Staff Engineer, Systems (R4625)

Reposted Yesterday
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San Diego, CA, USA
In-Office
142K-213K Annually
Senior level
Aerospace • Artificial Intelligence • Machine Learning • Robotics • Software
Our mission is to protect service members and civilians with intelligent systems.
The Role
Translate product user stories into clear, testable engineering requirements for the Hivemind SDK. Define, model, and validate system behavior, maintain requirements traceability, support system modeling with SysML/Cameo, and collaborate with Product, QA, and engineering to ensure requirements are implemented and verified.
Summary Generated by Built In
Founded in 2015, Shield AI is a venture-backed defense-tech company with the mission of protecting service members and civilians with intelligent systems. Its products include Hivemind autonomy software and V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft. With offices and facilities across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific, Shield AI’s technology actively supports operations worldwide. For more information, visit www.shield.ai. Follow Shield AI on LinkedIn, X, Instagram, and YouTube. 

The Hivemind Platform Team at Shield AI is seeking a highly skilled and detail-oriented Requirements Engineer to join our team. 

The Hivemind Enterprise product is a software development kit (SDK) that enables scalable design, deployment, evaluation, and iteration of autonomy architectures for a wide range of robotic platforms. Hivemind Enterprise is a highly technical software product providing tools and user interfaces to support multiple user personae, ranging from AI developers to test engineers.  

As a Requirements Engineer for Hivemind at Shield AI, you will be a key member of a multidisciplinary systems engineering team, working collaboratively with Product, technical individual contributors, Test / Quality Assurance team members, and systems modelers to translate product user stories into clear engineering requirements with testable metrics. 

This role involves defining, modeling, and validating the Hivemind software system and its applications. It is hands-on and highly collaborative, requiring expertise in requirements formulation, traceability, management, systems modeling, and knowledge of autonomous software pipelines. While the primary focus is requirements development, this role also supports system model development as part of a broader systems engineering function and requires close collaboration with systems modelers to ensure consistency between requirements, system architecture, and system behavior across the Hivemind SDK. 

WHAT YOU'LL DO:

    Requirements development: Work cross-functionally with Product Managers, technical individual contributors, and Quality Assurance team members to translate high-level customer feature requests into clear, detailed technical requirements aligned with product vision and roadmap. Ensure requirements are actionable by engineering teams and testable through defined metrics and acceptance criteria. 

    Requirements analysis: Identify dependencies, constraints, edge cases, and risks within proposed product or technical requirements. Ensure all requirements are feasible, testable, and aligned with business objectives and technical constraints. 
     
    Documentation and modeling: Author clear and well-structured documentation, including acceptance criteria, traceability links, and system models. Use requirement management tools to maintain clarity, consistency, and traceability. 
     
    Validation and verification: Collaborate with the Quality Assurance, Test, and development teams to validate that requirements are implemented correctly. Support test case development and define strategies for requirement traceability and verification coverage, ensuring that an implementation satisfies requirements. 

    Requirements management: Track and manage requirements throughout the development lifecycle. Maintain version control, document requirement changes, and assess the impact of updates to ensure consistent alignment with the product’s technical and functional intent. 

    Cross-functional alignment: Serve as the point of integration between customer intent and engineering execution. Facilitate communication across disciplines to reduce ambiguity, align expectations, and ensure clarity throughout design, development, and delivery. Participate in reviews and walkthroughs to confirm stakeholder alignment. 
     
    Systems modeling support: Collaborate with systems modelers to contribute to the development and maintenance of system models that capture system architecture, behavior, and interfaces. Use models to improve requirement clarity, traceability, and validation, and ensure alignment between requirements and the evolving system design. 

