Principal, Customer Success (R5246)

Founded in 2015, 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 and V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft. 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 AI is seeking a Principal, Customer Success to establish and lead the Aircraft Division Customer Success function and own the Critical Accounts Program for V-BAT and X-BAT customers. This leader will ensure customers achieve mission value, operational readiness, adoption, and long-term success across the full customer lifecycle.

This role combines team leadership, customer success execution, executive account governance, operational awareness, and critical-account recovery. The ideal candidate has led customer-facing teams in aerospace, defense, aviation, complex enterprise, or mission-critical technology environments and can create repeatable customer operating rhythms while responding decisively to escalated, at-risk, or strategically sensitive accounts.

As the owner of the Aircraft Division Critical Accounts Program, this leader will establish clear account health criteria, executive visibility, cross-functional recovery plans, risk burn-down discipline, decision cadence, and accountable closure. This person will serve as a senior customer advocate and cross-functional leader, ensuring customer risks are surfaced early, resolved with urgency, and converted into lasting improvements across product, operations, training, sustainment, and support.