As a Senior Systems Integration Engineer, you will lead the design and integration of complex aircraft systems from concept through production. You will own subsystem-level integration activities, including installation design, equipment packaging, routing, interface definition, and manufacturing support, while ensuring compatibility across structures, avionics, propulsion, and other aircraft systems.
You will serve as the technical lead for integration work statements, coordinating with multidisciplinary engineering teams to resolve integration challenges, drive design decisions, and deliver robust, manufacturable solutions that meet program objectives.
The ideal candidate is an experienced mechanical engineer who combines strong aircraft design fundamentals with systems-level thinking. They have demonstrated success leading subsystem integration efforts, proactively identifying technical risks, mentoring junior engineers, and collaborating effectively across engineering disciplines to deliver integrated aircraft solutions.
What You'll Do
- Lead the mechanical integration of complete aircraft subsystems from concept through production, ensuring compatibility across structural, electrical, avionics, propulsion, and manufacturing interfaces.
- Develop installation architecture for complex aircraft systems, including subsystem packaging, equipment mounting, and routing of electrical and fluid systems.
- Lead the design of complex machined, composite, fabricated, and sheet metal assemblies requiring advanced engineering judgment.
- Develop and review installation drawings, assembly documentation, and configuration baselines to ensure design consistency and production readiness.
- Perform advanced tolerance analyses, structural hand calculations, and engineering trade studies supporting design decisions.
- Coordinate subsystem integration activities during prototype builds, aircraft assembly, and production.
- Mentor junior engineers in CAD modeling, GD&T application, installation design, and engineering best practices.
- Coordinate suppliers and internal stakeholders to resolve technical issues affecting integration, manufacturability, schedule, or cost.
- Support technical planning, schedule development, and project execution for assigned work packages."
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor's or Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering or related discipline.
- 5+ years of experience in aircraft, aerospace, defense, robotics, or complex electromechanical system development.
- Demonstrated experience designing machined, fabricated, composite, and sheet metal components from concept through production release.
- Demonstrated experience leading mechanical integration of aircraft subsystems or complex assemblies.
- Advanced CAD proficiency with NX, SolidWorks, CATIA, Creo, or equivalent.
- Experience managing engineering data, product structures, Bills of Material (BOMs), and drawing releases using PLM systems such as Teamcenter, Windchill, or 3DEXPERIENCE.
- Working knowledge of aircraft installation practices, subsystem packaging, interface management, equipment mounting, and maintainability considerations.
- Experience developing installation layouts and routing solutions for EWIS, hydraulic, fuel, pneumatic, ECS, or similar mechanical systems.
- Experience developing part drawings, assembly drawings, and installation drawings.
- Working knowledge of EWIS, hydraulic, fuel, pneumatic, or ECS routing design.
- Strong knowledge of GD&T, ASME Y14.5, tolerance stack-up, and drawing release processes.
- Experience supporting manufacturing, prototype builds, production issue resolution, or MRB activity.
- Ability to coordinate across Manufacturing, Stress, Systems, Avionics, Supply Chain, and Test teams."
Preferred Qualifications
- Aircraft integration experience on UAV, military, commercial, eVTOL, or autonomous aircraft programs.
- Experience performing structural hand calculations, margin assessments, or preliminary stress analysis.
- Experience with FEA including static, modal, vibration, fatigue, or thermal analysis.
- Hands-on experience supporting build, production, testing, or hardware validation activities.
- Experience managing technical scope, schedule, risk, or supplier coordination for subsystem work packages.
- Familiarity with aircraft-level requirements, interface control, and configuration management."
Skills Required
- Bachelor's or Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering or a related discipline
- 5+ years of experience in aircraft, aerospace, defense, robotics, or complex electromechanical system development
- Experience designing machined, fabricated, composite, and sheet-metal components from concept through production release
- Experience leading mechanical integration of aircraft subsystems or complex assemblies
- Advanced CAD proficiency with NX, SolidWorks, CATIA, Creo, or equivalent
- Experience managing engineering data, product structures, BOMs, and drawing releases using PLM systems such as Teamcenter, Windchill, or 3DEXPERIENCE
- Working knowledge of aircraft installation practices, subsystem packaging, interface management, equipment mounting, and maintainability considerations
- Experience developing installation layouts and routing solutions for EWIS, hydraulic, fuel, pneumatic, ECS, or similar mechanical systems
- Experience developing part, assembly, and installation drawings
- Working knowledge of EWIS, hydraulic, fuel, pneumatic, or ECS routing design
- Strong knowledge of GD&T, ASME Y14.5, tolerance stack-up, and drawing release processes
- Experience supporting manufacturing, prototype builds, production issue resolution, or MRB activity
- Ability to coordinate across Manufacturing, Stress, Systems, Avionics, Supply Chain, and Test teams
- Aircraft integration experience on UAV, military, commercial, eVTOL, or autonomous aircraft programs
- Experience performing structural hand calculations, margin assessments, or preliminary stress analysis
- Experience with FEA, including static, modal, vibration, fatigue, or thermal analysis
- Hands-on experience supporting build, production, testing, or hardware validation activities
- Experience managing technical scope, schedule, risk, or supplier coordination for subsystem work packages
- Familiarity with aircraft-level requirements, interface control, and configuration management
What the Team is Saying
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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Employees engage in a combination of remote and on-site work.
