What You'll Do:
•Build, install, configure, inspect, and maintain HIL racks, test benches, compute systems, network equipment, storage, power distribution, simulation hardware, flight hardware, and supporting lab infrastructure
•Own and maintain accurate asset control for lab and program equipment, including receiving, tagging, serial-number tracking, location, custody, configuration, calibration, maintenance, spares, and disposition records
•Manage lab schedules, equipment reservations, maintenance windows, integration priorities, and competing cross-program demands in coordination with software, hardware, systems, test, and program teams
•Perform wiring and fabrication tasks such as cable assembly, connector installation, crimping, soldering, continuity checks, cable routing, rack assembly, panel modification, bracket installation, and minor mechanical rework using approved procedures
•Read, apply, and update wiring diagrams, electrical schematics, rack elevations, mechanical and installation drawings, cable and port maps, bills of material, work instructions, and interface-control documentation
•Support software development by provisioning and restoring development and test environments, imaging computers, installing approved software, managing configurations, collecting logs, and assisting with automated lab workflows
•Diagnose and resolve lab issues across power, wiring, compute, networking, software, instrumentation, and mechanical interfaces using appropriate test equipment, logs, drawings, and structured troubleshooting methods
•Manage procurement coordination, incoming inspection, shipping and receiving, vendor repair activity, consumables, tool control, calibration, equipment staging, and capacity planning for lab growth and program execution
•Establish, maintain, and enforce lab standards for safety, access, cybersecurity, export control, electrostatic-discharge protection, foreign-object-debris prevention, cleanliness, labeling, and configuration management
•Own and maintain lab operating procedures, build records, maintenance logs, configuration baselines, status dashboards, issue trackers, and work instructions that provide traceability and support knowledge sharing
•Support customer integration events, demonstrations, operational exercises, and evaluations by preparing representative lab environments, reproducing field issues, and incorporating approved updates into HIL configurations and test infrastructure
Required Qualifications:
•Hands-on experience operating or supporting engineering laboratories, integration facilities, test environments, maintenance operations, or mission systems in the defense, aerospace, aviation, robotics, manufacturing, or another mission-critical industry
•Demonstrated experience assembling, installing, maintaining, and troubleshooting electro-mechanical equipment, test infrastructure, computing systems, electronics, or avionics hardware
•Experience maintaining accountable assets, serialized hardware, inventory, tools, calibration, spares, shipping and receiving, maintenance history, or configuration records
•Strong planning and organizational skills with demonstrated ability to own shared lab operations and coordinate schedules, equipment availability, maintenance activities, priorities, and dependencies across multiple teams or programs
•Ability to read and work from wiring diagrams, electrical schematics, mechanical and installation drawings, rack layouts, bills of material, work instructions, and technical manuals
•Competence with wiring, cable and connector work, fabrication, hand tools, digital multimeters, continuity testing, rack integration, and safe electro-mechanical troubleshooting
•Comfort working with Windows- and Linux-based computers, installing and configuring software, collecting logs, documenting technical work, and communicating clearly with software and hardware engineers
•Ability to obtain a SECRET clearance
Preferred Qualifications:
•Experience supporting HIL, SIL, VIL, avionics, flight-system, robotics, or systems-integration laboratories
•Familiarity with Python, Bash, PowerShell, or another scripting language for asset records, health checks, configuration, data collection, reporting, or routine lab workflows
•Experience supporting software-development or continuous-integration teams, including environment provisioning, software deployment, source control, build systems, automated testing, or test orchestration
•Experience with aircraft systems, autonomy software, embedded computing, real-time simulation, sensors, communications equipment, or uncrewed vehicle integration
•Familiarity with Ethernet networking, managed switches, IP addressing, serial communications, CAN, time synchronization, remote access, and basic network troubleshooting
•Experience with CAD viewers or tools used to review or update electrical drawings, mechanical drawings, rack layouts, cable drawings, or lab floor plans
Skills Required
- 5+ years of hands-on experience supporting engineering laboratories, integration and test facilities, avionics, mission systems, electronics, IT infrastructure, industrial equipment, or comparable technical operations
- Hands-on experience operating or supporting engineering laboratories, integration facilities, test environments, maintenance operations, or mission systems in defense, aerospace, aviation, robotics, manufacturing, or another mission-critical industry
- Experience assembling, installing, maintaining, and troubleshooting electro-mechanical equipment, test infrastructure, computing systems, electronics, or avionics hardware
- Experience maintaining accountable assets, serialized hardware, inventory, tools, calibration, spares, shipping and receiving, maintenance history, or configuration records
- Strong planning and organizational skills, including ownership of shared lab operations and coordination of schedules, equipment availability, maintenance, priorities, and dependencies
- Ability to read and work from wiring diagrams, electrical schematics, mechanical and installation drawings, rack layouts, bills of material, work instructions, and technical manuals
- Competence with wiring, cable and connector work, fabrication, hand tools, digital multimeters, continuity testing, rack integration, and safe electro-mechanical troubleshooting
- Comfort working with Windows- and Linux-based computers, installing and configuring software, collecting logs, documenting technical work, and communicating with software and hardware engineers
- Ability to obtain a SECRET clearance
- Degree in engineering technology, associate degree in electronics technology, information technology, avionics, or a related technical discipline; equivalent military or vocational training or relevant demonstrated experience accepted
- Experience supporting HIL, SIL, VIL, avionics, flight-system, robotics, or systems-integration laboratories
- Familiarity with Python, Bash, PowerShell, or another scripting language for asset records, health checks, configuration, data collection, reporting, or routine lab workflows
- Experience supporting software-development or continuous-integration teams, including environment provisioning, software deployment, source control, build systems, automated testing, or test orchestration
- Experience with aircraft systems, autonomy software, embedded computing, real-time simulation, sensors, communications equipment, or uncrewed vehicle integration
- Familiarity with Ethernet networking, managed switches, IP addressing, serial communications, CAN, time synchronization, remote access, and basic network troubleshooting
- Experience with CAD viewers or tools used to review or update electrical drawings, mechanical drawings, rack layouts, cable drawings, or lab floor plans
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.
Gallery
Shield AI Teams
Shield AI Offices
Hybrid Workspace
Employees engage in a combination of remote and on-site work.
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