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:
The Obsolescence and Lifecycle Management Management Lead is a senior individual contributor responsible for owning the V-BAT sustainment strategy for parts, suppliers, components, assemblies, and subsystems that are becoming unavailable, unsupported, high-risk, cost-prohibitive, or difficult to sustain.
This role drives the operating mechanism for identifying obsolescence risk early, assessing impact to production and fielded aircraft, and coordinating mitigation plans before part shortages, supplier changes, or component end-of-life issues affect V-BAT readiness, repair capability, customer support, or long-term sustainment.
The Obsolescence and Lifecycle Management Management Lead partners closely with Supply Chain, Sustainment Engineering, Product Engineering, Configuration Management, Quality, Manufacturing, Finance, Fleet Support, and Operations to ensure lifecycle risks are visible, prioritized, and actively managed. This role is accountable for translating supplier and part availability risks into clear mitigation plans, business decisions, engineering actions, and sustainment priorities.
What you'll do:
Own and maintain the V-BAT obsolescence management plan, lifecycle risk register, and associated mitigation roadmap.
Identify, track, and prioritize end-of-life parts, supplier discontinuance notices, aging components, high-risk materials, unsupported components, and long-lead or difficult-to-source items.
Assess obsolescence risk across parts, suppliers, components, assemblies, subsystems, ground equipment, support equipment, and fielded configurations.
Determine potential impact to production, repair, spares, depot activity, field support, customer commitments, and long-term sustainment.
Coordinate last-time-buy recommendations and decisions with Supply Chain, Engineering, Finance, Manufacturing, Operations, and Sustainment leadership.
Work with Supply Chain to evaluate supplier risk, lead times, allocation constraints, discontinuance notices, minimum order quantities, and long-term availability.
Partner with Engineering to identify alternate parts, form-fit-function replacements, redesign needs, qualification requirements, and technical mitigation options.
Coordinate with Configuration Management and Change Control to determine which aircraft, builds, configurations, customers, spares, or fielded assets are affected by obsolescence risk.
Support lifecycle planning for avionics, propulsion components, structures, payload interfaces, electrical components, ground equipment, support equipment, and other V-BAT subsystems.
Create and drive mitigation plans for obsolete or at-risk components, including alternate sourcing, redesign, requalification, lifetime buys, repair strategy changes, or inventory positioning.
Ensure mitigation plans include clear owners, timelines, decision points, cost considerations, technical dependencies, and fleet impact assessments.
Maintain visibility into supplier health, supplier transitions, diminishing manufacturing sources, lead-time changes, material availability, and long-term supportability.
Partner with Finance and Operations to evaluate cost, inventory, and readiness tradeoffs associated with lifetime buys, redesigns, alternate sourcing, and risk acceptance.
Provide regular obsolescence and lifecycle status updates to engineering, supply chain, sustainment, and executive leadership.
Escalate high-risk lifecycle issues before they impact V-BAT readiness, customer support, production continuity, or repair capability.
Improve obsolescence management processes, reporting mechanisms, lifecycle dashboards, and risk review forums as the sustainment function scales.
Required qualifications:
6+ years of experience in obsolescence management, lifecycle management, supply chain, sustainment engineering, product support, manufacturing operations, technical program management, or complex hardware sustainment.
Demonstrated experience managing part, supplier, component, or subsystem lifecycle risk in a complex hardware, aerospace, defense, electronics, aviation, robotics, or advanced manufacturing environment.
Experience identifying and managing end-of-life parts, supplier discontinuance notices, diminishing manufacturing sources, long-lead components, alternate sourcing strategies, and last-time-buy decisions.
Strong understanding of how obsolescence risk impacts production, repair capability, spares planning, field support, fleet readiness, customer commitments, and long-term sustainment.
Experience working across Supply Chain, Engineering, Manufacturing, Quality, Configuration Management, Finance, Operations, and Fleet Support to drive mitigation plans.
Technical fluency with bills of material, approved supplier lists, part qualification, engineering changes, configuration management, material planning, supplier transitions, or component redesign activity.
Ability to partner with engineering teams to evaluate alternate parts, redesign needs, qualification plans, and technical risk associated with component substitutions.
Proven ability to build and manage lifecycle risk registers, mitigation plans, decision logs, escalation mechanisms, and leadership-level status reporting.
Strong planning and risk management skills, including the ability to prioritize lifecycle risks based on fleet impact, availability, cost, technical complexity, and urgency.
Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to translate supplier, part, and lifecycle risks into clear business impact, technical actions, and leadership decisions.
Ability to operate independently in ambiguous, fast-moving environments and drive cross-functional accountability without direct authority.
Preferred qualifications:
Experience with UAS, aviation sustainment, aerospace manufacturing, defense programs, electronics lifecycle management, fielded hardware systems, or deployed technical products.
Familiarity with DMSMS, BOM management, AVL/AML management, PLM or ERP systems, ECO/ECR processes, configuration control, FRACAS, RCCA, MRB, or service action planning.
Experience managing obsolescence risk for avionics, electrical components, propulsion systems, payload interfaces, batteries, ground equipment, support equipment, or complex electromechanical systems.
Experience coordinating lifetime buys, alternate sourcing, supplier transitions, redesign efforts, qualification plans, or field retrofit strategies.
Experience supporting military, defense, aviation, or high-reliability customer environments.
Experience working in a startup, high-growth, defense technology, aerospace, robotics, or advanced manufacturing environment.
APICS, PMP, Lean Six Sigma, supply chain, lifecycle management, aviation maintenance, or related certification preferred but not required.
