
Product Manager, AI Platforms (R3865)
Shield AI · San Diego, CA
- On site
- Full-time
- $240,000 / year
- San Diego, CA
Job highlights
- Drive AI platform strategy and execution.
- Own product vision for Hivemind AI Platform.
- Lead AI model development and training.
- Ensure safe deployment and model governance.
- Collaborate across engineering and research teams.
About the role
Product Manager AI Platforms
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 and X-BAT aircraft, Hivemind Enterprise, and the Hivemind Vision product lines. With offices and facilities across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and the 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:
The AI Platform Product Manager will drive the strategy and execution of Shield AI’s next-generation autonomy intelligence stack—enabling customers and internal teams to train, evaluate, and deploy foundation and domain models that power resilient autonomy at the edge. This PM owns the product vision and roadmap for the Hivemind AI Platform (Forge, training pipelines, data infrastructure, evaluation, and deployment toolchains), ensuring we can manufacture, govern, and field advanced world models, robotics foundation models, and vision-language-action systems safely and at scale.
This role sits at the intersection of AI/ML, autonomy, model lifecycle, infrastructure, and product strategy. The PM partners closely with engineering, AI research, Hivemind Solutions, and field teams to deliver the tooling that enables sovereign autonomy, AI Factories at the edge, and continuous learning—capabilities that are central to Shield AI’s strategic direction.
This is a high-impact role for an experienced product leader excited to define how foundation models are trained, validated, governed, and deployed across thousands of autonomous systems in highly contested environments.
What you'll do:
AI Model Development & Training Platform
- Own the roadmap for foundation model training workflows, including dataset ingestion, curation, labeling, synthetic data generation, domain model training, and distillation pipelines.
- Define requirements for world models, robotics models, and VLA-based training, evaluation, and specialization.
- Lead the evolution of MLOps capabilities in Forge, including data lineage, experiment tracking, model versioning, and scalable evaluation suites.
Data, Simulation & Synthetic Data Factory
- Define product requirements for synthetic data generation, simulation-integrated data flywheels, and automated scenario generation.
- Partner with Digital Twin, Simulation, and autonomy teams to convert natural-language mission inputs into data needs, training procedures, and model variants.
Safe Deployment & Model Governance
- Lead the development of model governance and auditability tooling, including model cards, dataset rights, lineage tracking, safety gates, and compliance evidence.
- Build guardrails and workflows to safely deploy models onto edge hardware in disconnected, GPS- or comms-denied environments.
- Partner with Safety, Certification, Cyber, and Engineering teams to ensure traceability and evaluation pipelines meet operational and accreditation requirements.
Edge Deployment & AI Factory Integration
- Partner with Pilot, EdgeOS, and hardware teams to integrate foundation-model-based perception and reasoning into autonomy behaviors.
- Define requirements for distillation, quantization, and inference tooling as part of the “three-computer” development and deployment model.
- Ensure closed-loop workflows between cloud model training and edge-native execution.
Cross-Functional Leadership
- Collaborate with Engineering, Research, Product, Customer Engagement, and Solutions teams to ensure model outputs meet mission and platform constraints.
- Translate advanced AI capabilities into intuitive workflows that platform OEMs and partner nations can use to build sovereign AI factories.
- Sequence foundational capabilities that unblock autonomy, simulation, and customer-facing product teams.
User & Customer Impact
- Develop deep empathy for ML engineers, autonomy developers, and Solutions engineers who rely on the platform.
- Capture operational data gaps, mission-driven model needs, and domain-specific specialization requirements.
- Lead demos and onboarding for model-development capabilities across internal and external teams.
Required qualifications:
- 7+ years of experience in product management or highly technical ML/AI product roles.
- 2+ years of experience in a hands-on software development role.
- Strong engineering background (Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Robotics, or related field).
- Deep understanding of foundation models, robotics models, multimodal models, MLOps, and training infrastructure.
