What you'll do:
- Own the development of aerodynamic and structural load envelopes for the full vehicle, from clean-sheet through flight test
- Lead maneuver, gust, landing, and ground loads analyses, including both quasi-static and dynamic cases
- Coordinate closely with GNC, aero, and structural teams to define load cases tied to mission profiles and flight control behaviors
- Develop and validate loads models using tools like NASTRAN, FEMAP, MATLAB, or custom Python/Simulink scripts
- Support the sizing and analysis of critical structural components through detailed load maps and V-n diagrams
- Conduct aeroelastic stability assessments, including divergence and control reversal checks
- Lead traceability of loads inputs/outputs across ICDs, FEA models, and design justification documents
- Interface with test engineering to support strain gauge placement, instrumentation plans, and correlation of in-flight data
- Author and present loads documentation for reviews, compliance, and technical buy-in
- Support the long-term refinement of loads methodologies and automation across the aerostructures team
Required qualifications:
- Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or related field
- 8+ years experience performing loads and aeroelastic analysis for aircraft (manned or unmanned)
- Proficiency with loads modeling tools such as FEMAP, NASTRAN, MATLAB, or other relevant simulation environments
- Strong understanding of aircraft flight envelopes, control surface effects, and structural load paths
- Demonstrated experience supporting both design and test phases with accurate load predictions
- Excellent documentation, cross-functional collaboration, and communication skills
- Ability to get a S//SAR level security clearance desired.
Preferred qualifications:
- Experience on UAV, eVTOL, or tactical military platforms
- Familiarity with MIL-A-8860, FAR Part 23/25 loads regulations, or similar certification standards
- Knowledge of aeroelastic stability, load alleviation, and adaptive control
- Experience developing internal tools or automation for loads generation and reporting
- Active or previous DoD clearance (not required)
Skills Required
- Bachelor's or Master's degree in Aerospace, Mechanical Engineering, or related field
- 8+ years experience performing loads and aeroelastic analysis for aircraft (manned or unmanned)
- Proficiency with loads modeling tools such as FEMAP, NASTRAN, MATLAB, or other simulation environments
- Strong understanding of aircraft flight envelopes, control surface effects, and structural load paths
- Experience supporting both design and test phases with accurate load predictions
- Excellent documentation, cross-functional collaboration, and communication skills
- Ability to obtain S//SAR level security clearance
- Experience on UAV, eVTOL, or tactical military platforms
- Familiarity with MIL-A-8860, FAR Part 23/25 loads regulations, or similar certification standards
- Knowledge of aeroelastic stability, load alleviation, and adaptive control
- Experience developing internal tools or automation for loads generation and reporting
- Active or previous DoD security clearance
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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Shield AI Offices
Hybrid Workspace
Employees engage in a combination of remote and on-site work.
