What You'll Do:
- Process Improvement: Audit and embed into core supplier processes to understand improvement opportunities to cost, lead-times, and quality
- Identify and resolve manufacturing defects, process inefficiencies, and quality issues in SMT assembly, such as solder paste application, component placement, reflow soldering, and automated optical inspection (AOI)
- Conduct root cause analysis and implement corrective actions for production failures, utilizing tools like PFMEA
- Ensure adherence to industry standards (IPC-A-610, J-STD-001)
- Quality Assurance: Conduct on-site audits to root cause supplier quality issues or performance challenges
- Supplier Development: Assess and improve supplier capabilities, ensuring alignment with engineering and operational priorities.
- Engineering Technical Support: Provide technical guidance to suppliers on part specifications, manufacturing processes and standards, and quality measures
- Supplier Performance Monitoring: Track and analyze supplier performance metrics, including delivery, quality, and cost. Implement corrective actions and continuous improvement plans as necessary.
- Risk Management: Identify and mitigate risks within the supply chain to ensure uninterrupted production and delivery of components
- New Product Introduction (NPI): Support the introduction of new products by ensuring suppliers meet all quality and delivery requirements during the development phase
Required Qualifications:
- Hands on experience with SMT (Surface Mount Technology) and PCBA
- Knowledge of industry standards (IPC-A-610, J-STD-001)
- ability to analyze PCBA drawing and critical features on electronic assemblies
- Ability to travel to domestic and international suppliers ~50%+ of time
Preferred Qualifications:
- M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or equivalent.
- Problem solving skills including root cause investigation and failure analysis
- Leadership experience on a cross-functional project team (e.g., engineering, supply chain, production)
Skills Required
- Hands-on experience with SMT (Surface Mount Technology) and PCBA
- Knowledge of industry standards (IPC-A-610, J-STD-001)
- Ability to analyze PCBA drawings and critical features on electronic assemblies
- Ability to travel to domestic and international suppliers ~50%+ of time
- M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or equivalent
- Problem solving skills including root cause investigation and failure analysis
- Leadership experience on a cross-functional project team (engineering, supply chain, production)
What the Team is Saying
Shield AI Compensation & Benefits Highlights
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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.
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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.
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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.
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.
