Shield AI
Defense · Defense AI
- HQ
- San Diego, US
- Founded
- 2015
- Website
- shield.ai
Currently tracking 35 active AI roles, with 112 new openings in the last 4 weeks. Primary focus: Agent · Engineering. Salary range $156k–$320k (avg $238k).
Shield AI currently has 39 active AI-related job listings. The majority of these roles, 51%, are focused on agents, with application roles making up another 36%. The company is primarily hiring for engineering positions. Recent hiring activity shows an 11% increase in new AI roles over the last 30 days.
Shield AI currently has 51 active AI-related roles in our index. The most common open titles are: Engineer, State Estimation (Dallas/San Diego/Boston/ DC/ San Fran) (2), Chief Engineer, Chief Engineer, Autonomy (R4614), Computer Vision Engineer (C++), Director, Test Engineering - ACP Programs (R5044). Most positions are in Engineering and Product.
Shield AI's active AI hiring is concentrated in: agents (57%), application (31%), serving infrastructure (10%). These categories follow a seven-stage AI lifecycle: data, pre-training, post-training, serving infrastructure, agents, evaluation, and application.
Shield AI is hiring AI talent in: United States (32 roles), United Kingdom (4 roles), Taiwan (3 roles), India (3 roles).
Job postings at Shield AI most frequently reference: agent orchestration, embodied ai, model serving, multi agent, inference infra.
In the past 30 days, Shield AI has posted 13 new AI-related roles. That is a +44% change versus the prior 30 days (9 → 13).
| Title | Stage | AI score |
|---|---|---|
| Principal Engineer, AI Infrastructure (R4941) Principal Engineer to scale AI and Data Platform infrastructure for autonomy development, supporting the full lifecycle from training foundation models to deploying optimized models to edge systems in defense applications. | ServePost-train | 9 |
| Product Manager, AI Platforms (R4991) Product Manager for Shield AI's next-generation autonomy intelligence stack, focusing on training, evaluation, and deployment of foundation and domain models for edge autonomy. Owns the roadmap for the Hivemind AI Platform, including training pipelines, data infrastructure, evaluation, and deployment toolchains, ensuring safe and scalable deployment of world models, robotics foundation models, and vision-language-action systems. | Post-trainServe | 9 |
| Manager of Engineering - Autonomous Pilot Integration - Emerging Domains (R5176) Manager of Engineering for Autonomous Pilot Integration in emerging defense domains (space, maritime, logistics). Leads a team to build and integrate autonomy solutions for new platforms and mission profiles, owning delivery, growth, and technical health. Involves hands-on coding, technical decision-making, and end-to-end ownership from simulation to live testing. Requires strong problem-solving skills for unknown environments and ability to grow the team through hiring and mentorship. | Agent | 8 |
| Manager of Engineering - Autonomous Pilot Integration - Expeditionary (R5175) Manager of Engineering for Autonomous Pilot Integration, focusing on Hivemind autonomy software for unmanned aircraft (V-BAT and X-BAT). The role involves leading a team, growing engineers, staying technically involved, and ensuring end-to-end delivery of autonomy solutions for defense customers. Key partnerships include aircraft teams, autonomy capabilities, perception, and customer groups. | ShipAgent | 8 |
| Staff Engineer, Deep Learning (R5180) Staff Engineer, Deep Learning role at Shield AI, a defense-tech company, focusing on developing real-time, deep-learning-based perception solutions for autonomous and non-autonomous platforms on the edge. | Serve | 8 |
| Senior Staff Engineer, Software Autonomy (R5125) Senior Staff Software Engineer, Autonomy to lead and develop edge-AI and autonomy software for defense platforms (sea, air, space), involving customer collaboration, coding, new capability development, integration, and team mentorship. | Agent | 8 |
| Software Engineer II, Autonomy Behaviors (R4588) Software Engineer II focused on implementing tactical autonomy software features for unmanned platforms, enabling complex missions across various domains. This role involves developing and testing behaviors for coordination, target engagement, reconnaissance, and survivability, with collaboration across software integration, hardware, and test engineering teams. The position emphasizes participation in the full software development lifecycle, including integration, testing, debugging, and supporting verification and validation efforts in both simulation and real-world environments. | Agent | 8 |
