What you'll do:
- Act as the single-threaded owner for the TVC system, accountable for all technical decisions from concept to flight.
- Define and manage system requirements, performance goals, and mechanical/electrical interfaces.
- Design and integrate vectoring mechanisms with the engine and surrounding structure.
- Lead ground and flight testing of the TVC system, including instrumentation planning, data collection, and performance evaluation.
- Analyze control authority, vectoring bandwidth, and dynamic response across the flight envelope.
- Collaborate with the controls team to shape vectoring logic and ensure closed-loop system performance meets CONOPS requirements.
- Own fault management, failure investigations, and system reliability strategies.
- Represent the TVC system in design reviews, technical checkpoints, customer briefings, and leadership updates.
Required qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related discipline.
- 7+ years of experience in aerospace propulsion or flight control systems, with relevant experience owning subsystem development.
- Deep understanding of nozzle dynamics, actuation systems, mechanical integration, and structural/thermal constraints.
- Demonstrated experience in hardware development, test planning, and flight test support.
- Strong proficiency in Python for performance analysis, data processing, and model correlation.
- Familiarity with tools such as ANSYS, FEA, or thermal/fluid modeling for mechanism and system validation.
- U.S. Citizenship or ability to comply with ITAR requirements.
- Ability to obtain a S//SAR level security clearance desired.
Preferred qualifications:
- Experience with TVC or control effector systems on UAVs, tactical aircraft, or rocket platforms.
- Familiarity with low-bypass turbofan engines and integration constraints near hot-end propulsion hardware.
- Experience collaborating on control logic development, transient response shaping, and actuator tuning.
- Proficiency with Siemens NX and Teamcenter for CAD and configuration control.
- Background in failure modes analysis, margin modeling, and system validation strategies.
- M.S. or Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering or a related discipline.
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or related discipline
- 7+ years of experience in aerospace propulsion or flight control systems with subsystem ownership
- Deep understanding of nozzle dynamics, actuation systems, mechanical integration, and structural/thermal constraints
- Demonstrated experience in hardware development, test planning, and flight test support
- Strong proficiency in Python for performance analysis, data processing, and model correlation
- Familiarity with tools such as ANSYS, FEA, or thermal/fluid modeling for mechanism and system validation
- U.S. Citizenship or ability to comply with ITAR requirements
- Ability to obtain a S//SAR level security clearance
- Experience with TVC or control effector systems on UAVs, tactical aircraft, or rocket platforms
- Familiarity with low-bypass turbofan engines and integration near hot-end propulsion hardware
- Experience collaborating on control logic development, transient response shaping, and actuator tuning
- Proficiency with Siemens NX and Teamcenter for CAD and configuration control
- Background in failure modes analysis, margin modeling, and system validation strategies
- M.S. or Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering or related discipline
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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Shield AI Teams
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Shield AI Offices
Hybrid Workspace
Employees engage in a combination of remote and on-site work.
