What You'll Do:
- Lead system architecture and requirements development and integration for payloads, avionics, and weapons integration
- Serve as a technical subject matter expert for mission systems engineering across the aircraft program
- Drive trade studies and system-of-systems analysis to balance performance, cost, and schedule
- Oversee integration and test campaigns, from bench-level hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) to flight test
- Ensure compliance with MIL-HDBK-516C, DO-178C, DO-254, and related standards
- Collaborate with program management to de-risk architectures and ensure technical maturity gates are met
- Interface with customers, partners, and suppliers to align system requirements and certifications
Required Qualifications:
- B.S. in Aerospace Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Systems Engineering, or related field
- 8+ years of relevant aerospace/defense experience, with at least 5 years in mission systems integration
- Demonstrated experience with aircraft payloads, avionics, and/or weapons integration
- Demonstrated experience with line-of-sight and beyond line-of-sight aircraft communications systems and components
- Working knowledge of Government modular open system approach (MOSA) standards to include open mission systems (OMS), Government Reference Architectures (GRA) or modular avionics standards
- Proven ability to lead multidisciplinary teams and deliver complex systems to fielded capability
- Strong knowledge of systems engineering processes and product development lifecycle
- Familiarity with DO-178C/DO-254 certification requirements for software and hardware
- Excellent communication skills and ability to brief technical findings to executives and customers
- Active Secret clearance and have the ability to obtain 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, Systems Engineering, or a related field
- 8+ years of relevant aerospace or defense experience
- At least 5 years of mission systems integration experience
- Experience integrating aircraft payloads, avionics, and/or weapons
- Experience with line-of-sight and beyond line-of-sight aircraft communications systems and components
- Working knowledge of MOSA standards, including OMS, Government Reference Architectures, or modular avionics standards
- Ability to lead multidisciplinary teams and deliver complex systems to fielded capability
- Strong knowledge of systems engineering processes and product development lifecycles
- Familiarity with DO-178C and DO-254 certification requirements
- Excellent communication skills and ability to brief technical findings to executives and customers
- Active Secret clearance
- Ability to obtain 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
- Experience integrating advanced sensors, autonomy, AI-enabled payloads, or guided weapons
- Background in model-based systems engineering and SysML tools
- 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 — 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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Shield AI Teams
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Shield AI Offices
Hybrid Workspace
Employees engage in a combination of remote and on-site work.
