The Operational Safety Specialist plays a central role in strengthening both proactive and reactive safety programs across Shield AI’s flight operations and ground environments. This position focuses on the execution and continuous improvement of auditing, safety metrics, investigations, and safety promotion activities spanning multiple aircraft programs. The role is instrumental in preparing Shield AI’s safety programs for global scale and growth.
You will work closely with Flight Safety, Ground Operations, Airworthiness, Engineering, EH&S, and Program teams to ensure operational hazards are identified early, tracked effectively, and addressed through closure. This position is ideal for someone who thrives in a fast-paced, dynamic environment; is detail-oriented; and brings strong analytical and communication skills to support the development of a world-class safety culture.
What you'll do:
- Conduct audits of ground procedures and operational practices across the enterprise to ensure compliance, identify gaps, and drive corrective actions.
- Develop, maintain, and report leading and lagging safety metrics to drive transparency and continuous improvement.
- Own and manage the Corrective and Preventive Action (CAPA) process, ensuring findings are logged, analyzed, assigned, and closed on schedule.
- Lead the Safety Promotions program, including communications, awareness campaigns, and training touchpoints.
- Lead medium- and lower-priority mishap and near-miss investigations, ensuring proper root cause analysis, documentation, and follow-through.
- Maintain the Operational Risk Registry for the V-BAT platform and coordinate with engineering and operational stakeholders to ensure risks are properly assessed and updated.
- Collaborate with Airworthiness and System Safety teams to align operational and engineering safety efforts.
- Contribute to cross-functional safety reviews, readiness assessments, and operational approval activities.
- Support customer reporting obligations and engagements related to operational safety performance.
- Perform other duties as assigned.
Required qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree in engineering, safety, aviation, or related discipline (or equivalent operational experience).
- 3–5+ years of experience in aviation safety, flight or ground operations, UAS operations, or safety management systems.
- Familiarity with SMS principles, operational audits, and mishap investigation processes.
- Ability to work effectively across diverse operational environments with multiple stakeholders.
- Strong analytical skills and proficiency with safety or quality tracking systems.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills, particularly in producing investigation reports and safety summaries.
Preferred qualifications:
- Experience supporting UAS flight operations or military/rapid-deployment aviation environments.
- Experience developing safety promotion or training materials.
- Familiarity with risk management frameworks and operational assurance tools.
- Formal training in mishap investigation methodologies (HFACS, TapRooT, RCA).
- Experience with safety data analysis or safety‑related software tools.
- Demonstrated field experience supporting flightline or mission operations.
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in engineering, safety, aviation, or related discipline (or equivalent operational experience)
- 3-5+ years experience in aviation safety, flight or ground operations, UAS operations, or safety management systems
- Familiarity with Safety Management System (SMS) principles, operational audits, and mishap investigation processes
- Ability to work effectively across diverse operational environments with multiple stakeholders
- Strong analytical skills and proficiency with safety or quality tracking systems
- Strong written and verbal communication skills, including producing investigation reports and safety summaries
- Experience supporting UAS flight operations or military/rapid-deployment aviation environments
- Experience developing safety promotion or training materials
- Familiarity with risk management frameworks and operational assurance tools
- Formal training in mishap investigation methodologies (HFACS, TapRooT, RCA)
- Experience with safety data analysis or safety-related software tools
- Demonstrated field experience supporting flightline or mission operations
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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Hybrid Workspace
Employees engage in a combination of remote and on-site work.
