We are seeking a Senior Reliability Engineer to lead reliability engineering activities for the development, integration, testing, and operation of aircraft systems. This position will work across engineering disciplines to establish reliability requirements, manage system reliability budgets, perform reliability analyses, and identify design improvements that increase aircraft availability and mission success.
The successful candidate will have direct experience working on aircraft or other complex aerospace systems and be proficient with industry-standard reliability tools and methods. This engineer will serve as the primary reliability point of contact for assigned programs and communicate reliability performance, risks, and improvement plans to engineering leadership and customers.
What you'll do:
- Develop and maintain aircraft-level reliability requirements, objectives, and program reliability plans.
- Establish, allocate, and manage reliability budgets across systems, subsystems, and line-replaceable units.
- Track predicted reliability against program targets and identify components or subsystems driving reliability risk.
- Perform reliability predictions using component failure-rate data, operating environments, and mission profiles.
- Conduct Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA), Failure Modes, Effects, and Criticality Analysis (FMECA), Fault Tree Analysis (FTA), and Reliability Block Diagram (RBD) analysis.
- Support aircraft system safety assessments by providing failure rates, failure modes, and reliability data.
- Develop and maintain Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF), Mean Time Between Critical Failure (MTBCF), mission reliability, availability, and related reliability metrics.
- Perform reliability allocation, trade studies, sensitivity analyses, and design assessments.
- Lead or support Failure Reporting, Analysis, and Corrective Action System (FRACAS) activities.
- Analyze ground-test, flight-test, supplier, maintenance, and field-performance data to identify reliability trends.
- Apply Weibull analysis and other statistical methods to evaluate failure behavior and predict component life.
- Work with design teams to eliminate single-point failures, reduce high-risk failure modes, and improve fault tolerance.
- Review supplier reliability analyses, test results, and supporting technical data.
- Define reliability demonstration and growth-test requirements, success criteria, and data-collection needs.
- Support technical reviews, including SRR, PDR, CDR, TRR, and reliability review boards.
- Communicate reliability performance, budget status, assumptions, risks, and recommended corrective actions to customers and program leadership.
- Mentor junior engineers and improve organizational reliability processes, tools, and standards.
Required qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree in reliability engineering, systems engineering, aerospace engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, or a related technical field.
- Typically requires a minimum of 5 years of related experience with a Bachelor’s degree
- Direct experience supporting aircraft development, integration, testing, sustainment, or operations.
- Experience developing and managing reliability budgets at the system, subsystem, or equipment level.
- Proficiency with reliability methods such as FMEA/FMECA, FTA, RBD, Weibull analysis, reliability predictions, and FRACAS.
- Familiarity with reliability metrics such as MTBF, MTBCF, failure rate, mission reliability, operational availability, and inherent availability.
- Experience using reliability analysis tools such as ReliaSoft, Windchill Quality Solutions, Isograph, RAM Commander, or equivalent.
- Ability to interpret aircraft mission profiles, operating environments, duty cycles, and test data.
- Experience working with multidisciplinary engineering teams and suppliers.
- Strong analytical, technical writing, presentation, and customer communication skills.
- Ability to obtain and maintain any security clearance required for the program.
Preferred qualifications:
- Experience working on military aircraft, unmanned aircraft, or other defense aerospace platforms.
- Experience managing aircraft-level reliability allocations and flowing requirements down to suppliers.
- Familiarity with MIL-HDBK-217, NPRD, EPRD, RIAC 217Plus, or equivalent reliability prediction methods and databases.
- Experience integrating reliability engineering with system safety, maintainability, logistics, and availability analyses.
- Knowledge of Reliability-Centered Maintenance (RCM) and condition-based maintenance approaches.
- Experience supporting environmental qualification, ground testing, flight testing, or reliability growth testing.
- Familiarity with Model-Based Systems Engineering and requirements management tools.
- Certified Reliability Engineer credentials or equivalent professional certification.
- Active U.S. security clearance.
Success in this role:
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in reliability engineering, systems engineering, aerospace engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, or a related technical field
- Minimum of 5 years of related experience with a Bachelor's degree
- Direct experience supporting aircraft development, integration, testing, sustainment, or operations
- Experience developing and managing reliability budgets at the system, subsystem, or equipment level
- Proficiency with FMEA/FMECA, FTA, RBD, Weibull analysis, reliability predictions, and FRACAS
- Familiarity with MTBF, MTBCF, failure rate, mission reliability, operational availability, and inherent availability metrics
- Experience using reliability analysis tools such as ReliaSoft, Windchill Quality Solutions, Isograph, RAM Commander, or equivalent
- Ability to interpret aircraft mission profiles, operating environments, duty cycles, and test data
- Experience working with multidisciplinary engineering teams and suppliers
- Strong analytical, technical writing, presentation, and customer communication skills
- Ability to obtain and maintain any security clearance required for the program
- Experience working on military aircraft, unmanned aircraft, or other defense aerospace platforms
- Experience managing aircraft-level reliability allocations and flowing requirements down to suppliers
- Familiarity with MIL-HDBK-217, NPRD, EPRD, RIAC 217Plus, or equivalent reliability prediction methods and databases
- Experience integrating reliability engineering with system safety, maintainability, logistics, and availability analyses
- Knowledge of Reliability-Centered Maintenance and condition-based maintenance approaches
- Experience supporting environmental qualification, ground testing, flight testing, or reliability growth testing
- Familiarity with Model-Based Systems Engineering and requirements management tools
- Certified Reliability Engineer credentials or equivalent professional certification
- Active U.S. security 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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