The Quality Assurance team is responsible for ensuring the overall quality of software releases. This team is the gatekeeper that ensures only approved and assured software is released to customers and clients.
The Quality Assurance team works closely with the Development and Hardware teams to achieve this goal.
Software Test Engineers report to the Quality Assurance lead and then to the Director of Engineering.
What you'll do:
- Complete software engineering and quality assurance tasks across the software development lifecycle (SDLC), including test case development and execution; regression testing; implementing automated tests; verifying product performance goals and measures; ensuring project requirements are met. This includes documentation of all testing activities and approval matrices of software releases.
- Complete tasks to an agreed schedule and recognise any likely delays or failures early and communicate them immediately to the Director of Engineering.
- Collaborate with other Software Engineers and Software Quality Assurance Engineers by participating in ad-hoc discussions to improve software design, testing processes and outcomes, and software quality.
- Test environment preparation, including hardware setup, device flashing, software installation, software execution, integration testing, operational testing on flights in and around Melbourne.
Required qualifications:
- Tertiary qualifications in Computer Science or Software Engineering, or equivalent overseas qualification (such as NZCE).
- Cross-platform testing experience, including Windows and Linux platforms.
- Proficient in setting up and managing different test environments and operating systems.
- Ability to analyse and solve complex software engineering problems individually, or as part of a team, depending on project requirements.
- Reliable and able to work to project schedules and deadlines.
- Experience working in an Agile software development environment, contributing to software solutions and automation frameworks.
- Strong knowledge of fault tracking systems.
Preferred qualifications:
- ISTQB accreditation
- Experience with automated testing tools
- Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) and Software-in-the-Loop (SIL) test experience
- Experience in testing and validating real-time embedded software systems.
Skills Required
- Tertiary qualification in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or an equivalent overseas qualification
- Cross-platform testing experience with Windows and Linux
- Experience setting up and managing test environments and operating systems
- Ability to analyze and solve complex software engineering problems independently or collaboratively
- Ability to work reliably to project schedules and deadlines
- Experience working in an Agile software development environment
- Experience contributing to software solutions and automation frameworks
- Strong knowledge of fault tracking systems
- ISTQB accreditation
- Experience with automated testing tools
- Hardware-in-the-Loop and Software-in-the-Loop testing experience
- Experience testing and validating real-time embedded software systems
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.
