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.
As the Instructor & Customer Success Manager, you will lead a team responsible for developing and delivering classroom, simulator, flight, maintenance, and scenario-based training for Shield AI products. You will ensure customers in Ukraine have the knowledge, skills, and confidence required to safely operate, maintain, and effectively employ our technology.
You will be responsible for instructor development, training quality, operational readiness, curriculum standards, and customer satisfaction. This is a hands-on leadership position that requires close collaboration with customers, engineering, product, flight operations, business development, and other internal teams. The ideal candidate is an experienced training leader, an effective communicator, and a credible UAS professional who is comfortable operating in dynamic domestic and international environments.
What you’ll do:
- Lead, develop, and mentor a team of customer training professionals and UAV instructors.
- Establish team priorities, performance expectations, staffing plans, and professional-development pathways.
- Oversee the development and delivery of classroom, simulator, flight, maintenance, and scenario-based training for Shield AI products.
- Ensure training programs prepare customers to safely operate, maintain, deploy, and effectively employ Shield AI systems.
- Maintain high instructional standards through instructor qualification, observation, coaching, certification, and continuous evaluation.
- Lead the development and standardization of curricula, lesson plans, lecture materials, simulator scenarios, practical exercises, assessments, and supporting documentation.
- Ensure student training records, instructor qualifications, course materials, and program metrics remain current and accurate.
- Coordinate training schedules, aircraft, simulators, facilities, airspace, frequency management, personnel, and other operational resources.
- Communicate directly with customers and partner-force leadership regarding training requirements, student progress, operational readiness, and program outcomes.
- Build lasting customer relationships through continuous engagement, refresher training, and support for effective product utilization.
- Adapt training for students with varying technical abilities, operational backgrounds, cultural contexts, and levels of experience.
- Support domestic and international training events, including extended deployments when required.
- Deliver instruction and provide hands-on training support when mission or staffing needs require it.
- Partner with engineering, product, design, and flight-operations teams to incorporate customer and instructor feedback into product and training improvements.
- Support new-product validation, testing, field evaluations, and the development of training capabilities for new product releases.
- Collaborate with business-development and sales teams to demonstrate Shield AI products to prospective customers.
- Establish and monitor training-program metrics, identify performance gaps, and implement improvements that increase safety, consistency, scalability, and customer success.
- Ensure training activities comply with applicable company policies, safety requirements, security procedures, aviation regulations, and customer expectations.
Required qualifications:
- 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, http://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.
Our international teammates receive a comprehensive total rewards package aligned to your country office location. For full details on compensation and benefits, please consult your talent acquisition partner.