| Engineering Lead, Autonomy Software (R4705) Lead the development of autonomy software for unmanned systems, focusing on designing, building, and deploying high-performance autonomy solutions from algorithm development to system integration and field testing. This role involves leading multidisciplinary teams to enable intelligent operation in complex, real-world environments, including multi-agent coordination and tactical autonomy algorithms for air, land, and sea domains. | AgentServe | 8 |
| Chief Engineer Chief Engineer responsible for solving complex technical challenges in deploying advanced autonomy solutions on Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS). Ensures successful integration of Hivemind Autonomy across various aircraft, leading a team to deliver cutting-edge autonomous capabilities for business-to-business and defense contracts. | Ship | 8 |
| Principal Technical Product Manager (R5249) Shield AI is a defense-tech company developing intelligent systems for aircraft autonomy. This Principal Technical Product Manager role is within the Special Projects team, focusing on steering technology development across the Hivemind software ecosystem, which includes autonomy software, AI factory, and human-in-the-loop interaction systems. The role involves tactical insertion into product teams and forward-sprinting contributions to deliver low-TRL solutions and reference implementations, impacting foundational products and acting as a pipeline for other teams. | AgentServe | 7 |
| Staff Engineer, Software Autonomy Applications (R4962) Staff Engineer, Software Autonomy Applications at Shield AI, a defense-tech company, focusing on customer implementation and integration of AI & Autonomy software products. | Agent | 7 |
| Manager, Autonomy Applications Engineering (R5188) Manager for a team of Forward Deployed Engineers supporting customer deployment, adoption, and operational success with Shield AI's Hivemind SDK. This role involves leading a technical, customer-facing team, ensuring excellent on-site support, deployment execution, and gathering field feedback for internal product improvement. It requires managing team performance, customer outcomes, and collaborating with internal engineering and product teams. | Ship | 7 |
| Senior Engineer, Autonomy Software Integration & Test (R5225) Shield AI is a defense-tech company developing intelligent systems and autonomy software for unmanned aircraft. This role focuses on the integration, testing, and deployment of these autonomous systems, involving software development, hardware integration, and flight operations in field environments. | Agent | 7 |
| Manager of Engineering - Autonomous Pilot Integration (R5153) Manager of Engineering for Autonomous Pilot Integration at Shield AI, a defense-tech company. This role involves leading a team of autonomy engineers to develop, integrate, validate, and field autonomy software for small platforms operating in multi-agent fleets, often in disconnected environments. The manager will own team delivery, growth, and technical health, while staying technically active and partnering with various teams and external vendors. The focus is on bridging R&D and deployment for unmanned platforms. | Agent | 7 |
| Staff Software Engineer, Autonomous Pilot Integration (R5208) Staff Software Engineer to integrate and validate autonomy software for unmanned platforms (air, maritime, space). This role involves writing new autonomy code, owning it end-to-end, and serving as a technical leader for feature crews and sub-programs. The focus is on bridging R&D and deployment for reliable autonomous systems in defense applications. | Agent | 7 |
| Senior Staff Software Engineer, Autonomous Pilot Integration (R5193) Senior Staff Software Engineer to build and integrate autonomy solutions for unmanned platforms (air, maritime, space). Role involves writing new autonomy code (mission behaviors, control, multi-agent coordination, contingencies), owning it end-to-end from simulation to live testing, and providing technical direction across multiple programs. Requires deep expertise in complex autonomy problems and mentoring senior engineers. | Agent | 7 |
| Senior Software Engineer, Autonomous Pilot Integration (R5200) Senior Software Engineer to integrate, validate, and field autonomy software for unmanned platforms (air, maritime, space). This involves writing and owning new autonomy code, including mission behaviors, platform-specific control, multi-agent coordination, and contingencies, from simulation to live testing. | Agent | 7 |
