Shield AI is seeking a Senior Electrical Engineer to serve as the electrical SME for the V-BAT Fleet Support team. In this role, you will own customer-facing engineering support for aircraft electrical issues across the fielded fleet. You will act as the bridge between Fleet Support and the avionics, electrical, software, and systems engineering teams to resolve complex technical problems quickly and thoroughly.
This role is best suited for an engineer with strong avionics and aircraft electrical troubleshooting experience who can move fluidly between schematic-level analysis, hardware debug, and field support.
What you'll do:
- Serve as the electrical SME for Fleet Support and lead escalated investigations involving aircraft electrical and avionics issues.
- Diagnose avionics system issues, onboard communication hardware issues, wiring and harness problems, power-distribution faults, connector failures, grounding issues, and intermittent electrical anomalies.
- Troubleshoot aircraft electrical problems at the aircraft, subsystem, harness, connector, and line-replaceable unit levels.
- Review and maintain schematics, pinouts, wiring diagrams, interface definitions, and troubleshooting documentation used by Fleet Support and customer teams.
- Use standard debug equipment to isolate faults, validate corrective actions, and support return-to-service decisions.
- Partner closely with software, mission systems, and radio frequency (RF) engineers on issues that cross electrical, software, and communications boundaries.
- Identify recurring failure patterns and drive clear feedback into design, manufacturing, integration, and quality organizations.
- Develop field-ready troubleshooting guides, repair recommendations, and service documentation for the Fleet Support organization.
Required qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering or a related discipline.
- 5+ years of experience in avionics, aircraft electrical systems, embedded hardware integration, or aerospace electrical engineering.
- Strong ability to read and interpret schematics, wiring diagrams, pinouts, and interface documentation.
- Hands-on experience troubleshooting harnesses, connectors, power systems, avionics hardware, and electrical integration issues.
- Experience diagnosing intermittent failures caused by vibration, temperature, installation, environment, or interface mismatch.
- Strong communication skills and ability to support technical conversations with both customers and internal engineering teams.
- Ability to possess a Secret DoD security clearance as required by customers.
Preferred qualifications:
- Experience with unmanned aircraft system electrical or avionics integration.
- Experience supporting fielded military, maritime, or expeditionary systems.
- Experience with sensors, radios, onboard compute, or payload electrical interfaces.
- Experience supporting ground test, flight test, or operational readiness events.
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering or a related discipline.
- 5+ years of experience in avionics, aircraft electrical systems, embedded hardware integration, or aerospace electrical engineering.
- Ability to read and interpret schematics, wiring diagrams, pinouts, and interface documentation.
- Hands-on experience troubleshooting harnesses, connectors, power systems, avionics hardware, and electrical integration issues.
- Experience diagnosing intermittent failures caused by vibration, temperature, installation, environment, or interface mismatch.
- Strong communication skills to support technical conversations with customers and internal engineering teams.
- Ability to possess a Secret DoD security clearance as required by customers.
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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