Senior Director of Business Development, Middle East (R4499)

About the role

Founded in 2015, 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 and V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft. 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’s International Business & Strategy team is hiring a Middle East regional Director to accelerate growth and support the adoption of its autonomy ecosystem: X-BAT, V-BAT, ViDAR, and Hivemind across the region. The Director of Business Development will lead Shield AI’s Middle East growth strategy, building out a team that is responsible for significant annual orders targets. The Director must have deep defense, national security, or aerospace experience in the region (strong preference for Arabic language fluency), established government relationships, and a track record of closing complex defense programs (ideally across both hardware and software). You will operate with significant autonomy and ownership, shaping region wide and country-level strategies, leading major pursuits, and building long-term defense partnerships. You will report to the Senior Director of International Business & Strategy (Middle East & Asia Pacific) and work closely with international business development colleagues around the globe, as well as product, engineering, and operations teams, to deliver mission-relevant autonomy capabilities at scale.