| Forward Deployed Engineer Forward Deployed Engineer providing technical expertise and support to customers for Shield AI's enterprise software products, focusing on successful product integration for AI & Autonomy development. | Ship | 7 |
| Director, Test Engineering - ACP Programs (R5044) Director of Test Engineering for AI Pilot capabilities on Autonomous Collaborative Platforms (ACP). Responsible for end-to-end technical leadership of integration, verification, and operational test, including multi-vehicle coordination. Owns strategy, planning, and execution of complex test campaigns, driving capability maturation through a fly-fix-fly methodology while ensuring safety and mission assurance. Serves as the single technical authority for test execution, managing risk and readiness, and coordinating with partners, customers, and internal teams to deliver autonomy capabilities at scale. | AgentEval Gate | 7 |
| Engineer II, Systems Test (R5038) Engineer II, Systems Test (R5038) at Shield AI, a deep-tech company focused on intelligent systems for defense. The role involves leading simulation-driven testing, automation, and software quality efforts for Hivemind autonomy software, ensuring its reliability, safety, and performance in simulated and real-world mission environments. Requires Python proficiency, robotics/UAS experience, and the ability to obtain a SECRET clearance. | Ship | 7 |
| Staff Engineer, Software Autonomy Applications (R4987) Staff Engineer, Software Autonomy Applications role focused on deploying Shield AI's Hivemind software in real-world environments. This customer-facing position involves understanding customer requirements, providing technical expertise and support during deployment, ensuring successful integration, and collaborating with internal engineering teams to develop and test new autonomy capabilities. The role is travel-intensive. | Ship | 7 |
| Senior Software Engineer, Autonomy Behaviors (R4588) Develops tactical autonomy software for unmanned platforms, enabling complex missions with limited human supervision. Focuses on multi-agent coordination, target engagement, and survivability in contested scenarios, contributing across the software development lifecycle and integrating with broader system architecture. | Agent | 7 |
| Staff Software Engineer, Autonomy Behaviors (R4588) Staff Software Engineer role focused on developing autonomous behaviors for Shield AI's mission autonomy software stack, deploying them across various autonomous vehicles. The role involves working with experts in software, robotics, control systems, and data analysis to evolve the capabilities of their products. | Agent | 7 |
| Staff Engineer, Modeling & Simulation (R4869) Staff Engineer focused on building and scaling novel aircraft subsystem models and simulation tooling for autonomous aircraft programs, enabling robust automated flight qualification testing. | Agent | 7 |
| Staff Engineer, Applications (R4828) Staff Engineer focused on deploying Shield AI's Hivemind autonomy software with customers, involving integration, development of AI/Autonomy applications, and technical support. Requires strong C++ and software engineering skills, with a focus on real-world application and customer engagement in defense/robotics. | Agent | 7 |
| Senior Engineer, Applications (R4792) Senior Engineer, Applications role focused on deploying Shield AI's Hivemind software, which includes AI and autonomy modules, in real-world environments. This involves customer-facing support, software integration, development of AI/Autonomy applications using an SDK, and collaborating with engineering teams. Requires strong C++ and software engineering skills, with a preference for defense/robotics/autonomy experience. | Agent | 7 |
| Engineer II, Applications (R4789) Shield AI is seeking an Engineer II, Applications to deploy and integrate their Hivemind software with customers globally. This role involves significant customer interaction, technical support, and developing AI & Autonomy applications using their software development kit. The position requires a strong software engineering background, proficiency in C++, and excellent problem-solving skills, with a focus on real-world deployment of intelligent systems in the defense and robotics sectors. | Agent | 7 |
| Senior Staff Engineer, Operations Analysis (R4759) Shield AI is seeking a Senior Lead Operational Analyst to model, simulate, and analyze the effectiveness, survivability, and operational impact of their AI-powered aircraft systems. The role involves collaborating with engineering and product teams, performing trade studies, and analyzing force-on-force engagements to inform product decisions and customer engagements. Requires strong knowledge of military operations, M&S, data science, and operational analysis techniques, with an emphasis on applying modern compute and development best practices. | Ship | 7 |
