The Hivemind Solutions Test Department is seeking a Senior Test Engineer (Software & Simulation Focus) to join our DC-based team. Since Shield AI's mission is to protect service members and civilians, The Hivemind Solutions Test Department makes this a reality by validating the reliability, safety, and performance of our world-class autonomy software.
You’ll lead simulation-driven testing, automation, and software quality efforts for Hivemind, building and executing test frameworks that ensure our autonomy software performs reliably across simulated and real-world mission environments.
Shield AI is growing quickly, and we're looking for someone who thrives in fast-paced environments, embraces learning, and brings a high-ownership, mission-driven mindset. This is a chance to have a real impact—advancing autonomy that protects lives—while working with a collaborative, high-performing team.
What you'll do:
- Develop automated regression, integration, and system-level tests to ensure Hivemind software quality and stability across releases
- Identify, reproduce, and diagnose software issues—collaborating closely with development teams to drive fixes and improvements
- Create and execute test plans and documentation for autonomy software in simulated environments, ensuring mission and safety requirements are met
- Design, implement, and maintain simulation-based test frameworks to validate Hivemind autonomy behavior and performance
- Build tools and utilities in Python to automate testing, data processing, and analysis workflows
- Develop test harnesses and data validation tools for Software-in-the-Loop (SIL) / Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) / Vehicle-in-the-Loop (VIL) and simulation environments
- Contribute to the definition of testing methodologies, metrics, and performance benchmarks for autonomy software validation
- Support the scaling and reliability of simulation infrastructure used for large-scale software validation
- Maintain detailed and accurate test documentation, ensuring traceability and knowledge sharing across teams
- Work with developers to integrate test coverage directly into the development pipeline (CI/CD)
Required qualifications:
- Typically requires a minimum of 3-5 years of related experience with a Bachelor’s degree; or 2-4 years and a Master’s degree; or 2 years with a PhD; or equivalent work experience
- Proficiency in Python
- Experience in robotics, small UAS, or related hands-on engineering projects
- Strong analytical, problem-solving, and debugging skills
- Passionate about intelligent aircraft systems
- Excellent communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to work effectively with cross-functional software, hardware and mechanical engineering teams
- Adaptability and a willingness to learn new technologies and methodologies quickly in a fast-paced environment
- The ability to obtain and maintain a SECRET Clearance. US citizenship is required as only US citizens are eligible for a security clearance.
Preferred qualifications:
- Experience testing autonomous systems, robotics software, or flight autonomy algorithms
- Familiarity with C++ and software/hardware integration concepts.
- Experience with HIL or VIL test environments.
- Exposure to machine learning or AI-driven autonomy systems.
- Background in simulation infrastructure design, distributed testing, or test data management.
- Quality Assurance (QA) experience, including process definition, metrics, and validation tracking
- Experience with aerospace, defense, or mission-critical software
- Active SECRET clearance preferred
Skills Required
- 3-5 years related experience with a Bachelor’s degree (alternative masters/PhD experience combos accepted)
- Proficiency in Python
- Experience in robotics, small UAS, or related hands-on engineering projects
- Strong analytical, problem-solving, and debugging skills
- Excellent communication and collaboration skills for cross-functional teams
- Adaptability and willingness to learn new technologies quickly
- Ability to obtain and maintain a SECRET security clearance
- US citizenship (required for clearance eligibility)
- Familiarity with C++ and software/hardware integration concepts
- Experience testing autonomous systems, robotics software, or flight autonomy algorithms
- Experience with HIL or VIL test environments
- Exposure to machine learning or AI-driven autonomy systems
- Background in simulation infrastructure design, distributed testing, or test data management
- Quality Assurance (QA) experience, including process definition, metrics, and validation tracking
- Experience with aerospace, defense, or mission-critical software
- 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.
