As a Hivemind Solutions Flight Test Director (ACP Programs), you will serve as the end-to-end technical leader responsible for the integration, verification, and operational test of Hivemind AI Pilot capabilities on portfolio of group 5 UAS/Autonomous Collaborative Platforms (ACP).
You will own the strategy, planning and execution of complex, multi-phase test campaigns supporting the transition of autonomy capabilities from simulation and lab environments to full-scale flight test and operationally relevant mission scenarios, including multi-vehicle coordination. Using a disciplined fly–fix–fly methodology, you will drive rapid capability maturation while maintaining rigorous safety, configuration control, and mission assurance standards.
This role will serve as the single technical authority for test execution across the portfolio of ACP efforts, responsible for managing risk, test readiness and driving test execution Here, you will serve as primary focal to facilitate coordination across OEM partners, government customers and internal functional teams rs to deliver high-impact autonomy capabilities at scale.
What you'll do:
- Act as Test Director and technical lead for integration and flight test of Hivemind autonomy on group 5 ACP systems, including multi-aircraft coordination scenarios in LVC and empirical flight test scenarios.
- Own test strategy and execution across the full development lifecycle, including system-level verification & validation, test phasing, and prioritization across SIL, HIL, simulation, ground, and flight test environments
- Plan and execute large-scale flight test campaigns, including complex mission scenarios involving cooperative autonomy, human-machine teaming, and distributed systems
- Serve as the final authority during mission autonomy test operations, directing test conduct and approving test plans, procedures, and execution flow
- Coordinate cross-functional execution across software, hardware, systems engineering, flight operations, safety, and program leadership teams
- Define mission-level performance metrics and success criteria, ensuring traceability from requirements to test outcomes and operational effectiveness
- Own test infrastructure strategy, including large-scale simulation environments, SIL/HIL systems, aircraft integration labs, and flight test assets
- Lead on-aircraft integration and flight test operations with platform OEM partners, including system configuration, software deployment, real-time troubleshooting, and post-flight data analysis
- Serve as primary coordinator working with platform OEMs to define and enforce test readiness criteria (entry/exit), define safety-of-flight and mission risk management, airspace coordination and test hazard identification, analysis, and mitigation to ultimately make go/no-go decisions for progression into ground and flight test events
- Establish and scale test processes, standards, and best practices aligned with DoD DT&E/OT&E expectations and operational test rigor
Required qualifications:
- Typically requires 15+ years of experience with a Bachelor’s degree; or 14+ years with a Master’s; or 12+ years with a PhD; or equivalent experience
- Demonstrated experience leading flight test or large-scale system integration efforts, including authority over test readiness, execution, and risk decisions
- Strong background in full-scale aviation test environments, including aircraft integration, ground test, and flight operations
- Experience with system-level verification & validation across multiple test environments (SIL, HIL, simulation, and flight)
- Proven ability to plan and execute complex, multi-phase flight test campaigns involving multiple stakeholders and dependencies
- Experience working cross-functionally across software, hardware, avionics, systems engineering, safety, and program teams
- Strong understanding of safety-of-flight principles, risk management, and disciplined test execution in aviation environments
- Proficiency in Python or similar tools for test automation, data analysis, or system validation
- Excellent technical leadership and communication skills, including briefing to senior leadership and external customers
- Ability to obtain and maintain a SECRET clearance; U.S. citizenship required
Preferred qualifications:
- Experience supporting Autonomous Collaborative Platforms (ACP), loyal wingman concepts, or multi-vehicle autonomous systems
- Prior role as Flight Test Director, Test Conductor, or Lead Flight Test Engineer on full-scale aircraft programs
- Familiarity with military aviation test processes, including DT&E and OT&E frameworks
- Experience operating in or supporting government flight test ranges and operational environments
- Background in autonomy, AI/ML-enabled systems, or human-machine teaming in aviation contexts
- Experience with airworthiness processes, flight clearance, and configuration control for aircraft systems
- Familiarity with tools such as Git, Jira/Azure DevOps, and CI/CD pipelines
- Active SECRET clearance
Skills Required
- Typically requires 15+ years of experience with a Bachelor's degree; or 14+ years with a Master's; or 12+ years with a PhD; or equivalent experience
- Demonstrated experience leading flight test or large-scale system integration efforts, including authority over test readiness, execution, and risk decisions
- Strong background in full-scale aviation test environments, including aircraft integration, ground test, and flight operations
- Experience with system-level verification & validation across multiple test environments (SIL, HIL, simulation, and flight)
- Proven ability to plan and execute complex, multi-phase flight test campaigns involving multiple stakeholders and dependencies
- Experience working cross-functionally across software, hardware, avionics, systems engineering, safety, and program teams
- Strong understanding of safety-of-flight principles, risk management, and disciplined test execution in aviation environments
- Proficiency in Python or similar tools for test automation, data analysis, or system validation
- Excellent technical leadership and communication skills, including briefing to senior leadership and external customers
- Ability to obtain and maintain a SECRET clearance; U.S. citizenship required
- Experience supporting Autonomous Collaborative Platforms (ACP), loyal wingman concepts, or multi-vehicle autonomous systems
- Prior role as Flight Test Director, Test Conductor, or Lead Flight Test Engineer on full-scale aircraft programs
- Familiarity with military aviation test processes, including DT&E and OT&E frameworks
- Experience operating in or supporting government flight test ranges and operational environments
- Background in autonomy, AI/ML-enabled systems, or human-machine teaming in aviation contexts
- Experience with airworthiness processes, flight clearance, and configuration control for aircraft systems
- Familiarity with tools such as Git, Jira/Azure DevOps, and CI/CD pipelines
- Active SECRET clearance
What the Team is Saying
Shield AI Compensation & Benefits Highlights
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Healthcare Strength — Healthcare coverage is described as excellent, with dental/vision and mental‑health support, and ancillary protections like life and disability appearing in benefit summaries. The breadth and perceived affordability of coverage are highlighted as a standout component of the package.
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Parental & Family Support — Paid parental leave is featured alongside enhanced maternity benefits, fertility and childcare support, and onsite resources such as a Mother’s Room. These elements are positioned as competitive and above the minimal baseline for the company’s stage.
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Equity Value & Accessibility — Equity is granted to all full‑time hires, with RSUs, double‑trigger tax timing, and tools to model scenarios (e.g., through Carta Tax). Communications also reference a transition from options to RSUs, reinforcing access and maturity of ownership programs.
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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