- Experience managing complex products spanning data pipelines, cloud training clusters, model governance, and edge deployments.
- Proven success partnering with research teams to transition ML innovations into stable, production-grade workflows.
- Familiarity with simulation-based data generation and large-scale data management.
- Excellent communicator with strong cross-functional leadership skills.
Preferred qualifications:
- Experience working on autonomy, robotics, embedded AI, or mission-critical systems.
- Hands-on familiarity with GPU infrastructure, distributed training, or data lakehouse architectures.
- Experience supporting defense, dual-use, or safety-critical AI systems.
- Background designing or operating AI Factory–style pipelines (data → training → evaluation → distillation → edge deployment).
- Advanced degree in engineering, ML/AI, robotics, or a related field.
Key skills/competency:
- Product Management
- AI Platforms
- Machine Learning
- Autonomy
- Model Lifecycle
- MLOps
- Foundation Models
- Robotics
- Edge Deployment
- Product Strategy
Skills & topics
- Product Manager
- AI Platforms
- Artificial Intelligence
- Machine Learning
- MLOps
- Foundation Models
- Robotics
- Autonomy
- Edge Computing
- Deep Tech
- Product Strategy
- Roadmap
- Data Pipelines
- Model Governance
- Software Development
How to get hired
- Tailor your resume: Highlight AI platform, MLOps, and product management experience.
- Showcase technical depth: Emphasize your engineering background and understanding of foundation models.
- Demonstrate cross-functional skills: Provide examples of successful collaboration with research and engineering teams.
- Prepare for technical questions: Be ready to discuss AI model lifecycle, training, and edge deployment strategies.
- Understand Shield AI's mission: Align your application with their goal of protecting with intelligent systems.
Technical preparation
Behavioral questions
Frequently asked questions
- What specific AI models will I be working with as a Product Manager at Shield AI?
- As a Product Manager at Shield AI, you will focus on foundation models, world models, robotics models, and vision-language-action (VLA) systems. Your role involves overseeing their training, evaluation, governance, and deployment across various autonomous systems.
- What is the Hivemind AI Platform, and what are its components?
- The Hivemind AI Platform is Shield AI's core intelligence stack. Key components you'll own include Forge (MLOps capabilities), training pipelines, data infrastructure, evaluation tools, and deployment toolchains, enabling the creation and management of AI models.
- What does 'resilient autonomy at the edge' mean in the context of Shield AI's work?
- Resilient autonomy at the edge refers to autonomous systems that can operate reliably and effectively in challenging, often disconnected environments. This includes situations where GPS or communication signals are denied, requiring robust, self-sufficient AI capabilities.
- How does Shield AI ensure the safe deployment and governance of AI models?
- Shield AI emphasizes safe deployment through model governance and auditability tooling. This includes features like model cards, dataset rights, lineage tracking, safety gates, compliance evidence, and guardrails for edge hardware deployment in critical environments.
- What kind of technical background is expected for the Product Manager, AI Platforms role?
- A strong engineering background (CS, EE, Robotics, or related) is required, with at least 7 years in product management or technical AI/ML product roles and 2 years in hands-on software development. Deep understanding of foundation models, MLOps, and training infrastructure is crucial.
- What are the benefits of working on AI Factories at the edge with Shield AI?
- Working on AI Factories at the edge allows you to define how AI models are trained, validated, governed, and deployed at scale for thousands of autonomous systems. It's a high-impact role central to Shield AI's strategic direction, enabling sovereign AI development and continuous learning.
- How does Shield AI handle data and simulation for AI model development?
- Shield AI utilizes synthetic data generation, simulation-integrated data flywheels, and automated scenario generation. The product manager will define requirements for these processes, partnering with teams to convert mission inputs into data needs and training procedures.
- What is the compensation range for the Product Manager, AI Platforms position?
- The estimated annual salary range for this position is $190,000 to $290,000, not including potential bonuses, benefits, and equity.