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, V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft, and Aechelon simulation and synthetic reality technologies. 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.
What You'll Do:
Lead Technical Delivery
- Lead the technical execution of complex autonomy capabilities from architecture through field deployment, coordinating work across multiple engineering teams. Develop & Field Autonomy
- Drive integration of mission autonomy, payloads, flight-control interfaces, executive autonomy, and multi-agent behaviors onto V-BAT and X-BAT. Aircraft Team Partnership
- Serve as a primary technical partner to the Aircraft team, defining integration approaches, resolving interface issues, and ensuring mission readiness. Cross-Team Technical Leadership
- Partner across Aircraft, Autonomy Capabilities, Perception, GCS, Strategic Systems (ACP), and feature crews to solve complex systems integration challenges. Systems Architecture & Integration
- Influence architecture, interface design, and integration strategy across multiple subsystems. Design & Engineering Excellence
- Lead design reviews, contribute to ICDs, mentor engineers, and improve engineering rigor. Mission Readiness & Field Support
- Drive release readiness while supporting flight tests, customer demonstrations, and operational deployments. Continuous Improvement
- Improve integration workflows, testing infrastructure, and engineering productivity. C2 Interoperability & Standards
- Drive implementation of GCS and C2 interfaces using common open-systems standards. Travel Requirement
- Members of this team typically travel around 10–20% of the year to different office locations, customer sites, operator training events, flight tests, and integration exercises.
Required Qualifications:
- BS/MS in a relevant engineering discipline or equivalent experience.
- 7+ years of relevant experience.
- Expert C++ and Linux development experience.
- Experience leading complex autonomy or embedded software integration efforts.
- Experience influencing technical direction across multiple engineering teams.
- Experience supporting operational test events or customer deployments.
- Ability to obtain a SECRET clearance.
Preferred Qualifications:
- Experience with Group 3 UAS or VTOL aircraft.
- Experience with custom autopilot integration.
- EO/IR or ViDAR integration.
- Long-endurance ISR missions.
- Docker, ARM embedded systems, and CI/CD experience.
- Experience mentoring engineers and leading technical initiatives.