What you'll do:
- Design, integrate, and maintain flight test instrumentation systems including sensors, data acquisition hardware, telemetry links, harnessing, and ground station interfaces.
- Develop instrumentation architecture, sensor selection plans, wiring diagrams, and installation documentation in accordance with engineering standards.
- Support installation and calibration of sensors such as strain gauges, accelerometers, pressure transducers, temperature sensors, current/voltage taps, and position measurement devices.
- Configure and validate data acquisition systems including signal conditioning, synchronization, sampling rates, and data integrity verification.
- Perform pre-flight and post-flight data checks, ensuring completeness, accuracy, and traceability of all captured data.
- Troubleshoot instrumentation issues, perform root-cause analysis, and implement corrective actions under tight test timelines.
- Collaborate with Flight Test teams to define instrumentation requirements, test plans, and safety considerations.
- Manage instrumentation inventories, spares, tools, and calibration records
- Support field deployments, remote test campaigns, and static engine/hover test operations.
- Contribute to continuous improvement of instrumentation processes and documentation.
Required qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or related technical field.
- 2+ years of experience in flight test instrumentation, data acquisition systems, or related hardware integration roles.
- Hands-on experience installing and configuring sensors, DAQs, wiring harnesses, and telemetry systems.
- Strong understanding of instrumentation standards, signal conditioning, sampling theory, and data synchronization.
- Ability to interpret engineering drawings, wiring diagrams, electrical schematics, and system architectures.
- Proficiency with instrumentation tools and software (e.g., NI, Dewesoft, HBM, ICS, telemetry systems).
- Strong troubleshooting skills and the ability to operate in a fast-paced test environment.
- Excellent communication and documentation capabilities.
- Ability to support extended travel and remote test deployments as required.
Preferred qualifications:
- Experience with developmental aircraft, flight test environments, or experimental test programs.
- Familiarity with IRIG time standards, PCM, Ethernet-based DAQ systems, and avionics data buses (ARINC 429, MIL-STD-1553, CAN, Ethernet).
- Familiarity with Curtis Wright DAS Studio and IADS software.
- Experience applying strain gauges, thermal instrumentation, or structural measurement sensors.
- Background in propulsion or structural testing, including engine run and hover test instrumentation.
- Experience with environmental sealing, harness fabrication standards, and EMI/EMC considerations.
- Master’s degree or higher in a related technical discipline.
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in Electrical, Mechanical, Aerospace Engineering, or related technical field
- 2+ years of experience in flight test instrumentation, data acquisition systems, or related hardware integration
- Hands-on experience installing and configuring sensors, DAQs, wiring harnesses, and telemetry systems
- Strong understanding of instrumentation standards, signal conditioning, sampling theory, and data synchronization
- Ability to interpret engineering drawings, wiring diagrams, electrical schematics, and system architectures
- Proficiency with instrumentation tools and software (e.g., NI, Dewesoft, HBM, ICS, telemetry systems)
- Strong troubleshooting skills and ability to operate in a fast-paced test environment
- Excellent communication and documentation capabilities
- Ability to support extended travel and remote test deployments
- Experience with developmental aircraft, flight test environments, or experimental test programs
- Familiarity with IRIG time standards, PCM, Ethernet-based DAQ systems, and avionics data buses (ARINC 429, MIL-STD-1553, CAN, Ethernet)
- Familiarity with Curtis Wright DAS Studio and IADS software
- Experience applying strain gauges, thermal instrumentation, or structural measurement sensors
- Background in propulsion or structural testing, including engine run and hover test instrumentation
- Experience with environmental sealing, harness fabrication standards, and EMI/EMC considerations
- Master's degree or higher in a related technical discipline
What the Team is Saying
Shield AI Compensation & Benefits Highlights
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Healthcare Strength — Company materials describe excellent medical, dental, and vision coverage alongside a mental‑health EAP. Site perks such as an onsite gym in DC and a gym discount in San Diego support a health‑focused offering.
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Retirement Support — Careers materials highlight a 401(k) with company match as part of the standard package. A Total Rewards overview emphasizes retirement features within a broader, transparent compensation view.
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Career-Linked Recognition & Rewards — Compensation for in‑demand technical and senior go‑to‑market roles is described as competitive, with visible engineering ranges and top‑end packages. This points to meaningful upside tied to role, level, and scarce skills.
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.
