Be an Early Applicant
Our mission is to protect service members and civilians with intelligent systems.
The Role
Lead design, development, integration, and validation of complex ground-system software. Define software architecture, derive and trace software requirements, participate in system reviews, collaborate with hardware/network/test teams, and support customer-facing technical deliverables.
Summary Generated by Built In
Founded in 2015, Shield AI is a venture-backed defense-tech company with the mission of protecting service members and civilians with intelligent systems. Its products include Hivemind autonomy software and V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft. With offices and facilities across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific, Shield AI’s technology actively supports operations worldwide. For more information, visit www.shield.ai. Follow Shield AI on LinkedIn, X, Instagram, and YouTube.
We are seeking an experienced Software Systems Engineer with a strong background in software design and development and a working knowledge of systems engineering processes, methodologies, and tools. This individual will play a key role in defining, developing, integrating, and validating complex software systems while ensuring alignment with system-level requirements, architecture, and program objectives.
The ideal candidate combines deep technical software expertise with an understanding of systems engineering principles, including requirements management, model-based systems engineering (MBSE), verification and validation, configuration management, customer communications and cross-functional technical leadership.
What you'll do:
- Participate in the development of software architectures for complex, distributed, and mission-critical systems.
- Engage in software design activities from concept through deployment and sustainment.
- Work with software responsible engineers to develop and model high-quality, scalable, maintainable software solutions using modern programming languages, frameworks & System Modeling Tools.
- Develop, review and maintain architecture diagrams to support government reference architectures.
- Engage with internal stakeholders to develop software architecture behavior diagrams/ documents to support customer deliverables.
- Communicate technical concepts effectively to engineering, program management, and customer stakeholders.
- Collaborate with systems engineers to derive software requirements from system-level requirements and operational needs.
- Ensure software solutions maintain traceability to stakeholder, system, and subsystem requirements.
- Participate in architecture trade studies and technical decision-making activities.
- Support system decomposition, interface definition, and allocation of requirements.
- Contribute to system design reviews including SRR, PDR, CDR, TRR, and related technical milestones.
- Work closely with hardware, network, test, and integration teams to ensure end-to-end system performance.
Software Architecture & Development
Systems Engineering Integration
Required qualifications:
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Systems Engineering, Computer Engineering, or related technical field.
- 8+ years of software engineering experience.
- 3+ years of software architecture or technical leadership experience.
- Proficiency in a strongly typed programming language (e.g. C#, TypeScript, Java, C++) with exposure to lower-level systems or protocol integration.
- Familiarity with software development lifecycle (SDLC) methodologies.
- Understanding of systems engineering processes and standards.
- Experience with requirements management and traceability practices.
- Experience using version control and CI/CD tools.
Preferred qualifications:
- Experience in aerospace, defense, robotics, autonomous systems, aviation, automotive, telecommunications, or other complex systems domains.
- Experience with GCS software, mission planning tools, or real-time visualization platforms.
- Familiarity with Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) methodologies.
- Experience with systems engineering tools such as:
- Cameo Systems Modeler / MagicDraw
- IBM DOORS Next
- Jama Connect
- Stell
- JIRA
- Confluence
- Experience with cloud-native architectures, containerization, and orchestration technologies.
- Familiarity with Autonomy Government Reference Architectures, Open Mission Systems and Universal Command & Control Interface.
Desired skills:
- Ability to operate effectively across multiple engineering disciplines.
- Strong systems thinking and problem-solving abilities.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
- Ability to translate complex system requirements into practical software solutions.
- Experience balancing technical, programmatic, and operational constraints.
- Strong leadership and collaboration skills.
- Interface Control Documents (ICDs) development and management
#LI-SM1
#LF
Full-time regular employee offer package:
Pay within range listed + Bonus + Benefits + Equity
Temporary employee offer package:
Pay within range listed above + temporary benefits package (applicable after 60 days of employment)
Salary compensation is influenced by a wide array of factors including but not limited to skill set, level of experience, licenses and certifications, and specific work location. All offers are contingent on a cleared background and possible reference check. Military fellows and part-time employees are not eligible for benefits. Please speak to your talent acquisition representative for more information.
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Shield AI is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know.
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Systems Engineering, Computer Engineering, or related technical field.
- 8+ years of software engineering experience.
- 3+ years of software architecture or technical leadership experience.
- Proficiency in a strongly typed programming language (e.g. C#, TypeScript, Java, C++) with exposure to lower-level systems or protocol integration.
- Familiarity with software development lifecycle (SDLC) methodologies.
- Understanding of systems engineering processes and standards.
- Experience with requirements management and traceability practices.
- Experience using version control and CI/CD tools.
- Experience in aerospace, defense, robotics, autonomous systems, aviation, automotive, telecommunications, or other complex systems domains.
- Experience with GCS software, mission planning tools, or real-time visualization platforms.
- Familiarity with Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) methodologies.
- Experience with systems engineering tools such as Cameo Systems Modeler / MagicDraw, IBM DOORS Next, Jama Connect, Stell, JIRA, Confluence.
- Experience with cloud-native architectures, containerization, and orchestration technologies.
- Familiarity with Autonomy Government Reference Architectures, Open Mission Systems and Universal Command & Control Interface.
- Interface Control Documents (ICDs) development and management experience.
What the Team is Saying
Dylan
Lead Engineer, Planning and Controls-Motion
Mo
Lead Engineer, Platform Automation
Willy
Technical Director
Michael
Engineering Manager - State Estimation
Vibhav
Senior Staff Engineer
Kirby
Mechanical Engineer
Ryan
CEO
Evan
Senior Machine Learning Engineer
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
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The Company
What We Do
Founded in 2015, Shield AI is a venture-backed deep-tech company with the mission of protecting service members and civilians with intelligent systems. Its products include the V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft, Hivemind Enterprise, and the Hivemind Vision product lines. With offices and facilities across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and the Asia-Pacific, Shield AI’s technology actively supports operations worldwide.
Why Work With Us
What makes Shield AI special is our people. We unlock the power of autonomy, and in the face of overwhelming odds and challenges, we find ways to win and make a difference for our customers. We bring together software, AI, and aerospace engineering disciplines to deploy the most intelligent aviation capabilities in the world.
Gallery
Shield AI Offices
Hybrid Workspace
Employees engage in a combination of remote and on-site work.
Typical time on-site:
3 days a week
