Shield AI is seeking a Logistics and Tool Control Manager to support ground and flight test execution for the X-BAT program. This role enables safe, efficient, and repeatable test operations by managing tool control, FOD prevention, calibration readiness, inventory accuracy, logistics coordination, and material traceability.
In this role, you will work closely with Test Operations, Manufacturing, Engineering, Supply Chain, Program Management, Quality, Safety, Range Operations, and external suppliers to anticipate rapidly changing aircraft configurations, spare requirements, schedules, equipment usage, flight-readiness needs, and configuration updates.
What you'll do:
- Manage the tool-control program for maintenance, integration, modification, ground and flight test activities.
- Maintain serialized records for tools, special test equipment, calibrated devices, batteries, ground-support equipment, and other controlled assets.
- Enforce tool and equipment issue, return, reconciliation, accountability, and lost-tool procedures.
- Support FOD prevention through audits, walkdowns, training, trend tracking, corrective actions, and process improvements.
- Maintain calibration schedules and prevent expired, damaged, or suspect measuring and test equipment from being used on flight hardware.
- Build, stage, issue, and reconcile tools, parts, special test equipment, and ground and flight support kits for daily test operations.
- Coordinate with Flight Test, Maintenance, Engineering, Quality, Safety, Procurement, Supply Chain, and Range Operations to support test readiness.
- Manage weapon system spares, consumables, support hardware, ground-support equipment, and other support assets.
- Oversee receiving, inspection, quarantine, storage, issuance, and return of parts, materials, and controlled equipment.
- Maintain critical-spares plans, logistics readiness dashboards, shortage reports, and action trackers.
- Support remote test deployments, mobile range operations, and rapid field reconstitution activities.
- Lead cycle counts, inventory audits, tool audits, discrepancy investigations, and corrective actions.
- Provide daily logistics readiness status, risks, and blockers to flight-test leadership.
Required qualifications:
- 5+ years of experience in aviation, aerospace, defense, manned or unmanned flight test, maintenance, logistics, or production operations.
- Experience managing controlled tools, calibrated equipment, spares, or technical inventory.
- Familiarity with FOD prevention, material traceability, and maintenance support.
- Experience using inventory, ERP, CMMS, QMS, barcode, RFID, or similar asset-management systems.
- Ability to work cross-functionally with Engineering, Manufacturing, Test Operations, Supply Chain, Program Leadership, Quality, and Safety.
- Strong documentation, audit, problem-solving, and corrective-action skills.
- Detail-oriented approach with a strong commitment to tool control, logistics discipline, and process compliance.
- Ability to operate effectively in a fast-paced ground-test and flight-test environment with rapidly changing priorities.
- Ability to support overtime and weekend coverage as required.
Preferred qualifications:
- 8+ years of experience in aviation, aerospace, defense, manned or unmanned flight test, maintenance, logistics, or production operations.
- Knowledge of AS9100, ISO 9001, FAA, DoD/DoW, and other aerospace quality-system requirements.
- Experience supporting defense programs, ITAR/EAR-controlled environments, or security-cleared environments.
- Experience supporting prototype aircraft, weapon systems, or mission-critical aerospace systems.
Skills Required
- 5+ years experience in aviation, aerospace, defense, flight test, maintenance, logistics, or production operations
- Experience managing controlled tools, calibrated equipment, spares, or technical inventory
- Familiarity with FOD prevention, material traceability, and maintenance support
- Experience using inventory, ERP, CMMS, QMS, barcode, RFID, or similar asset-management systems
- Ability to work cross-functionally with Engineering, Manufacturing, Test Operations, Supply Chain, Program Leadership, Quality, and Safety
- Strong documentation, audit, problem-solving, and corrective-action skills
- Detail-oriented with strong commitment to tool control, logistics discipline, and process compliance
- Ability to operate effectively in a fast-paced ground-test and flight-test environment with rapidly changing priorities
- Ability to support overtime and weekend coverage as required
- 8+ years experience in relevant domains (preferred)
- Knowledge of AS9100, ISO 9001, FAA, DoD/DoW, and aerospace quality-system requirements (preferred)
- Experience supporting defense programs, ITAR/EAR-controlled environments, or security-cleared environments (preferred)
- Experience supporting prototype aircraft, weapon systems, or mission-critical aerospace systems (preferred)
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.
