Shield AI is seeking a Senior Staff Engineer, Weapons Integration to own the technical architecture, development, and integration of weapons mission critical subsystems for an advanced autonomous aircraft. This engineer will serve as a technical authority across mission computing, avionics, payloads, communications, and associated support systems, translating operational needs into robust, integrated, and verifiable system designs.
In this role, the engineer will define mission system architectures, lead requirements development and allocation, establish performance budgets and interface definitions, and drive complex technical trade studies across hardware, software, and aircraft systems. They will guide technical execution from concept through integration, verification, flight test, and fielding, ensuring that subsystem capabilities collectively satisfy mission performance, safety, airworthiness, and applicable compliance requirements.
What you'll do:
- Own architecture, requirements development and allocation, and integration strategy across data storage, weapons, payloads, avionics, and supporting aircraft systems. Establish performance budgets, interface definitions, and verification criteria that align subsystem designs with vehicle level objectives.
- Serve as a technical authority for weapons integration, leading complex trade studies and system of systems analyses to balance performance, latency, bandwidth, storage capacity, reliability, power, cost, and schedule. Resolve architectural conflicts and guide consequential hardware and software decisions.
- Define and guide integration and verification campaigns from laboratory and hardware in the loop testing through flight test and fielding. Partner with safety, airworthiness, and certification teams to establish compliance approaches addressing applicable MIL Standards and objectives, and drive resolution of critical anomalies and performance gaps.
- Lead multidisciplinary technical reviews and readiness assessments, aligning engineering teams, program leadership, customers, and partners on architecture decisions, technical maturity, integration risks, and mitigation plans. Mentor engineers and establish consistent practices for requirements quality, interface management, configuration control, and verification.
Required qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Systems Engineering, or a related technical discipline, with 10 or more years of relevant aerospace or defense experience, including at least 5 years developing and integrating weapons or complex aircraft mission systems.
- Demonstrated technical ownership of mission system architectures spanning mission computing, data storage, avionics, payloads, and communications, including line of sight and beyond line of sight systems. Experience translating operational needs into requirements, performance budgets, interface definitions, and hardware and software specifications.
- Strong knowledge of systems engineering and product development practices, including requirements decomposition, architecture trade studies, interface management, configuration control, technical risk management, and verification and validation. Experience applying Modular Open Systems Approach principles and relevant frameworks such as Open Mission Systems, Government Reference Architectures, or modular avionics standards.
- Demonstrated ability to lead multidisciplinary technical teams and supplier engineering activities from architecture definition through integration, test, and fielding. Experience guiding design reviews, resolving complex integration issues, assessing technical maturity, and supporting safety and airworthiness compliance activities involving applicable DO 178C and DO 254 objectives.
- Strong technical communication and influencing skills, with experience presenting architecture decisions, performance evidence, technical risks, and recommendations to engineering leaders, executives, and customers. Active U.S. Secret security clearance and the ability to obtain and maintain a Top Secret clearance.
Preferred qualifications:
- Master’s or PhD in Aerospace, Systems, or Electrical Engineering
- Hands-on experience with flight test operations and mission system validation
- Direct experience integrating advanced sensors, autonomy, AI-enabled payloads, or guided weapons
- Background in model-based systems engineering (MBSE) and SysML tools
- Strong knowledge of current aircraft mission systems vendors and capabilities
- Active DoD Top Secret clearance
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Systems Engineering, or a related technical discipline
- 10 or more years of relevant aerospace or defense experience
- At least 5 years developing and integrating weapons or complex aircraft mission systems
- Experience owning mission system architectures spanning mission computing, data storage, avionics, payloads, communications, and line-of-sight or beyond-line-of-sight systems
- Experience translating operational needs into requirements, performance budgets, interface definitions, and hardware and software specifications
- Strong knowledge of systems engineering and product development practices, including requirements decomposition, architecture trade studies, interface management, configuration control, technical risk management, and verification and validation
- Experience applying Modular Open Systems Approach principles and frameworks such as Open Mission Systems, Government Reference Architectures, or modular avionics standards
- Experience leading multidisciplinary technical teams and supplier engineering activities from architecture definition through integration, testing, and fielding
- Experience guiding design reviews, resolving complex integration issues, assessing technical maturity, and supporting safety and airworthiness compliance involving DO-178C and DO-254 objectives
- Strong technical communication and influencing skills, including presenting architecture decisions, performance evidence, technical risks, and recommendations to engineering leaders, executives, and customers
- Active U.S. Secret security clearance and ability to obtain and maintain a Top Secret clearance
- Master's or PhD in Aerospace, Systems, or Electrical Engineering
- Hands-on experience with flight test operations and mission system validation
- Direct experience integrating advanced sensors, autonomy, AI-enabled payloads, or guided weapons
- Background in model-based systems engineering and SysML tools
- Strong knowledge of current aircraft mission systems vendors and capabilities
- Active DoD Top Secret clearance
What the Team is Saying
Shield AI Compensation & Benefits Highlights
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Healthcare Strength — Company materials highlight comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage with mental-health support and an EAP. Third-party benefits summaries also portray health coverage as a strong component of the package.
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Retirement Support — Offerings include a 401(k) with employer matching, cited on the careers page and independent benefits directories. Multiple sources indicate a match exists, though exact formulas have varied over time and warrant confirmation.
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Equity Value & Accessibility — Company communications describe equity for all full-time hires and stock benefits as part of total rewards. Independent listings also note company equity/RSUs as a standard element.
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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