Shield AI is seeking a Quality Assurance to support the development and flight test of the X-BAT program. This role is heavily embedded with flight test and engineering operations and is responsible for ensuring test articles are properly configured, inspected, documented, and ready for safe and effective ground and flight testing.You will work closely with flight test, systems, design, manufacturing, test engineering, and program teams to identify and manage quality risks, resolve discrepancies, maintain configuration and traceability, and ensure test activities are executed in accordance with engineering requirements and approved processes.
What you'll do:
- Support ground and flight test readiness, including hardware inspections, configuration verification, test article acceptance, and review of test documentation
- Work directly with flight test and engineering teams to identify, document, and resolve hardware, configuration, process, and test discrepancies
- Review engineering drawings, specifications, test procedures, work instructions, configuration records, and acceptance criteria
- Ensure test articles meet applicable engineering, quality, safety, and configuration requirements before testing
- Support execution of ground and flight test activities, including inspections, test point readiness, discrepancy resolution, and post-test evaluations
- Manage nonconformances, test discrepancies, and quality records through appropriate containment, investigation, disposition, and corrective action
- Lead or support root cause analysis and corrective actions for product, process, and test-related issues
- Identify emerging quality risks and work with engineering and test teams to implement practical mitigations
- Analyze test and quality data to identify trends, recurring issues, and opportunities to improve development and test processes
- Support configuration management and traceability of developmental hardware, assemblies, and test articles
- Ensure objective evidence and quality records are complete and support product and test requirements
- Promote a culture of safety, technical rigor, accountability, and disciplined execution in developmental test operation
Required qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree in engineering, science, technology, quality, or related field, or equivalent experience supporting developmental test operations
- 5+ years of experience supporting developmental and/or operational ground or flight test
- Experience working directly with developmental aircraft, complex aerospace hardware, or mission-critical systems
- Ability to interpret engineering drawings, technical specifications, bills of materials, test procedures, work instructions, and acceptance requirements
- Comfortable working in a fast-paced developmental test environment with changing requirements and priorities
- Willingness to work outdoors at test ranges and travel as required
- Overtime, evening, and weekend coverage as required by flight test operations
Preferred qualifications:
- 10+ years of experience supporting developmental or operational flight test
- Experience with unmanned aircraft, prototype aircraft, weapons systems, or other mission-critical aerospace systems
- Experience with flight test readiness, test article acceptance, configuration verification, or post-test inspection
- Working knowledge of AS9100 and aerospace/defense quality requirements
- Experience with MRB, NCR, RCCA, CAPA, and other quality processes
- Experience with configuration management and engineering change processes
- Familiarity with inspection and measurement methods used for aerospace hardware
- ASQ Certified Quality Engineer, Six Sigma, or related certification
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in STEM, Quality Engineering, or related field or equivalent experience
- 5-10 years experience with developmental and/or operational ground and flight test, unmanned/manned aircraft systems, aircraft integration, or aerospace systems engineering
- Experience in quality engineering, ground and flight test execution, maintenance, manufacturing engineering, supplier quality, or production support for aerospace hardware
- Ability to interpret engineering drawings, technical specifications, bills of materials, work instructions, and inspection requirements
- Proven experience with nonconformance management, root cause analysis, corrective action, trend analysis, and quality documentation
- Familiarity with inspection methods, measurement tools, and manufacturing processes used in aerospace or complex hardware integration and development test environments
- Strong analytical, problem-solving, and communication skills
- Ability to work cross-functionally with engineering, manufacturing, test operations, supply chain, and program leadership
- Maintain liaison with manufacturing, engineering, material management, and suppliers to resolve quality problems
- Detail-oriented with strong commitment to product quality and process discipline
- Ability to work in a fast-paced ground and flight test environment, including willingness to travel and work outdoors at test ranges
- Willingness to provide overtime and weekend coverage as required
- 10+ years experience with developmental/operational ground and flight test or unmanned aircraft systems
- Knowledge of AS9100, ISO9001, FAA, DoW and other aerospace and defense quality standards
- Experience with First Article Inspections
- Experience supporting prototype aircraft, weapon systems, or mission-critical aerospace systems
- Familiarity with configuration management, drawing release, and engineering change processes
- Experience using quality tools such as 8D, 5 Why's, Fishbone diagrams, FMEA, control plans, or process capability analysis
- Certified Quality Engineer, Six Sigma Green/Black Belt, or related certification
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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Employees engage in a combination of remote and on-site work.
