The Material Review Board (MRB) Engineer supports the evaluation and disposition of nonconforming hardware for fielded unmanned aircraft systems and related equipment. This role works within established engineering, quality, and configuration-control processes to assess damaged or nonconforming parts, develop repair and rework instructions, and help return hardware to service safely and efficiently.The engineer partners with responsible engineers, design and manufacturing engineering, Quality, Supply Chain, Fleet Support, and Sustainment to investigate hardware issues and develop clear, technically sound, and traceable dispositions. The role supports post-production, depot, and field sustainment activities and contributes to improvements in repair documentation, inspection criteria, and recurring-issue resolution.
This is a hands-on individual-contributor role for an engineer who can independently resolve routine and moderately complex issues, contribute to more complex evaluations, and escalate decisions requiring specialized analysis or higher-level technical approval.
What you'll do:
- Evaluate nonconforming material, damaged hardware, returned components, production escapes, field returns, and repairable assemblies.
- Develop and document dispositions such as rework, repair, use-as-is, return-to-vendor, or scrap recommendations in accordance with established approval authority.
- Create or update repair instructions, inspection criteria, and supporting technical documentation.
- Review engineering drawings, specifications, inspection results, manufacturing records, repair history, photographs, and other field evidence.
- Coordinate with responsible engineers and cross-functional partners to ensure dispositions are safe, technically sound, executable, and properly approved.
- Support returned-material evaluations, production-quality deficiency reviews, field-hardware investigations, and production-escape resolution.
- Maintain complete, accurate, traceable, and configuration-controlled MRB records.
- Identify recurring nonconformances, manufacturing defects, supplier issues, field damage, and repair challenges; elevate trends for further investigation.
- Provide technical input to root-cause and corrective-action activities in partnership with Failure Analysis, Reliability and Maintainability, Quality, and other engineering teams.
- Work with Manufacturing Engineering and Quality to improve repair instructions, inspection methods, acceptance criteria, and test processes.
- Support supplier-quality investigations when purchased parts or assemblies affect sustainment or fleet readiness.
- Contribute to standard repair development and the continuous improvement of MRB and sustainment workflows.
- Balance engineering rigor, safety, quality, configuration control, field urgency, and aircraft-readiness needs.
Required qualifications:
- Bachelor's degree in mechanical, aerospace, electrical, manufacturing, materials, or a related engineering discipline, or equivalent relevant technical experience.
- 4+ years of relevant experience in Material Review Board, quality engineering, manufacturing engineering, sustaining engineering, aerospace structures, aviation maintenance engineering, hardware product support, or complex hardware sustainment.
- Experience evaluating nonconforming hardware, damaged components, returned material, production escapes, field failures, or repairable assemblies.
- Working knowledge of nonconforming-material processes, MRB workflows, repair or rework dispositions, inspection records, engineering documentation, and corrective-action systems.
- Experience developing or supporting repair instructions, rework instructions, inspection criteria, use-as-is evaluations, or scrap/replacement recommendations.
- Ability to interpret engineering drawings, specifications, inspection results, manufacturing records, repair records, and field evidence.
- Sound technical judgment and the ability to recognize when an issue requires additional analysis or escalation to the appropriate engineering authority.
- Strong written communication and documentation skills, including the ability to clearly explain a technical disposition and its supporting rationale.
- Ability to work effectively across Engineering, Quality, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Fleet Support, Sustainment, and Operations.
- Ability to manage multiple hardware issues and priorities in a fast-paced operating environment.
Preferred qualifications:
- Experience in aviation, defense, aerospace manufacturing, unmanned systems, aircraft sustainment, depot repair, field repair, or deployed hardware systems.
- Experience with composite or metallic structures, bonded or fastened assemblies, avionics hardware, propulsion components, payload interfaces, or complex electromechanical assemblies.
- Familiarity with RCCA, FRACAS, PQDR, AS9100, configuration management, ECO/ECR processes, service bulletins, maintenance releases, or field retrofit execution.
- Experience supporting supplier-quality investigations, returned-material analysis, production-escape resolution, depot repair, or field repair.
- Familiarity with standard repair libraries or configuration-controlled repair documentation.
- Experience supporting military, government, international, or deployed aviation customers.
- Familiarity with ITAR, export-controlled technical data, or controlled customer environments.
- Active Secret or Top Secret clearance.
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in mechanical, aerospace, electrical, manufacturing, materials, or related engineering; equivalent relevant technical experience may qualify.
- 4+ years of relevant experience in MRB, quality engineering, manufacturing engineering, sustaining engineering, aerospace structures, aviation maintenance engineering, hardware product support, or complex hardware sustainment.
- Experience evaluating nonconforming hardware, damaged components, returned material, production escapes, field failures, or repairable assemblies.
- Working knowledge of nonconforming-material processes, MRB workflows, repair or rework dispositions, inspection records, engineering documentation, and corrective-action systems.
- Experience developing or supporting repair instructions, rework instructions, inspection criteria, use-as-is evaluations, or scrap/replacement recommendations.
- Ability to interpret engineering drawings, specifications, inspection results, manufacturing records, repair records, and field evidence.
- Sound technical judgment and ability to recognize when additional analysis or escalation is required.
- Strong written communication and technical documentation skills.
- Ability to collaborate across Engineering, Quality, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Fleet Support, Sustainment, and Operations.
- Ability to manage multiple hardware issues and priorities in a fast-paced environment.
- Experience in aviation, defense, aerospace manufacturing, unmanned systems, aircraft sustainment, depot repair, field repair, or deployed hardware systems.
- Experience with composite or metallic structures, bonded or fastened assemblies, avionics, propulsion, payload interfaces, or complex electromechanical assemblies.
- Familiarity with RCCA, FRACAS, PQDR, AS9100, configuration management, ECO/ECR processes, service bulletins, maintenance releases, or field retrofit execution.
- Experience supporting supplier-quality investigations, returned-material analysis, production-escape resolution, depot repair, or field repair.
- Familiarity with standard repair libraries or configuration-controlled repair documentation.
- Experience supporting military, government, international, or deployed aviation customers.
- Familiarity with ITAR, export-controlled technical data, or controlled customer environments.
- Active Secret or Top Secret clearance.
What the Team is Saying
Shield AI Compensation & Benefits Highlights
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Healthcare Strength — Healthcare coverage is described as excellent, with dental/vision and mental‑health support, and ancillary protections like life and disability appearing in benefit summaries. The breadth and perceived affordability of coverage are highlighted as a standout component of the package.
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Parental & Family Support — Paid parental leave is featured alongside enhanced maternity benefits, fertility and childcare support, and onsite resources such as a Mother’s Room. These elements are positioned as competitive and above the minimal baseline for the company’s stage.
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Equity Value & Accessibility — Equity is granted to all full‑time hires, with RSUs, double‑trigger tax timing, and tools to model scenarios (e.g., through Carta Tax). Communications also reference a transition from options to RSUs, reinforcing access and maturity of ownership programs.
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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