A heat shield? No. Only use the bracket configuration that best matches where the old igniter's placement. If unsure, the end of the ignitor and about half the length should be in the gas stream. Avoid having the white ceramic portion and any of the metal bracket in the gas stream. This is not because of heat, but because you want to disrupt the stream of gas as little as possible while still getting reliable ignition. Disrupting the flow could cause gas to not get sucked into the burner port completely, so once installed, observe the burn to be sure there is no ignition outside the burner tube(s).