Be an Early Applicant
Our mission is to protect service members and civilians with intelligent systems.
The Role
Deploys, integrates, configures, troubleshoots, and supports airborne vision and detection systems across laboratory, production, customer, and field environments. Performs hardware and software integration, wiring and electro-mechanical work, system testing, configuration management, documentation, customer training, and field-service logistics. Coordinates with engineering, production, quality, program, and customer teams while supporting deployments and demonstrations. Requires approximately 50% travel and ability to obtain a Secret clearance.
Summary Generated by Built In
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, V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft, and Aechelon simulation and synthetic reality technologies. 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.
Candidates for this role will deploy, integrate, maintain, and support Shield AI's advanced vision and detection systems in laboratory, production, customer, and field environments. These systems combine imaging sensors, onboard processing, and intelligent detection capabilities in ruggedized camera pods and gimbals for crewed and uncrewed fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft. We are looking for a hands-on integration engineer who can bridge software, electrical, and mechanical disciplines; manage hardware and software configurations with precision; troubleshoot effectively; and represent Shield AI with customers and mission partners.
What You'll Do:
- Install, integrate, configure, and support deployment of vision systems including: camera pods, imaging sensors, onboard processing hardware, and associated electronic assemblies on crewed and uncrewed aircraft and supporting test assets
- Load, configure, update, and validate software releases in accordance with release instructions and configuration-control processes
- Perform system bring-up, functional checkout, acceptance testing, and post-installation verification of sensor, compute, power, network, and aircraft interfaces
- Maintain accurate hardware and software configuration records, including serial numbers, part numbers, software versions, installation status, service history, spares, and returned-material activity
- Read and apply mechanical drawings, installation drawings, wiring diagrams, schematics, pinouts, interface-control documents, work instructions, and technical manuals
- Perform basic wiring and electro-mechanical work, including connector inspection, continuity checks, pin verification, cable routing, termination, and minor harness rework when authorized by approved procedures
- Diagnose and resolve software, electrical, network, sensor, and mechanical integration issues using logs, built-in diagnostics, test equipment, drawings, and controlled troubleshooting methods
- Document field issues, troubleshooting steps, test results, repairs, configuration changes, and corrective actions in clear service reports and engineering-tracking systems
- Coordinate with engineering, production, quality, program, and customer teams to resolve issues, implement approved changes, and communicate operational feedback
- Support customer deployments, demonstrations, operational exercises, and evaluations, including site readiness, equipment staging, installation planning, shipping and receiving, tool control, inventory, and field-service logistics
- Provide hands-on customer support, operator and maintainer familiarization, and technical guidance for system operation, routine maintenance, and fault isolation
- Follow applicable safety, quality, airworthiness, cybersecurity, export-control, and configuration-management requirements while traveling to customer, test, and operational sites
Required Qualifications:
- Typically requires a minimum of 5 years of experience in field service, aerospace integration, electronics, avionics, mechatronics, or a related technical discipline with a Bachelor's or Associate's degree; or equivalent practical experience.
- Hands-on experience installing, integrating, maintaining, or troubleshooting electro-mechanical systems, electronic assemblies, sensors, computing hardware, or airborne payloads.
- Experience installing, configuring, updating, and verifying software or firmware on fielded systems while following release and configuration-control procedures.
- Ability to read and work from wiring diagrams, electrical schematics, mechanical and installation drawings, pinouts, work instructions, and technical manuals.
- Familiarity with Linux- and Windows-based systems, command-line tools, software deployment workflows, networking, and log collection.
- Competence with basic wiring and electrical troubleshooting, including safe use of digital multimeters, continuity testing, connector inspection, pin verification, cable routing, and basic termination or rework.
- Strong hardware accountability and documentation skills, including asset, serial-number, inventory, maintenance, and software-version tracking.
- Demonstrated ability to troubleshoot across software, electrical, network, and mechanical interfaces and to clearly document findings and corrective actions.
- Strong customer-facing communication, organization, and teamwork skills, with the ability and willingness to travel approximately 50% to support customer integration, deployments, demonstrations, exercises, evaluations, and other field activities, including work outside standard hours when required.
- Ability to obtain a SECRET clearance.
Preferred Qualifications:
- Field-service, deployment, or integration experience in the aerospace, defense, robotics, or other mission-critical equipment industry.
- Experience with electro-optical or infrared imaging systems, camera systems, optical sensors, ruggedized sensor pods, or airborne mission payloads.
- Experience integrating equipment on crewed or uncrewed fixed-wing or rotary-wing aircraft.
- Experience with aviation or military wiring practices, cable and connector assembly, soldering or crimping, and standards such as IPC/WHMA-A-620.
- Experience using oscilloscopes, power supplies, network analyzers, serial interfaces, Ethernet, CAN, or other common integration and diagnostic tools.
- Experience with configuration-management, asset-management, inventory, enterprise resource planning, product lifecycle management, or maintenance-tracking systems.
- Experience providing customer training, technical demonstrations, service documentation, or remote and on-site technical support.
- Familiarity with FAA, DoD, or U.S. test-site operations, aviation safety practices, and airworthiness expectations.
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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
- At least 5 years of experience in field service, aerospace integration, electronics, avionics, mechatronics, or a related technical discipline with a Bachelor's or Associate's degree, or equivalent practical experience.
- Hands-on experience installing, integrating, maintaining, or troubleshooting electro-mechanical systems, electronic assemblies, sensors, computing hardware, or airborne payloads.
- Experience installing, configuring, updating, and verifying software or firmware on fielded systems using release and configuration-control procedures.
- Ability to read wiring diagrams, electrical schematics, mechanical and installation drawings, pinouts, work instructions, and technical manuals.
- Familiarity with Linux and Windows systems, command-line tools, software deployment workflows, networking, and log collection.
- Competence with basic wiring and electrical troubleshooting, including digital multimeters, continuity testing, connector inspection, pin verification, cable routing, and basic termination or rework.
- Strong hardware accountability and documentation skills, including asset, serial-number, inventory, maintenance, and software-version tracking.
- Ability to troubleshoot across software, electrical, network, and mechanical interfaces and document findings and corrective actions.
- Strong customer-facing communication, organization, and teamwork skills.
- Willingness and ability to travel approximately 50% for customer integrations, deployments, demonstrations, exercises, evaluations, and field activities, including work outside standard hours when required.
- Ability to obtain a SECRET security clearance.
- Field-service, deployment, or integration experience in aerospace, defense, robotics, or mission-critical equipment.
- Experience with electro-optical or infrared imaging systems, camera systems, optical sensors, ruggedized sensor pods, or airborne mission payloads.
- Experience integrating equipment on crewed or uncrewed fixed-wing or rotary-wing aircraft.
- Experience with aviation or military wiring practices, cable and connector assembly, soldering or crimping, and IPC/WHMA-A-620 standards.
- Experience using oscilloscopes, power supplies, network analyzers, serial interfaces, Ethernet, CAN, or other integration and diagnostic tools.
- Experience with configuration-management, asset-management, inventory, enterprise resource planning, product lifecycle management, or maintenance-tracking systems.
- Experience providing customer training, technical demonstrations, service documentation, or remote and on-site technical support.
- Familiarity with FAA, DoD, or U.S. test-site operations, aviation safety practices, and airworthiness expectations.
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 — 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.
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The Company
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.
Typical time on-site:
Flexible
San Diego, CA
United Arab Emirates
Arlington, VA
Frisco, Texas
Ukraine
London
Melbourne, Victoria
Taiwan, Province of China
Waltham, MA
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