District Manager, LATAM

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.

Shield AI is seeking a mission-focused District Manager, Latin America (LATAM) to lead market development, revenue growth, and customer adoption of Shield AI’s autonomy software, unmanned aircraft systems, and simulation technologies.

This senior, quota-carrying leader will own the LATAM go-to-market strategy, pipeline, bookings, forecasts, strategic accounts, and customer engagement. The District Manager will build senior relationships across government, defense, security, public safety, and aviation customers; translate operational needs into funded opportunities; and lead complex sales efforts from market development through contract award and expansion.

The role will focus on Shield AI’s priority LATAM countries while selectively developing broader regional opportunities. This is a remote position based in Latin America, with Colombia or Mexico preferred. The candidate must reside in-region and be able to travel up to 50% across priority countries, customer sites, partner locations, and regional events.

What you'll do:

• Own and execute Shield AI’s LATAM go-to-market strategy, revenue plan, bookings target, pipeline health, forecast accuracy, and strategic-account performance.
• Develop country and account plans for priority markets, including target customers, programs, acquisition pathways, partner strategy, competitive positioning, and revenue milestones.
• Build executive relationships with military, government, acquisition, operational, aviation, and public-safety stakeholders.
• Lead the full opportunity lifecycle, including account planning, customer discovery, requirements shaping, capture strategy, proposal development, negotiation, award, and expansion.
• Build a qualified pipeline and prioritize internal resources, executive engagement, travel, and partner investment toward the highest-value opportunities.
• Convert demonstrations, pilots, and evaluations into funded programs, fielded deployments, and follow-on business.
• Lead cross-functional teams across product, engineering, program management, capture, contracts, finance, legal, and export compliance.
• Develop and manage strategic channel partners, systems integrators, distributors, representatives, and industrial partners to improve market access and in-country execution.
• Ensure disciplined CRM hygiene, forecasting, executive reporting, and compliance with applicable procurement, export-control, anti-corruption, and third-party requirements.
• Represent Shield AI in senior customer meetings, demonstrations, industry events, and government working sessions across the region.

Required Experience & Capabilities:

• Bachelor’s degree required, with 12+ years of sales, business development, capture, or related experience in aerospace, defense, UAS, aviation, ISR, security technology, or comparable mission-focused technology markets.
• 5+ years of commercial or business-development leadership experience, including a record of building and developing teams, partner networks, or regional organizations.
• Demonstrated success delivering revenue growth in complex government, defense, aerospace, public-safety, border-security, or national-security markets.
• Proven experience selling complex hardware, aviation platforms, integrated systems, autonomous capabilities, UAS, ISR solutions, or comparable mission systems with long sales cycles and multi-stakeholder buying processes.
• Ability to independently build pipeline, shape requirements, lead capture and account strategy, negotiate complex agreements, and close high-value public-sector opportunities.
• Extensive experience with LATAM government, defense, security, public-safety, aviation, or acquisition stakeholders, including knowledge of regional procurement processes, budget cycles, tenders, local partnership models, and long sales cycles.
• Experience working with prime contractors, systems integrators, distributors, channel partners, and local industrial partners to support capture and delivery.
• Strong knowledge of aviation and UAS concepts of operation, platform capabilities, customer missions, and competitive dynamics, particularly for Group 2–5 UAS, ISR, border security, maritime security, and expeditionary applications.
• Strong executive communication, negotiation, forecasting, cross-functional leadership, and strategic account-planning skills.
• Professional fluency in Spanish and English, with the ability to meet applicable export-control, travel, background-screening, customer-access, anti-corruption, and third-party compliance requirements.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Professional fluency in Portuguese.
• Experience selling Group 3–5 UAS, tactical ISR aircraft, aviation platforms, autonomy-enabled systems, AI-enabled software, command-and-control capabilities, or other advanced defense and security technologies in Latin America.
• Ability to translate aircraft performance, payload options, autonomy features, and technical specifications into mission value and customer outcomes.
• Experience advancing aviation, ISR, or unmanned-systems opportunities from demonstration or pilot through procurement, fielding, sustainment, and expansion.
• Familiarity with LATAM defense and public-sector procurement, tender, direct commercial sales, government-to-government, and defense-trade pathways.
• Experience operating in export-controlled or security-sensitive environments, managing third-party due diligence and anti-corruption requirements, or supporting operational military users.
• Experience scaling regional sales, capture, partner-management, or market-development organizations, with established relationships in Shield AI’s priority LATAM countries.

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. 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.

Originally posted on Himalayas