Are you a curious and motivated engineer looking to help develop state-of-the-art autonomous aircraft? Are you eager to apply your engineering fundamentals to real hardware while learning from experienced teammates? Do you want to work alongside mission-driven and values-focused people? Shield AI may be the place for you.
As a Mechanical Engineer on the Mechanisms team, you will contribute to the design, development, and integration of mechanical systems for Shield AI’s autonomous aircraft. Your work may include a focus on gearbox development and integration, including gears, shafts, bearings, housings, lubrication systems, and related interfaces.
You will complete well-defined engineering tasks with guidance from experienced engineers and collaborate with internal and external partners to design, prototype, test, and release hardware. This role offers the opportunity to build practical experience across the product-development lifecycle while helping the team achieve its performance, schedule, and reliability goals.
What you'll do:
- Support the design and integration of mechanical mechanisms for autonomous aircraft, potentially including gearboxes and other power-transmission systems
- Create and update 3D CAD models, engineering drawings, bills of materials, and interface documentation
- Complete defined design tasks involving component sizing, material selection, tolerance analysis, and mechanical packaging
- Perform foundational structural, kinematic, and machine-design calculations with guidance from senior engineers
- Assist with preliminary finite element analysis and document assumptions, methods, and results
- Support the selection and integration of gears, bearings, shafts, splines, seals, fasteners, and lubrication components
- Help build, inspect, test, and iterate prototype hardware for functionality, performance, and reliability
- Support pre-production builds, aircraft integration, and ground and flight testing
- Investigate well-defined technical issues, document findings, and contribute to root-cause and corrective-action activities
- Collaborate with mechanical, propulsion, electrical, avionics, flight-controls, manufacturing, and test teams
- Follow established engineering, configuration-management, and product-release processes
- Develop plans for assigned tasks, communicate progress and risks, and incorporate feedback from teammates
Required qualifications:
- 0-1 years of related experience with a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related technical field, or equivalent work experience
- Understanding of fundamental mechanical engineering principles, including statics, dynamics, mechanics of materials, materials science, and machine design
- Academic, internship, student-team, research, or project experience using 3D CAD software
- Ability to create or interpret basic engineering drawings
- Familiarity with dimensional tolerancing and GD&T fundamentals
- Ability to perform foundational engineering calculations and clearly document assumptions and results
- Hands-on interest in designing, building, integrating, or testing mechanical hardware
- Strong problem-solving, organization, documentation, and communication skills
- Ability to complete well-defined engineering tasks with guidance from peers and managers
- Ability to collaborate effectively, accept feedback, and work in a fast-paced environment with evolving priorities
- A demonstrated record of working hard, being trustworthy, holding yourself to high standards, and being kind to others
- Ability to obtain an S//SAR-level security clearance is desired
Preferred qualifications:
- Internship, student-team, research, or project experience involving aircraft, UAVs, robotics, automotive systems, or other mechanical products
- Coursework or project experience related to gearboxes, gearing, bearings, shafts, splines, seals, lubrication, or rotating machinery
- Familiarity with gear geometry, gear-train calculations, bearing selection, or mechanical power transmission
- Experience with NX or a similar production CAD platform
- Exposure to tolerance stack-ups, mechanical fits, and GD&T application
- Exposure to finite element analysis, including static, modal, buckling, or fatigue analysis
- Familiarity with MATLAB, Python, or other engineering analysis tools
- Hands-on machine-shop, mechanic, fabrication, assembly, or inspection experience through professional, academic, or hobby activities
- Exposure to FMEA, design of experiments, root-cause analysis, or reliability testing
- Familiarity with additive manufacturing, machining, casting, forging, or other mechanical manufacturing processes
- Exposure to RTCA DO-160, MIL-STD-810, structural testing, vibration testing, or mechanism testing
- Ability to thrive in startup, R&D, or defense-innovation environments
#LA
Skills Required
- 0–1 years of related experience with a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related technical field, or equivalent work experience
- Understanding of statics, dynamics, mechanics of materials, materials science, and machine design
- Academic, internship, student-team, research, or project experience using 3D CAD software
- Ability to create or interpret basic engineering drawings
- Familiarity with dimensional tolerancing and GD&T fundamentals
- Ability to perform foundational engineering calculations and document assumptions and results
- Hands-on interest in designing, building, integrating, or testing mechanical hardware
- Strong problem-solving, organization, documentation, and communication skills
- Ability to complete well-defined engineering tasks with guidance
- Ability to collaborate effectively, accept feedback, and work in a fast-paced environment
- Record of working hard, being trustworthy, maintaining high standards, and treating others respectfully
- Internship, student-team, research, or project experience involving aircraft, UAVs, robotics, automotive systems, or mechanical products
- Coursework or project experience involving gearboxes, gears, bearings, shafts, splines, seals, lubrication, or rotating machinery
- Familiarity with gear geometry, gear-train calculations, bearing selection, or mechanical power transmission
- Experience with NX or a similar production CAD platform
- Exposure to tolerance stack-ups, mechanical fits, and GD&T application
- Exposure to finite element analysis
- Familiarity with MATLAB, Python, or other engineering analysis tools
- Hands-on machine-shop, mechanic, fabrication, assembly, or inspection experience
- Exposure to FMEA, design of experiments, root-cause analysis, or reliability testing
- Familiarity with additive manufacturing, machining, casting, forging, or other mechanical manufacturing processes
- Exposure to RTCA DO-160, MIL-STD-810, structural testing, vibration testing, or mechanism testing
- Ability to thrive in startup, R&D, or defense-innovation environments
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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Shield AI Offices
Hybrid Workspace
Employees engage in a combination of remote and on-site work.
