We are seeking a Senior or Staff Mechanical Engineer to lead the resolution of mechanical issues affecting V-BAT production, testing, and fielded aircraft. This role will support urgent hardware problems while driving investigations through root cause, permanent corrective action, and verification.
The ideal candidate is comfortable troubleshooting hardware, leading cross-functional investigations, updating designs and drawings, and documenting solutions through release and implementation. This role is focused primarily on sustaining engineering rather than new-product design.
What you'll do:
- Lead the resolution of mechanical issues arising from production, testing, fielded aircraft, and customer operations.
- Provide hands-on engineering support during aircraft builds, integration, testing, and troubleshooting.
- Establish immediate containment actions while driving issues through root cause and permanent corrective action.
- Lead structured investigations using fault trees, 5 Whys, failure analysis, and test-based troubleshooting.
- Coordinate investigations across Engineering, Manufacturing, Quality, Supply Chain, Test, and Field Operations.
- Review and disposition deviations, nonconformances, and production questions.
- Determine when issues require changes to designs, drawings, processes, inspections, or supplier controls.
- Update CAD models, drawings, specifications, and bills of material, and drive changes through release and implementation.
- Document investigation results, track recurring issues, and incorporate lessons learned into future designs and processes.
Required qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related field.
- 5+ years of relevant experience for Senior Engineer or 8+ years for Staff Engineer.
- Experience supporting production, sustaining engineering, fielded products, or complex hardware troubleshooting.
- Demonstrated ability to lead technical investigations through verified corrective action.
- Proficiency with 3D CAD, engineering drawings, GD&T, and mechanical design for manufacturing.
- Strong technical writing, documentation, and cross-functional communication skills.
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related field
- 5+ years of relevant experience for Senior Engineer or 8+ years for Staff Engineer
- Experience supporting production, sustaining engineering, fielded products, or complex hardware troubleshooting
- Ability to lead technical investigations through verified corrective action
- Proficiency with 3D CAD, engineering drawings, GD&T, and mechanical design for manufacturing
- Strong technical writing, documentation, and cross-functional communication skills
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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Hybrid Workspace
Employees engage in a combination of remote and on-site work.
