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.
Job Description:
Shield AI is seeking a Senior Manager, International Facilities to lead facility operations across a rapidly expanding national portfolio. The role is accountable for the performance of international (non-U.S.) sites after project turnover, including regional and site operations, maintenance and asset reliability, workplace services, vendor delivery, budgets, customer experience, and operational risk.
This is a hands-on leadership role. The successful candidate will establish clear regional accountability, standardize service delivery without losing local responsiveness, develop internal talent, and build strong operating partnerships with Manufacturing, Engineering, Px, IT, EH&S, Security, Real Estate, Capital Delivery, Finance, and Procurement. The leader must be equally comfortable in an executive review, on a manufacturing floor, and in a facility incident response.
What you'll do:
INTERNATIONAL AND REGIONAL OPERATIONS LEADERSHIP
Own day-to-day and lifecycle performance across the international facilities portfolio after formal project turnover.
Establish and lead a regional operating model across company regions with clear site accountability and escalation paths.
Develop annual site operating plans, service models, staffing approaches, and priorities based on site tier, mission criticality, hours of operation, and risk.
Serve as the senior international escalation point for facility reliability, workplace service, landlord, vendor, and site-continuity issues.
RELIABILITY, MAINTENANCE, AND ASSET MANAGEMENT
Establish consistent asset registers, preventive-maintenance programs, work-order practices, critical-spares strategies, and lifecycle-risk visibility.
Set and monitor service levels for critical systems, maintenance, employee requests, and workplace services.
Identify infrastructure risks early and develop operating, maintenance, or capital recommendations with the appropriate functional owner.
Drive root-cause analysis and durable corrective action for recurring failures, outages, backlogs, and service issues.
PEOPLE, VENDORS, AND CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
Lead, coach, and develop regional and site Facilities teammates; establish clear roles, goals, and performance expectations.
Manage IFM and specialist providers through scopes, service levels, scorecards, performance reviews, corrective actions, and renewal recommendations.
Create a consistent workplace and customer-service experience while adapting delivery to manufacturing, engineering, office, hangar, and classified environments.
Build trusted relationships with site leaders and business partners; translate business demand into clear operating plans and service requirements.
FINANCIAL AND OPERATIONAL GOVERNANCE
Own the International Facilities operating plan, budget inputs, forecast, variance explanations, and resource recommendations in partnership with the Global Facilities Leader and Finance.
Maintain a site risk register, vendor-performance view, critical-action plan, and forward-looking capacity and lifecycle concerns.
Use common KPIs and operating reviews to manage performance, prioritize resources, and escalate material decisions.
Ensure vendors, purchase orders, invoices, contracts, and operating commitments follow Finance, Procurement, and delegation requirements.
LIFECYCLE INTEGRATION AND RISK PARTNERSHIP
Provide operational requirements during site selection, design, and project delivery; participate in design reviews, commissioning, readiness, and move planning.
Formally accept or reject project turnover against documented criteria, then lead post-occupancy stabilization and defect closure.
Partner with EH&S and Security to implement standards, address findings, coordinate incidents, and maintain emergency and continuity readiness.
Coordinate with Real Estate on lease obligations and capacity, while preserving Real Estate ownership of portfolio strategy and transactions.
Required qualifications:
Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience in facilities management, engineering, operations, construction, business, or a related field.
12+ years of progressive experience in facilities management, integrated facilities management, corporate real estate operations, engineering operations, or a comparable field.
5+ years leading complex multi-site or regional operations, including direct people leadership and management of outsourced service providers.
Experience operating facilities that support manufacturing, engineering, laboratories, aviation, critical infrastructure, secure environments, or other technically complex work.
Demonstrated ownership of operating budgets, forecasts, contracts, vendor performance, service levels, and facility risk.
Strong working knowledge of maintenance, building systems, preventive maintenance, work-order management, asset lifecycle, and incident response.
Proven ability to build teams, standardize operations, and drive accountability across geographically dispersed locations.
Executive-level communication and judgment, with the ability to translate technical and operational issues into clear business decisions.
Ability to travel frequently and respond to time-sensitive facility priorities as required.
Preferred qualifications:
Experience in aerospace, defense, advanced manufacturing, autonomous systems, technology, or another high-growth regulated environment.
Experience with SCIFs, classified environments, hangars, high-bay spaces, production facilities, or 24/7 critical operations.
Experience establishing a regional operating model or scaling Facilities operations across a rapidly growing portfolio.
Familiarity with CMMS/EAM, IWMS, service-management, building-automation, business-intelligence, and financial systems.
CFM, FMP, CPMM, IFMA, engineering, project-management, or related professional credential.
Experience leading major vendor transitions, IFM sourcing, commissioning, or project turnover.
Current or prior security clearance, or experience operating in controlled-access environments.
What we're looking for:
The ideal candidate is a visible, credible operations leader who sets high standards and stays close to the work. This person can build structure at national scale while understanding that each site has different mission, technical, workforce, and risk requirements.
Success requires calm judgment, customer empathy, technical curiosity, financial discipline, and strong people leadership. The leader should earn trust, put the team first, move with rigor and speed, and make prudent use of internal and external resources.
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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.