| Staff Engineer, Operations Analysis (R4757) Shield AI is seeking a Staff Operational Analyst to model, simulate, and analyze their AI-powered aircraft systems. The role involves evaluating system effectiveness, survivability, and operational impact in military scenarios, collaborating with engineering and product teams, and performing trade studies. This requires expertise in military operations, M&S, data science, and operational analysis, with a focus on demonstrating how AI platforms perform in contested environments. | Agent | 7 |
| Manager, Embedded Software (R4755) Manager for an embedded software team developing avionics for V-BAT aircraft, focusing on integrating hardware, OS, and applications, including AI. The role involves C/C++ development, firmware for robotic vehicles, system architecture design, testing, prototyping, and hiring/mentoring engineers. Experience with autonomous robotic systems and shipping products is required. | Ship | 7 |
| Manager, Software - Perception (R3770) Manager for Software - Perception role at Shield AI, focusing on leading teams to develop and integrate advanced perception systems for autonomous aircraft. This involves real-time object detection, sensor fusion, and state estimation using diverse sensor data in complex defense environments. | Agent | 7 |
| Staff Engineer, Software Integration (R4483) Staff Engineer, Software Integration role focused on integrating, validating, and improving an AI-powered autonomy platform for robotics. Responsibilities include becoming an expert in the Hivemind SDK, developing and validating customer use cases, integrating new autonomy capabilities, enabling platform bring-up, developing integration tooling, supporting cross-platform compatibility, analyzing system behavior, optimizing CI/CD pipelines, and validating system requirements. Requires proficiency in Python or C++, experience with autonomous systems or server applications/middleware, simulation tools, HIL testing, and CI/CD pipelines. | AgentServe | 7 |
| Senior Engineer, Autonomy Systems Integration and Test (R4472) Senior Engineer focused on integrating and testing autonomy systems for unmanned aircraft (Group 1 and Group 2). The role involves hands-on work across simulation, SIL, HIL, VIL, and live flight environments to ensure system reliability and scale testing capabilities. It bridges software, hardware, and flight operations. | Agent | 7 |
| Computer Vision Engineer (C++) Computer Vision Engineer (C++) at Shield AI, focusing on developing real-time perception solutions for autonomous platforms. The role involves designing and implementing custom CV algorithms, integrating deep learning models, and working with AI and robotics engineers on edge solutions for defense applications. | Serve | 7 |
| Senior Staff Engineer, Software Autonomy Applications (R3906) Senior Staff Engineer, Software Autonomy Applications at Shield AI, focusing on developing and deploying AI & Autonomy applications using the Hivemind Enterprise Autonomy Software Development Kit for unmanned platforms. This role involves customer integration, technical training, and collaboration with product/engineering teams, with significant travel to customer sites. | Agent | 7 |
| Staff Engineer, Software Autonomy Applications (R3908) Staff Engineer focused on applying Shield AI's autonomy software (Hivemind) to customer platforms (unmanned vehicles, drones, robodogs, fighter jets). Involves integration, deployment, customer training, and debugging, with a significant travel component. | Agent | 7 |
| Engineer, State Estimation (Dallas/San Diego/Boston/ DC/ San Fran) This role focuses on developing and implementing real-time state estimation algorithms, including inertial navigation and sensor fusion, for autonomous UAVs operating in GPS-denied environments. The engineer will integrate multi-sensor data into robust estimation frameworks and optimize sensor processing pipelines for accuracy and fault tolerance, supporting the transition of navigation solutions from research to production. | Serve | 7 |
| Engineer, State Estimation (Dallas/San Diego/Boston/ DC/ San Fran) This role focuses on developing and implementing real-time state estimation algorithms, including inertial navigation and sensor fusion, for autonomous UAVs operating in GPS-denied environments. The engineer will integrate multi-sensor data into robust estimation frameworks and optimize sensor processing pipelines for accuracy and fault tolerance, supporting the transition of navigation solutions from research to production. | Serve | 7 |
