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 Manager, Global Real Estate to lead portfolio strategy, site selection, transactions, lease administration, occupancy planning, and portfolio analytics across a rapidly growing global footprint. This role will create the disciplined portfolio-management capability required to align physical infrastructure with business growth, workforce demand, financial stewardship, and operational readiness.
This is a hands-on role for a commercially astute leader who can move from long-range portfolio strategy to transaction execution and detailed lease or occupancy analysis. The successful candidate will build a reliable global portfolio fact base, lead external advisors, translate ambiguous business demand into clear real estate recommendations, and guide decisions that create long-term financial and operational commitments.
What you'll do:
PORTFOLIO STRATEGY AND DEMAND PLANNING
Own and maintain the global real estate portfolio strategy, including location, capacity, tenure, timing, and scenario recommendations. Partner with business leaders, Px, Finance, Manufacturing, Engineering, Security, EH&S, and Facilities Operations to understand growth plans, workforce demand, operating requirements, and risk. Translate business scenarios into multi-year portfolio plans, decision points, options, dependencies, and financial implications. Identify opportunities to expand, renew, consolidate, relocate, or exit space before constraints become business-critical. SITE SELECTION, TRANSACTIONS, AND BROKER MANAGEMENT
Lead site selection, market evaluation, option development, and real estate transaction strategy for new and existing locations. Direct brokers, market advisors, landlords, and other external partners through clear scopes, timelines, deliverables, and performance expectations. Structure and negotiate leases, renewals, expansions, contractions, assignments, subleases, and exits in partnership with Legal, Finance, Procurement, and executive approvers. Coordinate business cases, due diligence, approvals, negotiation positions, and transaction documentation while maintaining a clear audit trail of decisions and commitments. LEASE ADMINISTRATION AND PORTFOLIO CONTROLS
Establish and maintain a single authoritative inventory of sites, leases, owned assets, critical dates, obligations, rights, options, and landlord responsibilities. Implement disciplined lease administration, critical-date management, notice processes, obligation tracking, and escalation controls. Partner with Finance and Legal to validate occupancy costs, rent and operating-expense obligations, forecasts, accruals, and transaction assumptions. Drive timely resolution of landlord, lease, and occupancy issues while preserving clear ownership between Real Estate and Facilities Operations. OCCUPANCY, SPACE PLANNING, AND PORTFOLIO ANALYTICS
Establish common occupancy-planning methods, demand inputs, capacity assumptions, space standards, and scenario models. Maintain a current view of capacity, utilization, vacancy, constraints, lease events, cost, and portfolio risk across the global footprint. Develop location and space scenarios that balance business speed, employee experience, operational requirements, flexibility, cost, and risk. Create concise portfolio dashboards and decision materials for monthly reviews, annual planning, and major site or transaction approvals. LIFECYCLE INTEGRATION AND EXECUTIVE ADVISORY
Serve as the principal real estate advisor to the Global Facilities Leader and a trusted business partner to senior stakeholders. Coordinate with Capital Delivery to translate an approved transaction into a funded project, while preserving Capital Delivery ownership from authorization through occupancy. Engage Facilities Operations, EH&S, Security, IT, Manufacturing, and other stakeholders early enough that operating and compliance requirements inform site and transaction decisions. Contribute the portfolio fact base, real estate risks, and decision materials required for enterprise governance without assuming ownership of the broader Facilities PMO.
Required qualifications:
Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience in corporate real estate, business, finance, economics, planning, facilities, project management, or a related field. 6+ years of progressive experience in corporate real estate, portfolio strategy, transactions, occupancy planning, workplace strategy, lease administration, or a comparable function. Demonstrated experience supporting a multi-site portfolio and translating business demand into real estate strategies, options, and executive recommendations. Practical experience with site selection, lease transactions, broker management, commercial negotiations, due diligence, or lease administration. Strong business and financial acumen, including occupancy-cost analysis, scenario modeling, business cases, budgeting, forecasting, and trade-off evaluation. Ability to synthesize incomplete and sometimes conflicting inputs into concise, fact-based recommendations and decision materials. Proven ability to influence senior stakeholders and coordinate Finance, Legal, Px, Procurement, Facilities, Capital, Security, EH&S, and business partners without relying on formal authority. Excellent written and verbal communication skills, sound judgment, high discretion, and the ability to operate independently in a fast-changing environment.
Preferred qualifications:
Experience in aerospace, defense, advanced manufacturing, technology, or another high-growth and regulated environment. Experience with international portfolios, multi-country transactions, or global real estate business partnering. Experience supporting manufacturing, engineering, hangar, laboratory, classified, SCIF, or other technically complex environments. Familiarity with IWMS, lease-administration, occupancy-planning, mapping, financial-modeling, and business-intelligence tools. Real estate, finance, project-management, workplace, or related professional credential. Experience building a new real estate capability, leading external advisors, or developing analysts and cross-functional workstreams.
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Full-time regular employee offer package:
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.
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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.