prior experience supporting both product and customer delivery teams
Skilled at competitive analysis and market trend monitoring
Comfortable with ambiguity and fast-changing priorities