Shield AI is seeking a highly capable Production Engineering Technician to oversee technician training, continuous improvement initiatives, and production analytics for the V-BAT production line. The role is responsible for developing workforce capability and establishing robust, data‑driven operational systems that enhance safety, quality, delivery performance, cost efficiency, and production scalability.
What you'll do:
- Own the VBAT production training program, including onboarding, role-based training, cross-training, recertification, ongoing skills development, and technician qualification records.
- Develop and deliver effective classroom, workstation, and on-the-job training for assembly, production, and test processes; maintain skills matrices, on the job training assessments, and training readiness metrics.
- Continuously identify skill gaps, align training to current production needs, and assess effectiveness through observations, competency checks, audit results, technician feedback, and production performance.
- Lead continuous-improvement initiatives using lean manufacturing principles—including 5S, visual management, standard work, root-cause analysis, waste reduction, and flow optimization—to improve safety, quality, delivery, and cost.
- Use production, quality, and training data to identify and help resolve bottlenecks, cycle-time variation, recurring defects, rework, material-flow issues, equipment downtime, ergonomic risks, and workforce capability gaps.
- Own the CCAR process and lead the Manufacturing Council, creating a responsive closed-loop system that turns technician feedback and shop-floor opportunities into prioritized, implemented, verified, and sustained improvements.
- Build a data-driven operating model for the VBAT production team by establishing standardized performance metrics, reporting cadences, and visual management routines that enable timely, data-driven decisions.
- Develop and maintain daily, weekly, and monthly dashboards tracking output versus plan, throughput, first-pass yield, defects and rework, cycle time, downtime, labor efficiency, training completion, and cross-training coverage.
- Analyze production capacity, staffing, and improvement impact using takt time, labor content, workstation capacity, skills readiness, and before-and-after performance data to support production-ramp planning and sustain measurable gains.
Training
Lean Manufacturing and Continuous Improvement
Data Analytics
Required qualifications:
- Bachelors degree in Industrial or Systems Engineer, or Data Analytics; equivalent technical experience in avionics or aerospace production will be considered.
- 3+ years of experience in a manufacturing or technical support role, preferably within aerospace, defense, UAS, or other complex hardware manufacturing environments.
- Ability to operate effectively in a fast-paced, highly dynamic environment with evolving priorities.
- Excellent analytical, organizational, and communication skills.
- U.S. citizenship and ability to obtain/maintain a security clearance.
Preferred qualifications:
- Experience with data visualization tools, such as Power BI, Palantir, Tableau, Cognos, and/or Microsoft Access.
- Proficiency in Lean Manufacturing principles, including 5S, visual management, standard work, root‑cause analysis, waste reduction, and flow optimization.
- Ability to translate technician feedback and production challenges into structured problem-solving activities.
- Experience operating, maintaining, and facilitating training programs and performance across large scale operations and organizations.
- Excellent communication and presentation skills, with the ability to train and influence technicians, supervisors, and cross-functional stakeholders.
Skills Required
- Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering, Systems Engineering, or Data Analytics; equivalent technical experience in avionics or aerospace production may be considered.
- At least 3 years of experience in a manufacturing or technical support role, preferably in aerospace, defense, UAS, or complex hardware manufacturing.
- Ability to work effectively in a fast-paced, dynamic environment with evolving priorities.
- Excellent analytical, organizational, and communication skills.
- U.S. citizenship and ability to obtain and maintain a security clearance.
- Experience with data visualization tools such as Power BI, Palantir, Tableau, Cognos, or Microsoft Access.
- Proficiency in lean manufacturing principles, including 5S, visual management, standard work, root-cause analysis, waste reduction, and flow optimization.
- Experience translating technician feedback and production challenges into structured problem-solving activities.
- Experience operating, maintaining, and facilitating training programs and performance across large-scale organizations.
- Excellent communication and presentation skills, with the ability to train and influence technicians, supervisors, and cross-functional stakeholders.
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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Hybrid Workspace
Employees engage in a combination of remote and on-site work.
