What you'll do:
- Maintain and improve the company Quality Management System in alignment with AS9100 standard.
- Develop, implement, and enforce quality policies, procedures, work instructions, and inspection criteria.
- Support external customer and regulatory audits.
- Drive compliance to AS9100 principles and customer-specific quality requirements.
- Lead quality operations across VBAT assembly, composite fabrication, avionics integration, mechanical assembly, and test operations.
- Ensure robust in-process and final inspection processes are in place and effective.
- Establish inspection plans, acceptance criteria, and manufacturing quality controls.
- Monitor production quality metrics including defects, escapes, rework, scrap, MRB activity, and yield.
- Partner with production and manufacturing leadership to improve build quality, process discipline, and throughput.
- Own the Material Review Board (MRB) process and disposition of nonconforming material.
- Drive effective corrective and preventive actions (CAPA) to closure.
- Ensure containment actions are timely and effective while long-term solutions are implemented.
- Oversee inspection personnel including in-process inspection and final acceptance testing.
- Ensure calibrated tooling and measurement systems are maintained and compliant.
- Improve inspection efficiency while maintaining product integrity and traceability.
- Build and develop a high-performing quality organization in a startup-growth environment.
- Mentor Quality Engineers, Inspectors, and Technicians.
- Promote a proactive quality culture focused on ownership, accountability, and continuous improvement.
- Drive cross-functional collaboration between Quality, Production, Supply Chain, and Engineering teams.
Required qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Manufacturing, Quality, or related technical field; equivalent experience may be considered.
- 5–10+ years of quality experience in aerospace, defense, UAV, aviation, or complex electromechanical manufacturing.
- 3+ years of leadership or management experience.
- Experience supporting low-rate/high-mix manufacturing environments.
- Experience working directly on production floors and collaborating cross-functionally.
Preferred qualifications:
- AS9100 internal or lead auditor certification.
- Familiarity with defense contracting and customer quality requirements.
- Experience implementing quality systems in scaling manufacturing environments.
- Working knowledge of ERP/MES systems and quality data analysis tools.
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Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Manufacturing, Quality, or related technical field (or equivalent experience)
- 5-10+ years of quality experience in aerospace, defense, UAV, aviation, or complex electromechanical manufacturing
- 3+ years of leadership or management experience
- Experience supporting low-rate/high-mix manufacturing environments
- Experience working directly on production floors and collaborating cross-functionally
- AS9100 internal or lead auditor certification
- Familiarity with defense contracting and customer quality requirements
- Experience implementing quality systems in scaling manufacturing environments
- Working knowledge of ERP/MES systems and quality data analysis tools
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 Teams
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Shield AI Offices
Hybrid Workspace
Employees engage in a combination of remote and on-site work.
