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
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Job Description:
Shield AI is seeking an Autonomy Applications Engineer, Learning & Development to help accelerate customer adoption of Hivemind through world-class technical training and enablement. This is a highly technical, customer-facing role for someone who is equally comfortable mastering complex autonomy software, building cutting-edge training content, and leading in-person training engagements with customer engineers and technical stakeholders.
In this role, you will become a deep expert in the Hivemind software stack and serve as a trusted resource for customers learning to build autonomy with Hivemind. You will develop and maintain training materials, deliver instructor-led training, and help translate product complexity into clear, effective, mission-relevant learning experiences.
You will also work closely with internal engineering, product, and go-to-market teams to ensure training content stays aligned with the latest product capabilities and field feedback. This role is ideal for someone who enjoys teaching, building, and solving technical problems at the intersection of software, autonomy, and customer success.
This role includes approximately 30% travel for customer site visits specifically to facilitate in-person training engagements.
What you'll do:
Become an expert user of the Hivemind software stack and workflows
Lead in-person and hands-on customer training engagements for Hivemind software
Develop, maintain, and continuously improve high-quality technical training materials, guides, labs, and instructor-led content
Train customer engineers and technical teams to effectively use Hivemind software and build autonomy applications
Help customers troubleshoot software usage issues and support debugging of in training contexts
Collaborate closely with engineering and product teams to incorporate customer feedback into training content and product improvements
Develop and maintain technical documentation and learning resources that help scale customer adoption
Help define best practices for autonomy training and customer enablement across Shield AI deployments
Represent Shield AI as a technical educator and product expert, helping drive the global proliferation of autonomous systems
You should apply if:
You enjoy teaching highly technical material and can turn complex software concepts into clear, engaging learning experiences
You are energized by customer-facing work and enjoy facilitating in-person training engagements
You have strong engineering fundamentals and can build credibility quickly with technical users
You are comfortable operating with autonomy and ownership in dynamic customer environments
You enjoy working across engineering, product, and customer teams to improve both user outcomes and product adoption
You are passionate about or have great interest in autonomy, robotics, or defense technology
Required qualifications:
Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Computer Science, or a related technical field
5+ years of relevant experience
3+ years of experience in an applications engineering, integration engineering, solutions engineering, technical training, technical enablement, or similarly customer-facing technical role
Strong technical background in software engineering
Strong proficiency with modern C++
Experience with Python in a professional setting
Excellent communication, presentation, and interpersonal skills
Strong problem-solving and analytical skills
Clear interest in being an educator engineer who enjoys instructing technical users and developing their capability
Ability to travel approximately 30%, including occasional international travel a
Preferred qualifications:
3+ years of experience working in a startup environment
Experience in the defense, robotics, aerospace, or autonomous systems industry
Experience developing technical documentation, training materials, or instructional content for complex technical products
Experience designing hands-on technical labs, workshops, or instructor-led training programs
Senior Engineer: $152000-$228,000
Staff Engineer: $181,000-$272,000
Senior Staff Engineer: $212,000-$318,000
Why this role matters:
This role sits at the front line of customer adoption for Hivemind. As an Autonomy Applications Engineer, Learning & Development, you will help customers build confidence in autonomy software, accelerate their ability to build autonomy with Hivemind, and shape how Shield AI trains the next generation of autonomous systems users. You will be both educator and engineer: teaching customers, building the materials that enable them, and helping bring advanced autonomy into real-world use around the globe.
