Brand Partnerships Lead - Marketing

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 looking for a Brand Partnership Lead to own and grow our partnership and sponsorship portfolio, from sourcing new opportunities through renewal. This person will lead cross functional programs that strengthen Shield AI’s brand through sports, military community, and industry partnerships, while ensuring every deal, activation, and deliverable is executed with rigor, clarity, and accountability.

What you’ll do

• Lead outreach, define deal terms and deliverables, and partner closely with Legal and Finance to move agreements through signature.

• Manage active partnerships throughout the full contract lifecycle, serving as the primary day to day contact for partners, track contracted rights and deliverables, and ensure both Shield AI and external partners meet their obligations. 

• Build program plans, workback schedules, and deliverable trackers in Asana, coordinating across Creative, Communications, Events, Legal, Finance, and external stakeholders to keep work on track and aligned to public facing deadlines.

• Lead partnership activations from planning through execution navigating logistics including shipping, installation, on site production, talent coordination, and partner schedules.

• Travel to key events, oversee day of execution, and close out assets, invoices, and recaps.

• Ensure all public facing partnership work aligns with Shield AI brand standards and applicable data handling and export control requirements.

• Own the partnership budget and build forecasts in Excel to track committed and actual spend, reconcile purchase orders and invoices with Finance, and proactively flag risks or overruns with a recommended path forward.

• Measure and report on partnership performance to define success metrics for each partnership, gathering results after activations, and provide the Director of Brand and Creative with regular visibility into spend, deliverables, and outcomes to inform renewals and future investments.

• Partner with the creative studio to deliver partnership assets to submit clear briefs with scope, partner specifications, and deadlines, and help prioritize work so assets are delivered on time and to standard.

What we’re looking for

The person who succeeds in this role is highly organized, action oriented, and comfortable owning complex programs from end to end. You build strong partner relationships, keep stakeholders informed, and maintain clear, current trackers, timelines, and files. You move work forward without waiting to be asked, close loops quickly, and communicate status and decisions clearly. You treat budgets with care, stay calm as priorities shift, and bring structure to fast moving, cross functional work.

Required Qualifications

• A minimum of 10+ years Marketing experience with 4 to 6 years of experience in brand partnerships, sponsorships, or partnership marketing, including year long programs

• Experience sourcing, negotiating, and closing partnership or sponsorship agreements in partnership with Legal

• Experience managing partner relationships and contracted deliverables across a full program year

• Experience owning a partnership or marketing budget, including forecasting, actuals, and closeout

• Strong Excel skills and experience managing purchase orders, invoices, and reconciliation with Finance

• Strong working knowledge of Asana for planning, assigning, and tracking work

• Experience managing event or activation logistics, including shipping, installation, or on site production

• Experience defining partnership metrics and delivering post activation recaps

• Experience managing multiple concurrent programs with fixed public facing deadlines

• Clear written and verbal communication skills with both external partners and internal stakeholders

• Ability to hold external partners and internal teams accountable to timelines as an individual contributor

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in defense, aerospace, advanced hardware, or another regulated industry

• Experience managing sports, military community, or other large scale sponsorship and activation programs

• Existing relationships with sports properties, military and veteran organizations, or industry event organizers

• Experience working with an in house creative studio or agency to produce partnership assets

• Experience managing agencies, production vendors, and venues for activations

• Familiarity with procurement, contracting, and vendor onboarding processes

• Familiarity with brand, legal, data handling, and export control reviews for public facing work

• Experience supporting programs involving physical products, technical subject matter, or sensitive information

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.