As the Lead Harness Specialist, you will serve as the technical lead for the Hardware Test Harness Team, helping establish and grow a dedicated harness capability that supports V-BAT and X-BAT test operations. You will remain deeply involved in the hands-on fabrication, integration, and troubleshooting of wire harnesses and cable assemblies while providing day-to-day leadership, mentorship, and technical direction for a team of harness technicians.
Working closely with Hardware Test, Electrical, Mechanical, and Manufacturing Engineering teams, you will help define fabrication standards, improve build processes, ensure product quality, and support the development of reliable test infrastructure. This role is ideal for someone who enjoys building high-quality hardware, solving technical challenges, and developing a team while remaining actively engaged in day-to-day execution.
What you'll do:
- Build, modify, repair, and validate complex wire harnesses and cable assemblies supporting Hardware Test systems for V-BAT and X-BAT.
- Lead daily activities for the Hardware Test Harness Team, providing technical guidance, work prioritization, and mentorship to harness technicians.
- Establish and continuously improve harness fabrication processes, quality standards, documentation, and best practices.
- Interpret electrical schematics, wiring diagrams, connector pinouts, wire lists, and engineering drawings to build production-quality harnesses.
- Assemble and integrate harnesses into electrical and electromechanical test stands, fixtures, and laboratory equipment.
- Perform continuity testing, insulation resistance testing, and functional verification to ensure harness quality and reliability.
- Troubleshoot wiring issues, connector failures, and integration problems to support development and production test operations.
- Partner with engineers during new test stand development to provide manufacturability feedback and improve harness serviceability.
- Support configuration management by maintaining harness documentation, revisions, bills of materials, and work instructions.
- Coordinate with vendors and internal stakeholders to ensure materials and components are available to meet project schedules.
- Support laboratory operations by responding to emergent issues and performing repairs that minimize test downtime.
- Foster a culture of craftsmanship, safety, accountability, and continuous improvement within the Harness Team.
- Other duties as assigned.
Required qualifications:
- 5+ years of experience building wire harnesses, cable assemblies, or electrical systems in aerospace, defense, automotive, robotics, or similar industries.
- Demonstrated experience leading technicians or serving as a technical lead on hardware build activities.
- Strong ability to read and interpret electrical schematics, wiring diagrams, connector pinouts, and engineering drawings.
- Hands-on experience with harness fabrication techniques including crimping, soldering, shielding, splicing, labeling, and connector assembly.
- Experience performing electrical verification including continuity testing, insulation resistance testing, and troubleshooting.
- Familiarity with aerospace-quality workmanship standards and documentation practices.
- Strong organizational skills with the ability to balance multiple projects in a fast-paced environment.
- Proven history of taking ownership, delivering high-quality work, and collaborating effectively across multidisciplinary teams.
- Record of working hard, being a trustworthy teammate, holding yourself and others to high standards, and treating others with respect.
Preferred qualifications:
- Experience building harnesses for aerospace, UAV, military, robotics, or autonomous systems.
- Experience supporting hardware test laboratories, manufacturing test equipment, or production test environments.
- Familiarity with IPC/WHMA-A-620 workmanship standards or equivalent harness manufacturing standards.
- Experience using harness design or documentation tools such as Capital, Zuken, SolidWorks Electrical, or AutoCAD Electrical.
- Experience creating or improving manufacturing work instructions and build documentation.
- Experience with soldering, machining, or electromechanical assembly.
- Previous experience helping build or scale a technical team.
Skills Required
- 5+ years of experience building wire harnesses, cable assemblies, or electrical systems in aerospace, defense, automotive, robotics, or similar industries.
- Demonstrated experience leading technicians or serving as a technical lead on hardware build activities.
- Strong ability to read and interpret electrical schematics, wiring diagrams, connector pinouts, and engineering drawings.
- Hands-on experience with harness fabrication techniques including crimping, soldering, shielding, splicing, labeling, and connector assembly.
- Experience performing electrical verification including continuity testing, insulation resistance testing, and troubleshooting.
- Familiarity with aerospace-quality workmanship standards and documentation practices.
- Strong organizational skills with the ability to balance multiple projects in a fast-paced environment.
- Proven history of taking ownership, delivering high-quality work, and collaborating effectively across multidisciplinary teams.
- Record of working hard, being a trustworthy teammate, holding yourself and others to high standards, and treating others with respect.
- Experience building harnesses for aerospace, UAV, military, robotics, or autonomous systems.
- Experience supporting hardware test laboratories, manufacturing test equipment, or production test environments.
- Familiarity with IPC/WHMA-A-620 workmanship standards or equivalent harness manufacturing standards.
- Experience using harness design or documentation tools such as Capital, Zuken, SolidWorks Electrical, or AutoCAD Electrical.
- Experience creating or improving manufacturing work instructions and build documentation.
- Experience with soldering, machining, or electromechanical assembly.
- Previous experience helping build or scale a technical team.
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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Employees engage in a combination of remote and on-site work.
