We are seeking a hands-on engineering leader to direct multiple teams spanning electrical design engineering, avionics root cause analysis, and avionics build/test operations. In this role, you will own the technical health and reliability of the avionics systems powering the V-BAT platform — leading the people, processes, and designs that take issues from field observation through root cause resolution and durable design improvement. You will operate at the intersection of design, manufacturing, quality, and fleet support, and you will be measured by the reliability, performance, and manufacturability of what your teams deliver.
What you'll do:
- Lead and grow the team. Mentor and develop a multidisciplinary organization of electrical design engineers, root cause analysis engineers, and avionics build/test technicians, building career paths and technical depth across all three disciplines.
- Set direction and drive execution. Establish team priorities, allocate resources against competing demands, and drive execution while fostering a culture of technical excellence, ownership, and continuous improvement.
- Stay technical. Actively contribute to design development and reviews, hands-on root cause analysis, and the definition and validation of corrective actions — leading by technical example, not just management.
- Own investigations end to end. Lead cross-functional failure investigations, establish and verify corrective and preventive actions, and build tooling and infrastructure that accelerate debugging, test, and issue resolution.
- Improve system reliability. Drive coordination across Supply Chain, Reliability, Manufacturing, Quality, and Fleet Support to implement the processes and design changes that measurably increase the reliability and availability of the V-BAT system.
- Build the standard. Establish the standards, review cadences, and metrics (e.g., reliability growth, escape rates, time-to-resolution) that make technical quality repeatable and scalable as the program grows.
Required qualifications:
- B.S. in Electrical Engineering or an equivalent technical field.
- 10+ years of experience, including demonstrated success leading and growing teams of electrical engineers.
- Proven track record of building and scaling high-performing technical teams.
- Experience working cross-functionally across design, supply chain, manufacturing, quality, and fleet/field support.
- Proven ability to plan and execute complex electronic and electrical designs in a high-consequence industry (defense, aerospace, automotive, or medical device).
- Demonstrated ability to thrive in a fast-paced, high-ownership development environment with rapidly evolving priorities.
Preferred qualifications:
- M.S. or Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering.
- Experience with structured problem-solving and failure analysis methods such as fault tree analysis, fishbone/Ishikawa diagrams, FMEA/FMECA, 8D, or similar.
- Ownership of full product development lifecycles — from concept through release, production ramp, customer sustainment, and product retirement.
- Experience in UAV/UAS design or other autonomous or unmanned systems.
- Familiarity with reliability engineering practices (reliability growth modeling, MTBF/MTBUR analysis, accelerated life testing).
Skills Required
- B.S. in Electrical Engineering or equivalent technical field
- 10+ years of experience including demonstrated success leading and growing teams of electrical engineers
- Proven track record of building and scaling high-performing technical teams
- Experience working cross-functionally across design, supply chain, manufacturing, quality, and fleet/field support
- Ability to plan and execute complex electronic and electrical designs in high-consequence industries (defense, aerospace, automotive, or medical device)
- Demonstrated ability to thrive in a fast-paced, high-ownership development environment with rapidly evolving priorities
- M.S. or Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering
- Experience with structured problem-solving and failure analysis methods (fault tree analysis, fishbone/Ishikawa, FMEA/FMECA, 8D)
- Ownership of full product development lifecycles from concept through production and sustainment
- Experience in UAV/UAS design or other autonomous/unmanned systems
- Familiarity with reliability engineering practices (reliability growth modeling, MTBF/MTBUR analysis, accelerated life testing)
What the Team is Saying
Shield AI Compensation & Benefits Highlights
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Healthcare Strength — Healthcare coverage includes medical, dental, vision, and mental-health support, with company materials describing excellent coverage. Feedback suggests these offerings are comprehensive and consistently highlighted across official and third-party benefit lists.
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Equity Value & Accessibility — Equity is granted to all full-time hires, with RSU structures and tools like Carta Tax intended to improve understanding and tax timing. Feedback suggests this broad-based ownership approach is a notable component of total rewards.
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Parental & Family Support — Benefits include paid parental leave, fertility support, childcare benefits, family medical leave, and onsite resources such as a Mother's Room. Feedback suggests the family-oriented offerings are more expansive than basic coverage.
Shield AI Insights
What We Do
At Shield AI, you won't wait years to see your work reach the field. You'll build hardware and software that operates in the real world right now, in the hands of the people who depend on it. Hivemind, our AI pilot, has been flying since 2018. It has flown more than 30 platforms, including an F-16, and it now sits under a U.S. Air Force production contract for Collaborative Combat Aircraft. When you write code or shape a system here, you contribute to technology with a proven flight record and a clear production future. V-BAT flies intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions with an operational record that stretches from Ukraine to the Indo-Pacific. It delivers eyes where they matter most, in the most demanding conditions on earth. The teams behind it watch their work get tested where the stakes are real. X-BAT takes its first flight this year. It's an AI-piloted fighter that needs no runway, built to operate where traditional aircraft can't. Join now and you help shape a program at its earliest, most formative stage. That's the kind of ground-floor work that defines a career. Do the most impactful work of your life, on problems that matter. Autonomy at this level asks a lot of you. You'll take on problems in perception, planning, and control that few teams anywhere are equipped to solve. You'll work across disciplines, from aerospace and robotics to machine learning and systems engineering, alongside people who hold themselves to an exacting standard and expect the same from you. Our mission is clear: protect service members and civilians with intelligent systems. That purpose runs through every decision, every design review, and every deployment. It's why the work here carries a weight you can feel. Ready to join our mission? Explore our open roles and find where you fit.
Why Work With Us
Founded in 2015 by a former Navy SEAL, Shield AI builds AI pilots and uncrewed aircraft. Veterans aren't an afterthought here, they're at every level. It's why the work carries weight: AI pilots and uncrewed aircraft flying real missions, from Ukraine to the Indo-Pacific, protecting service members and civilians.
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Hybrid Workspace
Employees engage in a combination of remote and on-site work.
