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Shield AI, a venture-backed defense-tech company, is seeking an Instructor & Customer Success Manager to lead training operations for its autonomous systems and unmanned aircraft. You will manage a team of customer training professionals and UAV instructors, establishing priorities, performance expectations, staffing plans, and professional-development pathways.
Key responsibilities include overseeing the development and delivery of classroom, simulator, flight, maintenance, and scenario-based training for Shield AI products. You will ensure training programs prepare customers to safely operate, maintain, deploy, and effectively employ Shield AI systems. You'll maintain high instructional standards through instructor qualification, observation, coaching, certification, and continuous evaluation.
You will lead the development and standardization of curricula, lesson plans, lecture materials, simulator scenarios, practical exercises, assessments, and supporting documentation. You'll manage training records, instructor qualifications, course materials, and program metrics. Coordination of training schedules, aircraft, simulators, facilities, airspace, frequency management, and personnel will be part of your operational scope.
Direct customer and partner-force leadership communication regarding training requirements, student progress, operational readiness, and program outcomes is essential. You'll build lasting customer relationships through continuous engagement, refresher training, and support for effective product utilization. You'll adapt training for students with varying technical abilities, operational backgrounds, cultural contexts, and experience levels.
You'll support domestic and international training events, including extended deployments when required, and deliver instruction and hands-on training support when mission or staffing needs require it. Collaboration with engineering, product, design, and flight-operations teams to incorporate feedback into product and training improvements is critical. You'll also partner with business-development and sales teams to demonstrate Shield AI products to prospective customers.
You'll establish and monitor training-program metrics, identify performance gaps, and implement improvements that increase safety, consistency, scalability, and customer success. Ensuring training activities comply with applicable company policies, safety requirements, security procedures, aviation regulations, and customer expectations is mandatory.
REQUIREMENTS:
- Bachelor's degree or equivalent combination of education and relevant experience
- Five or more years of experience in technical, aviation, military, or UAS training
- Two or more years of experience leading instructors, training teams, or comparable operational teams
- Demonstrated experience developing and delivering classroom, simulator, flight, maintenance, or scenario-based instruction
- Working knowledge of UAS operations, flight and mission planning, aviation safety, and training operations
- Ability and willingness to travel internationally up to 50%, including for extended periods when required
- Strong written, verbal, presentation, and interpersonal communication skills
- Fluent in Ukrainian
- Demonstrated ability to communicate complex technical and operational information to audiences with varying levels of experience
- Experience managing multiple training events, resources, schedules, and customer requirements in a dynamic environment
- Effective, highly logical problem-solver who remains focused on safety, learning outcomes, and customer success
- Ability to work across organizational boundaries while maintaining a big-picture perspective and attention to operational details
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:
- Graduate degree in education, instructional design, aviation, engineering, business, or a related field
- Significant UAS experience as a pilot in command, instructor, maintainer, or mission operator
- More than 1,000 hours of UAS pilot-in-command experience
- Experience instructing or operating Group 1–3 UAS
- Former Ukrainian military service or comparable defense-sector experience
- Strong understanding of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, allied defense organizations, and international partner-force environments
- Tactical field experience and knowledge of small-unit tactics
- Prior overseas training or operational experience
- Experience managing training programs for international customers and working across cultural and language differences
- Experience with content-authoring and presentation tools such as PowerPoint, Prezi, Beautiful.ai, Camtasia, or comparable platforms
- Experience with learning-management systems and online training-authoring or delivery tools
- Experience supporting product demonstrations, new-product testing, curriculum validation, or fielding of emerging technologies
