As a Hivemind Solutions Staff Integration & Flight Test Engineer (ACP Programs), you will serve as a key contributor for the integration, verification, and flight test of Hivemind AI Pilot capabilities on Group 5 UAS/Autonomous Collaborative Platforms (ACP).
You will translate program objectives into executable integration and flight test plans across multiple test environments. Using disciplined test, analysis, and feedback methodologies, you will drive rapid capability maturation while maintaining rigorous safety, configuration control, and mission assurance standards.
This role serves as the technical contributor for integration and flight test execution on assigned ACP programs, responsible for coordinating test readiness, managing technical and safety risk, and leading day-to-day test execution. Here, you will serve as the primary focal point to facilitate coordination across internal program leadership and functional teams, OEM partners, and government customers and stakeholders to deliver high-impact autonomy capabilities at scale. Successful candidates are curious engineers who use disciplined integration and flight test to generate knowledge, reduce technical risk, and accelerate delivery of operational capability.
What you'll do:
- Develop and execute detailed integration and flight test plans that support the overall program verification and test strategy across simulation, SIL, HIL, ground, and flight test environments
- Coordinate readiness of simulation environments, integration laboratories, aircraft, and flight test assets required to execute program objectives
- Apply aviation knowledge, aircraft performance and operational mission understanding to develop safe, efficient, and operationally relevant integration and flight test plans
- Define test objectives, performance metrics, and success criteria, ensuring traceability from requirements to test outcomes and operational capability
- Lead and support aircraft integration and flight test activities, including system configuration, software integration, mission planning, real-time troubleshooting, flight execution support, and post-flight data analysis
- Coordinate with platform OEMs, government ranges, and flight operations personnel to establish test readiness criteria and ensure technical and safety requirements are satisfied prior to test execution
- Coordinate cross-functional execution across software, hardware, systems engineering, flight operations, safety, and program leadership teams
- Evaluate test results, identify technical issues, and recommend corrective actions to improve system performance and accelerate capability maturation
Required qualifications:
- Typically requires 8+ years of experience with a Bachelor’s degree, or 6+ years with a Master’s
- Demonstrated experience planning, conducting, and evaluating flight test of aircraft systems in military or defense aviation environments
- Strong understanding of safety-of-flight principles, risk management, and disciplined test execution in aviation environments
- Demonstrated understanding of aircraft performance, flight operations, and environmental effects influencing aircraft mission planning, test execution, and safety
- Experience with system-level verification & validation across multiple test environments (SIL, HIL, simulation, and flight)
- Experience working cross-functionally across software, hardware, avionics, systems engineering, safety, and program teams
- Experience with scripting or software tools (Python preferred) for test automation, data analysis, or system validation
- Ability to effectively communicate with pilots, operators, and engineers to develop executable flight test objectives, mission plans, and risk mitigations
- Excellent technical leadership and communication skills, including briefing to program leadership and external customers
- Ability to obtain and maintain a SECRET clearance; U.S. citizenship required
Preferred qualifications:
- Military aviation experience as aircrew, flight test engineer, mission systems operator, or engineer supporting military aircraft development or test programs
- Prior role as Flight Test Director, Test Conductor, or Lead Flight Test Engineer on full-scale aircraft programs
- Understanding of military air operations, mission planning, and Concepts of Operations (CONOPS) supporting autonomous aircraft employment
- Experience supporting Autonomous Collaborative Platforms (ACP), loyal wingman concepts, or multi-vehicle autonomous systems
- Familiarity with DoD acquisition and developmental test processes
- Experience operating in or supporting government flight test ranges and operational environments
- Background in autonomy, AI/ML-enabled systems, or human-machine teaming in aviation contexts
- Experience with airworthiness processes, flight clearance, and configuration control for aircraft systems
- Familiarity with tools such as Git, Jira/Azure DevOps, and CI/CD pipelines
- Active SECRET clearance
Skills Required
- Bachelor’s degree with typically 8+ years of experience, or Master’s degree with 6+ years of experience
- Experience planning, conducting, and evaluating aircraft flight tests in military or defense aviation environments
- Understanding of safety-of-flight principles, aviation risk management, and disciplined test execution
- Understanding of aircraft performance, flight operations, and environmental effects on mission planning, test execution, and safety
- Experience with system-level verification and validation across simulation, SIL, HIL, and flight environments
- Cross-functional experience with software, hardware, avionics, systems engineering, safety, and program teams
- Experience with scripting or software tools, preferably Python, for test automation, data analysis, or system validation
- Ability to communicate with pilots, operators, and engineers to develop flight test objectives, mission plans, and risk mitigations
- Excellent technical leadership and communication skills, including briefings to program leadership and external customers
- Ability to obtain and maintain a SECRET security clearance
- U.S. citizenship
- Military aviation experience as aircrew, flight test engineer, mission systems operator, or aircraft development/test engineer
- Experience as a Flight Test Director, Test Conductor, or Lead Flight Test Engineer
- Understanding of military air operations, mission planning, and CONOPS for autonomous aircraft
- Experience with Autonomous Collaborative Platforms, loyal wingman concepts, or multi-vehicle autonomous systems
- Familiarity with DoD acquisition and developmental test processes
- Experience supporting government flight test ranges and operational environments
- Background in autonomy, AI/ML-enabled systems, or human-machine teaming in aviation
- Experience with airworthiness processes, flight clearance, and aircraft configuration control
- Familiarity with Git, Jira, Azure DevOps, and CI/CD pipelines
- Active SECRET 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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Employees engage in a combination of remote and on-site work.
