What you'll do:
- Manage and maintain traceability of test requirements throughout system development, integration, and test execution phases.
- Plan, coordinate, and execute aircraft/lab test execution activities, including pre-test readiness reviews, test conduct, data collection, and post-test reporting.
- Coordinate test schedules and support comprehensive test planning activities to ensure alignment with program milestones and objectives.
- Develop and manage test event sequencing and execution plans throughout the aircraft build and integration lifecycle.
- Coordinate and oversee ground and flight test execution activities, ensuring adherence to approved procedures, safety requirements, and program objectives. Ensure test activities, methodologies, and deliverables align with engineering, mission, and program requirements.
- Participate in Test Readiness Reviews (TRRs), test planning meetings, and pre-test briefings to support successful test execution.
- Develop, maintain, and continuously improve test procedures to enhance accuracy, efficiency, repeatability, and overall execution quality.
- Investigate, troubleshoot, and evaluate test anomalies, discrepancies, and system performance issues to support timely resolution.
- Collaborate closely with Test Engineering, Quality Engineering, and cross-functional teams to resolve issues, implement corrective actions, and improve test processes.
- Drive continuous improvement initiatives focused on increasing test efficiency, execution quality, and operational effectiveness.
- Support extended work hours, shift work, and weekend operations as required to meet test schedules, flight operations, and program commitments.
Required qualifications:
- Bachelor's degree in Engineering or related technical field and 5+ years of relevant aerospace, aircraft test, or flight test experience; or equivalent combination of education and experience.
- Experience planning, executing, and reporting on test activities for UAV, UAS, or manned aircraft systems.
- Ability to read, interpret, and understand engineering drawings, schematics, and technical documentation.
- Experience developing aircraft test plans, test procedures, and test documentation for new or modified aircraft systems.
- Hands-on experience supporting aircraft integration, test, and validation activities in a production or manufacturing environment.
- Ability to troubleshoot complex aircraft, avionics, and system integration issues during test activities.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to collaborate effectively across cross-functional teams.
- Demonstrated attention to detail with a proactive, safety-focused approach to testing and operations.
- Ability to obtain and maintain a DoD Secret security clearance and any required program access.
- Willingness to work non-standard hours, including evenings and weekends, as required to support program objectives.
- Ability to travel domestically to support flight test and customer site activities.
Preferred qualifications:
- Active DoD Secret security clearance (current preferred) with eligibility to support special access programs.
- Experience supporting Group 5 UAS/UAV launch, recovery, and flight operations.
- Hands-on experience with aircraft avionics systems, integration, troubleshooting, and testing.
- Aircraft maintenance experience supporting military, commercial, or unmanned aircraft platforms.
- Experience conducting laboratory-based testing, verification, and validation of aircraft systems, subsystems, or components.
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in Engineering or related technical field and 5+ years of relevant aerospace, aircraft test, or flight test experience (or equivalent).
- Experience planning, executing, and reporting on test activities for UAV, UAS, or manned aircraft systems.
- Ability to read, interpret, and understand engineering drawings, schematics, and technical documentation.
- Experience developing aircraft test plans, test procedures, and test documentation for new or modified aircraft systems.
- Hands-on experience supporting aircraft integration, test, and validation activities in a production or manufacturing environment.
- Ability to troubleshoot complex aircraft, avionics, and system integration issues during test activities.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills and ability to collaborate across cross-functional teams.
- Demonstrated attention to detail with a proactive, safety-focused approach to testing and operations.
- Ability to obtain and maintain a DoD Secret security clearance and any required program access.
- Willingness to work non-standard hours, including evenings and weekends, as required.
- Ability to travel domestically to support flight test and customer site activities.
- Active DoD Secret security clearance (current preferred) with eligibility to support special access programs.
- Experience supporting Group 5 UAS/UAV launch, recovery, and flight operations.
- Hands-on experience with aircraft avionics systems, integration, troubleshooting, and testing.
- Aircraft maintenance experience supporting military, commercial, or unmanned aircraft platforms.
- Experience conducting laboratory-based testing, verification, and validation of aircraft systems, subsystems, or components.
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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Shield AI Offices
Hybrid Workspace
Employees engage in a combination of remote and on-site work.