| Senior Software Engineer, Autonomy Applications Engineering Senior Software Engineer for Autonomy Applications Engineering at Shield AI, focusing on enabling edge-AI and autonomy for platforms across sea, air, and space. Responsibilities include collaborating with customers, writing code, developing new capabilities, and ensuring software/hardware integration for autonomous teaming drones, helicopter-drone teaming, and autonomy on Robodogs and Fighter Jets. | Agent | 7 |
| Senior Engineer, Software - Autonomous Aircraft Integration (R4983) Senior Engineer, Software - Autonomous Aircraft Integration role at Shield AI, focusing on integrating and deploying autonomy software onto unmanned aircraft systems. Responsibilities include pre-flight preparation, on-site flight test support, hardware/software debugging, and collaboration with various engineering teams. Requires C++, Python, Linux, embedded systems, and sensor integration experience, with a focus on defense applications. | Ship | 7 |
| Staff Engineer, Software - Autonomous Aircraft Integration (R4983) Staff Engineer, Software - Autonomous Aircraft Integration role at Shield AI, focusing on integrating autonomy software onto unmanned aircraft systems, preparing them for flight, and providing on-site flight test support. Requires strong systems engineering, debugging, and collaboration skills in a defense context. | Ship | 7 |
| Senior Staff Engineer, Software - Autonomous Aircraft Integration (R4983) Senior Staff Engineer, Software role focused on integrating and deploying autonomy software onto unmanned aircraft systems for defense applications. Responsibilities include pre-flight preparation, on-site flight test support, hardware/software debugging, data analysis, and collaboration across engineering teams to ensure mission-critical functionality and continuous improvement. Requires strong systems thinking, C++/Python proficiency, and experience with embedded systems and sensor integration. | Ship | 7 |
| Senior Staff Engineer, Autonomy - Tactical Behaviors (R4073) Senior Staff Engineer focused on designing and developing tactical autonomy algorithms for unmanned aircraft, integrating classical autonomous techniques with reinforcement learning for complex missions in defense applications. | Agent | 7 |
| Staff Software Engineer, Autonomy Applications Engineering Staff Software Engineer focused on integrating and enabling AI/autonomy capabilities for defense platforms (air, sea, space) using the Hivemind SDK. This role involves customer collaboration, software development, integration, debugging, deployment, and training. | Agent | 7 |
| Chief Engineer, Autonomy (R4614) Chief Engineer role focused on developing and deploying advanced autonomy solutions for Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) within the defense industry. The role involves leading a team, defining technical objectives, and ensuring the quality of technical deliverables for both internal R&D and government contracts. | Agent | 7 |
| Senior Engineer, Software Integration and Test (R4461) Shield AI is seeking a Senior Engineer for Software Integration and Test to work on their AI pilot product, the Hivemind ecosystem. This role involves automating multi-agent scenarios, analyzing robotic data, validating test cases, and collaborating with developers to integrate new capabilities and ensure the quality, reliability, and performance of the AI software. | Agent | 7 |
| Staff Applications Engineer, Autonomy Staff Applications Engineer role focused on customer-facing technical leadership for AI and autonomy products in the defense industry. This role involves deep product expertise, customer engagement, technical support, application development using SDKs, pre-sales assistance, post-sales deployment, and collaboration with engineering teams to improve products based on field feedback. Requires strong C++ and Python proficiency, with experience in startup environments and integration/applications engineering. | Ship | 7 |
| Senior Applications Engineer, Autonomy Senior Applications Engineer role focused on deploying Shield AI's Hivemind software (AI and autonomy products) in real-world environments, involving significant customer interaction, on-site integration, and technical support. Requires strong C++ and Python skills, with experience in startup and defense aviation/robotics industries preferred. | Ship | 7 |