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. For more information, visit www.shield.ai. Follow Shield AI on LinkedIn, X, Instagram, and YouTube.
Job Description:
Shield is scaling fast, and our internal systems, security posture, and ways of working are changing with it. We're looking for a hands-on change management lead to build our OCM function from the ground up for IT, Enterprise Operations, and Cybersecurity. This person is not a generic change practitioner. They understand the technology well enough to earn credibility with engineers, anticipate where a rollout will break, and translate technical change into something every employee can act on.
What you'll do:
Build Shield's OCM program for technical functions: frameworks, templates, playbooks, intake process, and success metrics.
Own change strategy and execution for major initiatives, such as identity and access changes, endpoint and device management, security controls and compliance requirements (e.g., CMMC/NIST 800-171), ERP and business system rollouts, collaboration tool migrations, and new IT service models.
Partner with IT, EntOps, and Cyber leaders early in project planning to assess impact, readiness, and risk, rather than joining at launch.
Run stakeholder analysis and change impact assessments across engineering, manufacturing, flight ops, and corporate teams.
Create communications, training, and enablement: announcements, FAQs, how-to guides, short videos, office hours, and change champion networks.
Measure adoption with real data (ticket volume, usage telemetry, compliance rates, surveys) and adjust course.
Coordinate release and change calendars so employees don't get hit with five disruptions in one week.
Act as the voice of the end user in technical decisions, and push back when a rollout plan isn't ready for humans.
Required qualifications:
8+ years in organizational change management, with at least 3 years supporting IT, security, or enterprise technology programs.
Real technical fluency. You can hold your own in conversations about SSO/MFA, identity providers (Okta, Entra ID), MDM (Intune, Jamf), ITSM (ServiceNow, Jira Service Management), SaaS migrations, and security controls. You don't need to configure them, but you need to understand them.
A track record of building a change function or program, not just executing someone else's.
Strong writing skills. You can turn a dense technical spec into a clear two-paragraph announcement.
Comfort operating with ambiguity in a fast-moving, high-growth environment.
Familiarity with a change methodology (Prosci/ADKAR, Kotter, or similar), applied pragmatically rather than dogmatically.
Preferred qualifications:
Experience in defense, aerospace, or other regulated environments (CMMC, ITAR, FedRAMP, NIST).
Prosci or CCMP certification.
Background in IT project management, service delivery, or technical training.
Experience supporting security awareness or compliance programs.
How we measure success in year one:
An OCM framework and intake process adopted by IT, EntOps, and Cyber.
Measurable adoption and reduced support tickets on major rollouts.
Leaders across these functions pulling you in by default at project kickoff.
