As a Senior Software Test & Automation Engineer, you will design and develop automated test infrastructure, execute system-level verification activities, analyze software performance, and build the tooling that enables continuous validation throughout the development lifecycle. Working closely with autonomy software, systems engineering, digital infrastructure, and flight test teams, you will help ensure autonomy capabilities are validated, repeatable, and ready for operational deployment.
What you'll do:
Design, develop, and maintain automated test frameworks, validation tooling, and test infrastructure supporting autonomy software.
Develop and execute verification and validation strategies across simulation, SIL, HIL, VIL, and representative system environments.
Build automated regression, integration, functional, and performance test suites that improve software quality and deployment confidence.
Develop Python-based automation, test harnesses, and analysis tools that reduce manual testing effort and improve repeatability.
Analyze test results, identify software defects and integration issues, and support cross-functional root cause investigations.
Develop software quality metrics, dashboards, and readiness assessments that provide objective evidence of software maturity.
Integrate automated testing into CI/CD workflows to enable continuous validation and rapid developer feedback.
Collaborate with autonomy software, systems engineering, flight test, and integration teams to define validation strategies and readiness criteria.
Improve test infrastructure, automation coverage, and validation methodologies across the Expeditionary and Emerging Operations portfolio.
Required qualifications:
BS in Computer Science, Aerospace, Electrical, Mechanical Engineering or related field.
4–7 years developing software test, verification, automation, or validation solutions for robotics, autonomy, aerospace, or other complex distributed systems.
Strong proficiency in Python for automation, testing, and data analysis.
Experience developing automated test frameworks, test harnesses, or validation infrastructure.
Experience with Linux-based development environments.
Experience validating software in simulation, SIL, HIL, and/or representative hardware environments.
Experience debugging complex software and system integration issues.
Experience with CI/CD pipelines and continuous validation practices.
Strong understanding of software verification, regression testing, and quality assurance methodologies.
Preferred qualifications:
Experience with flight control systems such as ArduPilot or PX4.
Experience with unmanned aerial systems (fixed-wing, quadrotor, or both)
Background in autonomy, robotics, or aerospace systems
Familiarity with flight controllers, radios, and communications systems
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Computer Engineering, Robotics, Aerospace, or related field, or equivalent experience
- 4-7 years of experience in integration and testing of robotics, autonomy, aerospace, or similar complex systems
- Strong hands-on experience working with real hardware systems and field or flight testing
- Experience with SIL, HIL, and VIL environments
- Direct experience with Ardupilot and MAVLINK
- Experience with ROS
- Ability to design, build, and configure medium complexity benchtop setups
- Proficiency in Python and C++ for scripting, automation, or debugging
- Demonstrated ability to troubleshoot complex, cross-disciplinary systems (hardware, software, communications)
- Comfortable working in ambiguous environments with evolving requirements
- Strong sense of ownership, urgency, and problem-solving mindset
- U.S. Citizenship and ability to obtain a SECRET clearance
- Aviation experience such as Private Pilot's License or Part 107
- CI/CD experience
- Experience with PX4 and/or cube family of hardware
- Experience with unmanned aerial systems (fixed-wing, quadrotor, or both)
- Background in autonomy, robotics, or aerospace systems
- Familiarity with flight controllers, radios, and communications systems
- Experience supporting flight test operations
- Experience contributing to automated test frameworks or infrastructure
- Active SECRET clearance
What the Team is Saying
Shield AI Compensation & Benefits Highlights
-
Healthcare Strength — Healthcare coverage includes medical, dental, vision, and mental-health support, with company materials describing excellent coverage. Feedback suggests these offerings are comprehensive and consistently highlighted across official and third-party benefit lists.
-
Equity Value & Accessibility — Equity is granted to all full-time hires, with RSU structures and tools like Carta Tax intended to improve understanding and tax timing. Feedback suggests this broad-based ownership approach is a notable component of total rewards.
-
Parental & Family Support — Benefits include paid parental leave, fertility support, childcare benefits, family medical leave, and onsite resources such as a Mother's Room. Feedback suggests the family-oriented offerings are more expansive than basic coverage.
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.
Gallery
%203.jpg)
Shield AI Teams
.jpg)
Shield AI Offices
Hybrid Workspace
Employees engage in a combination of remote and on-site work.
