Shield AI is seeking a Senior Fleet Auditor to serve as the function lead for physical custody of the enterprise fleet within Aircraft Division.
The Fleet Strategy & Portfolio Management function maintains the authoritative ledger of every aircraft in the enterprise fleet and ensures that every operational decision is grounded in accurate, real-time data. Physical custody (sign-out and sign-in transactions, inspections, deficiency logging, and routing to Sustainment) is the moment where ground truth is created. Without disciplined custody, the data layer underpinning every fleet decision drifts.
The Senior Fleet Auditor will set the standards for PMCS execution across aircraft, GSE, and payloads; own sign-out and sign-in custody transactions; route deficient assets to Sustainment; and serve as the single point of accountability for the physical custody function. This role requires deep aviation maintenance expertise, demonstrated authority with maintenance organizations, and the ability to set and enforce consistent inspection standards across a high-tempo enterprise fleet.
What you'll do:
- Set PMCS standards, inspection protocols, and deficiency-logging procedures for aircraft, GSE, and payloads across the enterprise fleet.
- Lead and develop the inspection function, ensuring consistent execution across every transaction.
- Audit operational teams across the enterprise (AVOs, MX, Field Operations, and customer-facing units) for compliance with gear control, tool control, and custody standards. Drive corrective action and escalate persistent non-compliance to maintain the integrity of the custody function.
- Routinely audit the inspection team's own work product to enforce standards compliance, identify drift, and ensure consistent, defensible execution at every transaction.
- Own the formal sign-out and sign-in custody transactions for the enterprise fleet, serving as the accountable authority for the physical transfer of aircraft, payloads, and ground support equipment.
- Conduct the Mission out brief for outbound aircraft, ensuring receiving teams have the configuration, condition, and load-out information they need to execute.
- Maintain custody documentation as the official record of transfer.
- Identify, log, and route deficient aircraft, GSE, and payloads to Sustainment for repair, configuration adjustment, or replacement.
- Serve as the primary Fleet Strategy interface to Sustainment for asset handoffs and maintenance escalations.
- Coordinate with Sustainment on return-to-service timelines and ensure the Fleet Analyst has accurate visibility into asset status throughout the maintenance cycle.
- Partner with the Fleet Analyst to ensure every custody transaction is reflected accurately in the enterprise ledger.
- Coordinate with AVOs and operational teams on inspection scheduling, inventory protocols, and special inspection requirements.
- Engage Engineering on configuration verification when deficiencies require it.
Required qualifications:
- 10+ years of aviation maintenance experience, with at least 3 years in a leadership role.
- Prior military experience as a senior NCO (E-7 or higher) in aviation maintenance, Production Superintendent, or civilian equivalent in an aviation maintenance organization.
- Deep, hands-on knowledge of FMC standards, PMCS execution, and aircraft configuration management.
- Demonstrated authority and credibility with maintenance organizations and operational teams.
- Experience setting standards, writing inspection procedures, and training subordinates.
- Strong organizational and documentation skills.
- Excellent communication skills with the ability to interface across maintenance, operations, and leadership.
Preferred qualifications:
- V-BAT, fixed-wing UAS, or other unmanned aircraft systems experience.
- Prior experience interfacing with depot-level maintenance and supply chain organizations.
- Familiarity with enterprise fleet management software or custody tracking systems.
- Experience leading multi-person inspection or quality assurance teams.
- Background operating in high-tempo, multi-mission aviation environments.
Skills Required
- 10+ years of aviation maintenance experience, with at least 3 years in a leadership role.
- Prior military experience as a senior NCO (E-7 or higher), Production Superintendent, or civilian equivalent in an aviation maintenance organization.
- Deep, hands-on knowledge of FMC standards, PMCS execution, and aircraft configuration management.
- Demonstrated authority and credibility with maintenance organizations and operational teams.
- Experience setting standards, writing inspection procedures, and training subordinates.
- Strong organizational and documentation skills.
- Excellent communication skills with the ability to interface across maintenance, operations, and leadership.
- V-BAT, fixed-wing UAS, or other unmanned aircraft systems experience.
- Prior experience interfacing with depot-level maintenance and supply chain organizations.
- Familiarity with enterprise fleet management software or custody tracking systems.
- Experience leading multi-person inspection or quality assurance teams.
- Background operating in high-tempo, multi-mission aviation environments.
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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