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:

  • Bachelor’s degree with approximately 7+ years of relevant experience, or Master’s degree with approximately 5+ years of relevant experience, in Systems Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Robotics, Software Engineering, or a closely related technical field with demonstrated experience working on complex software or autonomous systems. 
  • Extensive experience generating product and test requirements for software products. Familiarity with software development workflows in modern languages (C++17 or later, Python, Go, etc.). 
  • Working knowledge of requirements management tools such as DOORS, Jama, or Jira. 
  • Comprehensive understanding of robotics and autonomy concepts. 
  • Strong understanding of modern software engineering practices, including CI/CD, automated testing, configuration management, and software lifecycle processes. 
    4+ years of experience in systems engineering or quality assurance roles supporting aerospace, defense, or other safety-critical complex hardware/software systems. 
  • Familiarity with systems engineering processes, V-model development, and lifecycle traceability. 
  • Proficiency in reading and interpreting engineering drawings, schematics, and interface definitions. 
  • Experience supporting system modeling efforts using Cameo Systems Modeler and SysML and working with system models to inform and validate requirements. 
  • Comfortable working in a Linux development environment. 
  • Strong organizational, communication, and cross-functional collaboration skills. 

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

  • Experience supporting or defining developer tooling, SDKs, or platforms. 
  • Exposure to safety-critical or mission-critical software development environments. 
  • Experience creating software tooling or using software APIs for common requirements and project management tools. For example, writing scripts to transfer requirements from one data base structure to another or link requirements in one
  • program against test cases or product management items in other tools. 

#LI-DM2
#LD

Full-time regular employee offer package:
Pay within range listed + Bonus + Benefits + Equity
 
Temporary employee offer package:
Pay within range listed above + temporary benefits package (applicable after 60 days of employment)
 
Salary compensation is influenced by a wide array of factors including but not limited to skill set, level of experience, licenses and certifications, and specific work location. All offers are contingent on a cleared background and possible reference check. Military fellows and part-time employees are not eligible for benefits. Please speak to your talent acquisition representative for more information.
 
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Shield AI is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know. 

Skills Required

  • Bachelor's degree with ~7+ years or Master's with ~5+ years in Systems Engineering, Aerospace, Robotics, Software Engineering, or related field
  • Extensive experience generating product and test requirements for software products
  • Familiarity with software development workflows in modern languages (C++17 or later, Python, Go)
  • Working knowledge of requirements management tools such as DOORS, Jama, or Jira
  • Comprehensive understanding of robotics and autonomy concepts
  • Strong understanding of modern software engineering practices including CI/CD, automated testing, configuration management, and software lifecycle processes
  • 4+ years experience in systems engineering or quality assurance roles supporting aerospace, defense, or other safety-critical complex systems
  • Familiarity with systems engineering processes, V-model development, and lifecycle traceability
  • Proficiency in reading and interpreting engineering drawings, schematics, and interface definitions
  • Experience supporting system modeling using Cameo Systems Modeler and SysML
  • Comfortable working in a Linux development environment
  • Strong organizational, communication, and cross-functional collaboration skills
  • Experience supporting or defining developer tooling, SDKs, or platforms
  • Exposure to safety-critical or mission-critical software development environments
  • Experience creating software tooling or using software APIs to integrate requirements and test management tools (e.g., scripting requirement transfers, linking requirements to test cases)

What the Team is Saying

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Shield AI Compensation & Benefits Highlights

  • Healthcare Strength Company materials describe excellent medical, dental, and vision coverage alongside a mental‑health EAP. Site perks such as an onsite gym in DC and a gym discount in San Diego support a health‑focused offering.
  • Retirement Support Careers materials highlight a 401(k) with company match as part of the standard package. A Total Rewards overview emphasizes retirement features within a broader, transparent compensation view.
  • Career-Linked Recognition & Rewards Compensation for in‑demand technical and senior go‑to‑market roles is described as competitive, with visible engineering ranges and top‑end packages. This points to meaningful upside tied to role, level, and scarce skills.

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The Company
HQ: San Diego, CA
Year Founded: 2015

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.

Typical time on-site: Flexible
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