What you'll do:
- Lead mechanical design and integration for airborne or ruggedized systems, from concept through production.
- Own system-level packaging of electronics, including radios, antennas, PCBAs, and harnessing.
- Design and integrate components into composite and metallic structures.
- Drive cross-functional collaboration across electrical, RF, manufacturing, and test teams.
- Serve as project lead on select programs, managing scope, schedule, and technical execution.
- Perform and guide analyses including structural, thermal, and environmental considerations.
- Create and review CAD models, drawings, and release packages for production.
- Support prototype builds, integration, and troubleshooting in lab and field environments.
- Ensure designs meet reliability, manufacturability, and performance requirements.
Required qualifications;
- Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering or related field.
- 8+ years of experience in mechanical design and product development.
- Strong experience with CAD (e.g., NX, SolidWorks, Creo).
- Proven ability to take products from concept to production.
- Experience working in cross-functional engineering environments.
- Demonstrated ownership of projects or subsystems with minimal oversight.
Preferred qualifications:
- Experience integrating electronics into mechanical systems, including:
- Radios, antennas, and RF components.
- PCBAs and embedded electronics.
- Familiarity with wiring and cable systems, including coax, RF cables, and harness design (e.g., RG-series, RMA considerations).
- Experience designing for composite structures and hybrid assemblies (composite + metal).
- Understanding of thermal management for electronics (heat dissipation, airflow, conduction paths).
- Knowledge of grounding, shielding, and EMI/EMC considerations.
- Experience with ground support equipment (GSE) design or test infrastructure.
- Familiarity with environmental requirements (vibration, shock, temperature, ingress).
- Experience working closely with RF or electrical engineering teams on system integration.
- Hands-on build, integration, and troubleshooting experience.
Leadership expectations:
- Act as a technical lead for projects or subsystems.
- Drive design reviews and decision-making.
- Mentor junior engineers and elevate team capability.
- Balance speed and rigor in a fast-paced development environment.
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering or related field.
- 8+ years of experience in mechanical design and product development.
- Strong experience with CAD (e.g., NX, SolidWorks, Creo).
- Proven ability to take products from concept to production.
- Experience working in cross-functional engineering environments.
- Demonstrated ownership of projects or subsystems with minimal oversight.
- Experience integrating electronics into mechanical systems (radios, antennas, RF components).
- Experience with PCBAs and embedded electronics.
- Familiarity with wiring and cable systems, including coax, RF cables, and harness design (e.g., RG-series).
- Experience designing for composite structures and hybrid assemblies (composite + metal).
- Understanding of thermal management for electronics (heat dissipation, airflow, conduction paths).
- Knowledge of grounding, shielding, and EMI/EMC considerations.
- Experience with ground support equipment (GSE) design or test infrastructure.
- Familiarity with environmental requirements (vibration, shock, temperature, ingress).
- Experience working closely with RF or electrical engineering teams on system integration.
- Hands-on build, integration, and troubleshooting experience.
What the Team is Saying
Shield AI Compensation & Benefits Highlights
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Healthcare Strength — Healthcare coverage includes medical, dental, vision, and mental-health support, with company materials describing excellent coverage. Feedback suggests these offerings are comprehensive and consistently highlighted across official and third-party benefit lists.
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Equity Value & Accessibility — Equity is granted to all full-time hires, with RSU structures and tools like Carta Tax intended to improve understanding and tax timing. Feedback suggests this broad-based ownership approach is a notable component of total rewards.
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Parental & Family Support — Benefits include paid parental leave, fertility support, childcare benefits, family medical leave, and onsite resources such as a Mother's Room. Feedback suggests the family-oriented offerings are more expansive than basic coverage.
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.
