Shield AI’s mission is to protect service members and civilians with intelligent systems. We develop autonomy software and advanced aircraft to help U.S. and allied forces accomplish their missions in challenging environments.
Are you an experienced engineering leader passionate about developing advanced autonomous aircraft? Do you want to build exceptional teams and deliver the mechanical systems that turn aircraft ambition into flight capability? Shield AI may be the place for you.
Shield AI is seeking a Director of X-BAT Mechanical Systems to lead engineering managers and senior technical leaders responsible for mechanical systems and mechanical test on X-BAT, while overseeing Mechanical Engineering and Air Vehicle Systems across our Group 5 aircraft programs. This leader will establish technical strategy, build organizational capability, and oversee execution from architecture and design through integration, qualification, ground test, and flight readiness.
The scope includes landing gear, wing fold, doors, flight control actuation, hydraulics, environmental control, and thermal management. The ideal candidate combines broad aircraft mechanical systems expertise with a demonstrated ability to lead through managers, develop technical leaders, and balance engineering rigor with development speed. They bring the judgment to empower teams, challenge critical decisions, and engage directly when needed to advance aircraft capability.
What You'll Do:
Lead and develop the mechanical systems and mechanical test organization for X-BAT, while providing leadership across Mechanical Engineering and Air Vehicle Systems for our Group 5 aircraft portfolio.
Define organizational structure, establish clear ownership and decision authority, and align talent and resources with aircraft and program priorities.
Recruit, coach, and develop engineering managers and senior technical leaders, building leadership capacity, technical depth, and succession capability.
Establish technical strategy, capability roadmaps, and development priorities for landing gear, wing fold, doors, flight control actuation, hydraulics, environmental control, and thermal management.
Lead aircraft-level architecture and trade studies that balance performance, reliability, safety, mass, power, volume, maintainability, cost, and schedule.
Partner with adjacent engineering organizations to resolve interfaces, reconcile competing requirements, manage dependencies, and retire critical technical risks.
Oversee execution from requirements definition and design through hardware development, systems integration, qualification, ground test, and flight readiness.
Establish practical expectations for design reviews, verification, risk management, and configuration control that produce clear evidence of design maturity and readiness.
Build mechanical test capability encompassing test strategy, facilities, fixtures, instrumentation, procedures, and data analysis to accelerate learning and verify system performance.
Guide hardware development and supplier strategy, establish technical expectations, and hold suppliers and manufacturing partners accountable for quality and execution.
Work closely with manufacturing, ground test, and flight test leadership to align resources, resolve hardware issues, and deliver integrated systems for aircraft evaluation.
Communicate technical direction, progress, risks, decisions, and resource needs to executive leadership, program stakeholders, and customers.
Required Qualifications:
Bachelor’s degree or higher in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
15+ years of relevant experience in aerospace mechanical systems, air vehicle systems, or comparable complex hardware development.
Substantial experience managing engineering managers and senior technical leaders within a multidisciplinary engineering organization.
Broad technical credibility across aircraft mechanical systems, with significant expertise in landing gear, actuation, mechanisms, environmental control, or thermal management.
Demonstrated success building engineering organizations, hiring and developing leaders, allocating resources, and maintaining high technical standards.
Experience guiding teams through hardware development, systems integration, verification, supplier execution, manufacturing, and flight test.
Proven ability to make aircraft-level tradeoffs, manage dependencies across programs, and focus teams on work that advances program objectives.
Sound engineering and business judgment, including the ability to make decisions with incomplete information while balancing technical risk, cost, schedule, and program maturity.
Clear, decisive communication skills and demonstrated success creating alignment across engineering, program leadership, and external stakeholders.
U.S. citizenship.
Preferred Qualifications:
Leadership experience spanning multiple mechanical engineering departments or a broad air vehicle systems portfolio.
Development experience on UAVs, autonomous aircraft, fighters, tactical aircraft, or other high-performance aerospace programs.
Experience scaling engineering organizations, mechanical test facilities, and development processes in a rapid research and development or production environment.
Familiarity with aircraft airworthiness, qualification, and verification practices, including MIL-HDBK-516 and MIL-STD-810.
Demonstrated success taking aircraft hardware through prototype build, integration, ground test, flight test, and transition to production.
Advanced degree in a relevant engineering discipline.
Active Secret or higher security clearance.
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Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree or higher in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related technical discipline
- 15+ years of relevant experience in aerospace mechanical systems, air vehicle systems, or comparable complex hardware development
- Experience managing engineering managers and senior technical leaders within a multidisciplinary engineering organization
- Broad technical expertise across aircraft mechanical systems, including landing gear, actuation, mechanisms, environmental control, or thermal management
- Experience building engineering organizations, hiring and developing leaders, allocating resources, and maintaining high technical standards
- Experience guiding teams through hardware development, systems integration, verification, supplier execution, manufacturing, and flight test
- Ability to make aircraft-level tradeoffs and manage cross-program dependencies
- Sound engineering and business judgment balancing technical risk, cost, schedule, and program maturity
- Clear, decisive communication skills and experience aligning engineering, program leadership, and external stakeholders
- U.S. citizenship
- Leadership across multiple mechanical engineering departments or a broad air vehicle systems portfolio
- Development experience on UAVs, autonomous aircraft, fighters, tactical aircraft, or other high-performance aerospace programs
- Experience scaling engineering organizations, mechanical test facilities, and development processes
- Familiarity with aircraft airworthiness, qualification, and verification practices, including MIL-HDBK-516 and MIL-STD-810
- Experience taking aircraft hardware through prototype build, integration, ground test, flight test, and transition to production
- Advanced degree in a relevant engineering discipline
- Active Secret or higher security clearance
What the Team is Saying
Shield AI Compensation & Benefits Highlights
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Healthcare Strength — Company materials highlight comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage with mental-health support and an EAP. Third-party benefits summaries also portray health coverage as a strong component of the package.
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Retirement Support — Offerings include a 401(k) with employer matching, cited on the careers page and independent benefits directories. Multiple sources indicate a match exists, though exact formulas have varied over time and warrant confirmation.
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Equity Value & Accessibility — Company communications describe equity for all full-time hires and stock benefits as part of total rewards. Independent listings also note company equity/RSUs as a standard element.
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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