The Operational Safety Specialist will help build the operational safety framework required to move a next-generation autonomous aircraft from development and flight test into safe, repeatable field operations. This full-time role combines hands-on operational support with disciplined documentation, readiness assessment, and program development. The specialist will translate technical risk decisions into clear policies, procedures, safety evidence, and emergency response capabilities for demanding environments.
You will work closely with Airworthiness, System Safety, Flight Test, Engineering, Ground Operations, Security, Facilities, and Program leadership to identify operational hazards, maintain safety documentation, and close readiness gaps. This role is ideal for an aviation safety professional who can move between the flightline and the written safety baseline, manage multiple priorities, and build practical processes that keep pace with a rapidly evolving aircraft program.
What you'll do:
- Develop, implement, and maintain operational safety policies, standards, and procedures for X-BAT flight, ground, maintenance, test, and field activities.
- Support the Airworthiness team in creating, reviewing, controlling, and maintaining documentation and objective evidence used for airworthiness and readiness decisions.
- Contribute to the development and maintenance of safety cases for all aircraft, including traceability among hazards, operational mitigations, procedures, training, and verification evidence.
- Maintain the Operational Risk Registry and conduct risk assessments for flight test, engine runs, ground operations, launch and recovery, maintenance, and field deployments.
- Support safety reviews, test and operational readiness reviews, fielding assessments, and approval activities by ensuring required artifacts are complete, current, and available to decision-makers and operators.
- Build and maintain Emergency Response Program readiness for X-BAT, including plans, notification protocols, roles, checklists, site coordination, training, exercises, and corrective actions.
- Conduct audits and field observations to assess compliance with approved procedures, identify process drift, and verify that corrective actions are effective.
- Lead or support mishap, near-miss, and emergency-event investigations, including evidence collection, root-cause analysis, reporting, and corrective-action follow-through.
- Develop safety metrics and readiness indicators, and support customer and government safety engagements, documentation requests, and reporting obligations.
- Perform other duties as assigned.
Required qualifications:
- Bachelor's degree in safety, aviation, engineering, emergency management, or a related discipline (or equivalent operational experience).
- 3-5+ years of experience in aviation safety, flight or test operations, UAS operations, military aviation, safety management systems, or emergency response.
- Experience developing or reviewing operational policies, procedures, risk assessments, readiness documentation, or emergency response plans.
- Working knowledge of safety management systems, operational risk management, mishap investigation, corrective action, and emergency preparedness principles.
- Strong technical writing, document-control, and analytical skills, with the ability to turn complex inputs into clear, usable operational products.
- Ability to work effectively across engineering and operational teams, support flightline and test-site activities, travel as needed, and work non-standard hours when operations require it.
Preferred qualifications:
- Experience supporting UAS, autonomous aircraft, military aviation, or developmental flight-test programs.
- Experience supporting airworthiness documentation, safety cases, certification evidence, or operational approval packages.
- Familiarity with MIL-STD-882, DCMA 8210.1, FAA or ICAO safety management frameworks, or similar aviation safety standards.
- Experience developing or exercising aviation emergency response plans, incident command procedures, or emergency operations programs.
- Formal training in mishap investigation, root-cause analysis, human factors, emergency management, or safety auditing.
- Active or eligible security clearance.
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in safety, aviation, engineering, emergency management, or a related discipline, or equivalent operational experience
- 3-5+ years of experience in aviation safety, flight or test operations, UAS operations, military aviation, safety management systems, or emergency response
- Experience developing or reviewing operational policies, procedures, risk assessments, readiness documentation, or emergency response plans
- Working knowledge of safety management systems, operational risk management, mishap investigation, corrective action, and emergency preparedness principles
- Strong technical writing, document-control, and analytical skills
- Ability to work across engineering and operational teams, support flightline and test-site activities, travel as needed, and work non-standard hours
- Experience supporting UAS, autonomous aircraft, military aviation, or developmental flight-test programs
- Experience supporting airworthiness documentation, safety cases, certification evidence, or operational approval packages
- Familiarity with MIL-STD-882, DCMA 8210.1, FAA or ICAO safety management frameworks, or similar aviation safety standards
- Experience developing or exercising aviation emergency response plans, incident command procedures, or emergency operations programs
- Formal training in mishap investigation, root-cause analysis, human factors, emergency management, or safety auditing
- Active or eligible security clearance
What the Team is Saying
Shield AI Compensation & Benefits Highlights
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
Gallery
%203.jpg)
Shield AI Teams
.jpg)
Shield AI Offices
Hybrid Workspace
Employees engage in a combination of remote and on-site work.
