At Shield AI, we are building intelligent autonomous aircraft designed to operate and survive in highly contested environments. We are seeking a Survivability Materials Engineer to lead the selection, qualification, specification, and production implementation of low-observable and signature-control materials for next-generation autonomous aircraft.
This role is ideal for an engineer with experience in radar-absorbing materials, specialty coatings, electromagnetic material characterization, and aerospace manufacturing processes. You will work across survivability analysis, design engineering, manufacturing, quality, supply chain, and sustainment teams to ensure material solutions meet signature-performance requirements while remaining producible, inspectable, durable, and supportable throughout the aircraft lifecycle.
What you'll do:
- Conduct material surveys and evaluate radar-absorbing materials, conductive materials, dielectric materials, specialty coatings, adhesives, sealants, and other survivability-related material systems.
- Develop and maintain a survivability materials database containing performance, cost, supplier, part-number, availability, application, and sustainment information.
- Partner with survivability analysis, design, manufacturing, and program teams to down-select materials based on signature performance, durability, producibility, weight, cost, and supply-chain risk.
- Develop material qualification plans and oversee electromagnetic, electrical, mechanical, thermal, chemical, and environmental testing.
- Establish and maintain laboratory capabilities for material characterization, process development, receiving inspection, and production verification.
- Provide hands-on production support for material application, inspection, troubleshooting, repair, supplier coordination, and sustainment.
Required qualifications:
- B.S. or M.S. in Materials Science and Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Physics, Chemistry, or a related technical discipline.
- 10+ years of experience in aerospace materials engineering, low-observable materials, electromagnetic materials, specialty coatings, or a related field.
- Working knowledge of radar-absorbing materials, conductive coatings, dielectric materials, adhesives, sealants, or specialty surface treatments.
- Understanding of how complex permittivity, complex permeability, conductivity, and thickness affect electromagnetic and radar-signature performance.
- Experience with material characterization, laboratory testing, production inspection, or supplier qualification.
- U.S. Citizenship and active Secret clearance required.
Preferred qualifications:
- Experience developing or qualifying radar-absorbing materials, low-observable coatings, structural RAM, conductive treatments, or signature-control appliqués.
- Experience measuring electromagnetic material properties using free-space, waveguide, coaxial, resonant-cavity, or reflectivity-based test methods.
- Familiarity with vector network analyzers, free-space measurement systems, conductivity equipment, coating-thickness instruments, environmental chambers, and mechanical test equipment.
- Active Secret, Top Secret, or SCI security clearance.
Skills Required
- B.S. or M.S. in Aerospace Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Physics, or a related discipline.
- 10+ years of hands-on experience in LO or survivability engineering, preferably on tactical aircraft, UAVs, or stealth systems.
- Proficiency with EM simulation tools such as HFSS, CST, Xpatch, or SENTRi.
- Strong understanding of RCS shaping principles, edge treatments, cavity suppression, and materials integration.
- Practical experience with LO testing methods and RCS measurement equipment.
- Familiarity with radar-absorbing materials (RAM), LO coatings, and structural LO trade studies.
- Solid collaboration and communication skills with the ability to work across design, test, and manufacturing teams.
- U.S. Citizenship and active Secret clearance required.
- Ability to obtain a S//SAR level security clearance.
- Experience with military UAV platforms or 5th-gen fighter programs.
- Background in survivability analysis in contested environments (e.g., IADS, radar networks).
- Familiarity with platform CONOPS, threat modeling, and mission-level survivability assessments.
- Ability to contribute to the design, test, and fielding of a fully integrated LO platform.
- Active Top Secret or SCI clearance.
What the Team is Saying
Shield AI Compensation & Benefits Highlights
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Healthcare Strength — Healthcare coverage is described as excellent, with dental/vision and mental‑health support, and ancillary protections like life and disability appearing in benefit summaries. The breadth and perceived affordability of coverage are highlighted as a standout component of the package.
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Parental & Family Support — Paid parental leave is featured alongside enhanced maternity benefits, fertility and childcare support, and onsite resources such as a Mother’s Room. These elements are positioned as competitive and above the minimal baseline for the company’s stage.
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Equity Value & Accessibility — Equity is granted to all full‑time hires, with RSUs, double‑trigger tax timing, and tools to model scenarios (e.g., through Carta Tax). Communications also reference a transition from options to RSUs, reinforcing access and maturity of ownership programs.
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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Hybrid Workspace
Employees engage in a combination of remote and on-site work.
