Director, Customer Engagement

Director, Customer Engagement

The Director of Customer Engagement will be a pivotal leader responsible for the entire post-sale customer lifecycle for our Hivemind enterprise product portfolio. This individual will build and lead a world-class team dedicated to ensuring our customers, including major defense primes and international allies, successfully adopt, integrate, and scale Hivemind to achieve their mission-critical objectives. This role is crucial for translating our cutting-edge technology into tangible customer success, driving platform adoption, fostering sovereign capabilities for our partners, and creating powerful reference accounts. You will act as the primary advocate for our customers within Shield AI, ensuring their feedback shapes our product and service evolution.

What You'll Do

• Strategic Customer Lifecycle Management :
• Develop and implement a comprehensive customer engagement strategy that spans from initial onboarding and contract execution through to full operational deployment and ongoing expansion, ensuring customer delight, success and meeting revenue goals
• Oversee the creation and execution of detailed, phased engagement plans (e.g., 3-6-9-12 month) tailored to individual customer needs and strategic objectives.
• Champion the development of customer as a "sovereign capability," enabling them to become self-sufficient based on Hivemind Enterprise.
• Team Leadership & Development :
• Build, mentor, and lead a high-performing team of Customer Enablement (CE) professionals, including Application Engineers and customer success managers, including their respective engineering managers
• Teams will be spread domestically across San Diego, Washington DC and Frisco TX and internationally South Korea, Singapore and Japan
• Foster a culture of customer obsession, proactive problem-solving, and technical excellence within the team.
• Enablement Program & Playbook Creation :
• Spearhead the development and refinement of scalable "Customer Enablement Playbooks" for various customer segments and use cases (e.g., different CONOPs, platform integrations).
• Oversee the creation of high-quality training materials, technical documentation, best practice guides, and knowledge bases accessible via Learning Management Systems (LMS) and other platforms.
• Ensure the team is equipped to generate awareness and demonstrate the power of Hivemind effectively.
• Delivery Excellence & Project Oversight :
• Ensure successful execution of customer projects, including initial CONOP demonstrations, integration onto target platforms, and progression towards production deployment.
• Oversee the planning and execution of high-impact customer events, such as joint Tech Days and demonstrations, to showcase capabilities and value.
• Implement processes for tracking project milestones, managing risks, and ensuring on-time delivery of key deliverables.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration & Voice of the Customer :
• Work closely with Sales / BD to ensure smooth pre-to-post sales handoffs and support the development of solution-based packaging and pricing for CE services.
• Establish robust feedback loops with Product Management and Engineering to channel customer insights, feature requests, and real-world performance data into the Hivemind roadmap.
• Collaborate with Marketing to develop case studies, success stories, and content for public relations and brand building.
• Identify and nurture key engineering and leadership contacts within customer organizations (e.g., LIG's engineering teams).
• Strategic Account Management & Value Realization :
• Build strong, long-term relationships with key customer stakeholders, including executive leadership.
• Focus on maximizing customer value realization, ensuring they achieve their intended outcomes and are positioned for future growth with Hivemind.
• Develop strategies for creating "highlight moments" and referenceable customer successes.

Required Qualifications

Preferred Qualifications

$220,000 - $330,000 a year

Pay within range listed + Bonus + Benefits + Equity

Temporary employee offer package :

Pay within range listed above + temporary benefits package (applicable after 60 days of employment)

Salary compensation is influenced by a wide array of factors including but not limited to skill set, level of experience, licenses and certifications, and specific work location. All offers are contingent on a cleared background and possible reference check. Military fellows and part-time employees are not eligible for benefits. Please speak to your talent acquisition representative for more information.

Shield AI is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know.