Shield AI
Defense · Defense AI
- HQ
- San Diego, US
- Founded
- 2015
- Website
- shield.ai
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.
Currently tracking 35 active AI roles, up 40% versus the prior 4 weeks. Primary focus: Agent · Engineering. Salary range $156k–$320k (avg $238k).
Shield AI currently has 41 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 (51%), application (37%), 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 (26 roles), Taiwan (3 roles), India (3 roles), United Kingdom (2 roles).
Job postings at Shield AI most frequently reference: agent orchestration, embodied ai, model serving, inference infra, evals.
In the past 30 days, Shield AI has posted 8 new AI-related roles. That is a -27% change versus the prior 30 days (11 → 8).
| Title | Stage | AI score |
|---|---|---|
| Senior Mechanical Engineer, Actuation & Fluid Systems (R4730) Seeking a Senior Mechanical Engineer to design, analyze, and implement hydraulic and actuated systems for the X-BAT military UAV platform. Responsibilities include supplier management, system requirements, and cross-functional collaboration. | — | 0 |
| Staff Technical Program Manager, Propulsion (R4727) Shield AI is a deep-tech company developing intelligent systems for defense, seeking a Staff Technical Program Manager for their X-BAT propulsion team. This role focuses on coordinating development activities for engine hardware, fuel systems, and testing, ensuring alignment with vehicle milestones and program objectives. The TPM will manage cross-functional teams, suppliers, and technical risks, translating complex work into clear status for leadership. | — | 0 |
| Supplier Development Engineer - Mechanical (R4561) Seeking a Supplier Development Engineer with a focus on machined parts within the aerospace industry. Responsibilities include auditing supplier processes, ensuring quality assurance, providing technical guidance, monitoring supplier performance, managing risks, and supporting new product introductions. Requires 7+ years of experience in supply chain or manufacturing engineering, CAD proficiency, data analysis skills, and experience with PLM/ERP systems. |
| — |
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| Senior Materials Planner (R4622) Shield AI is seeking an experienced Material Planner to optimize material planning and procurement processes, ensuring seamless collaboration across teams to support operational success in a deep-tech defense company. | — | 0 |
| Staff Engineer, Manufacturing Equipment (R4592) Staff Engineer focused on manufacturing equipment, test racks, and test cells for defense products (aircraft, intelligent systems). Role involves leading development, sustainment, and improvement of electromechanical systems in a production environment, troubleshooting, driving reliability, and managing vendors. Requires strong hands-on experience with complex systems and cross-functional collaboration. | — | 0 |
| Sr Manager, Supplier Development Engineer (R4699) The Sr. Manager, Supplier Development Engineer will define and lead the supplier development strategy, focusing on improving cost, lead time, quality, and scalability of suppliers for Shield AI's deep-tech products, including aircraft and intelligent systems. This role involves establishing audit frameworks, owning supplier quality, leading root cause investigations, developing performance review mechanisms, assessing technical maturity, and driving supplier capability upgrades in partnership with Engineering and Operations. The position also requires influencing early design decisions for manufacturability and supply chain scalability, building supplier performance monitoring systems, and managing supply chain risks. | — | 0 |
| Senior Propulsion Technician (R4638) Seeking a Senior Propulsion Technician for Shield AI's X-BAT Propulsion Engineering team, specializing in UAV propulsion systems. Responsibilities include assembly, testing, troubleshooting, and maintenance of low-bypass turbofan engines. Requires experience with aircraft engines, aerospace companies, or military aviation maintenance. | — | 0 |
| Senior Propulsion Test Engineer (R4640) Shield AI is seeking a Senior Propulsion Test Engineer to lead the planning and execution of propulsion test campaigns for their X-BAT UAV platform. This role involves end-to-end ownership of test activities, including design, execution, data analysis, and iteration, with a focus on characterizing engine performance and ensuring flight readiness. The role requires collaboration with various engineering teams and proficiency in Python for data analysis. | — | 0 |
| Senior Propulsion Design Engineer (R4642) Senior Propulsion Design Engineer for UAVs, focusing on the full lifecycle of propulsion system components, including design, release, testing, and flight operations. Requires CAD proficiency, collaboration with production teams, and engineering analysis. | — | 0 |
| Staff Engineer, Product Security & Compliance (R4650) Shield AI is seeking a senior security professional to lead product security and compliance efforts for their operational autonomous aircraft platforms. This role requires experience securing aerospace or defense products and a strong understanding of RMF, NIST 800-53, and the ATO process, with a focus on practical, engineering-driven security decisions. | — | 0 |
| Engineering Specialist/Sr. Technician, Electrical Engineering (R4691) Shield AI is seeking an Engineering Specialist/Sr. Technician for their Avionics Engineering team to support the development of the X-BAT aircraft. This role involves supporting the design, verification, procurement, manufacturing, and testing of custom avionics systems, focusing on electrical systems and circuit boards. Responsibilities include benchtop testing, designing test fixtures, reworking circuit boards, and reading schematics. | — | 0 |
| Staff Hardware Reliability Engineer (R4675) This role focuses on ensuring the robustness and long-term performance of flight hardware (VBAT aircraft) by implementing design-for-reliability best practices, conducting environmental and stress testing, performing failure analysis, and collaborating with design and manufacturing teams. It involves analyzing field data, shaping material selection, and developing corrective actions. The role requires a technical background in materials science, electronics manufacturing, and reliability concepts, with proficiency in Python. | — | 0 |
| Sr Director, Chief Engineering (R4667) Shield AI is a deep-tech company developing intelligent systems for defense, including autonomous aircraft and software. This Director of Chief Engineering role leads a team responsible for the technical execution and delivery of software development and integration of their Hivemind platform across multiple customer platforms. The role focuses on team leadership, functional excellence in engineering practices, technical alignment across disciplines, and partnership with Program Management to ensure successful project delivery, balancing technical rigor, risk, schedule, and cost. | — | 0 |
| Staff Engineer, DevOps (R4666) Staff Engineer, DevOps responsible for owning and operating the CI/CD and automation stack for autonomy, embedded, and ground software. The role focuses on improving developer velocity, scaling simulation test execution, managing infrastructure, and automating tasks to empower developers. It involves integrating automated testing, implementing monitoring, and collaborating with other teams on best practices. | — | 0 |
| Technician II, Maintenance (R4818) This role is for a Maintenance Technician II for Shield AI's V-BAT unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and associated Ground Support Equipment (GSE). Responsibilities include conducting maintenance, constructing wiring harnesses, soldering components, and supporting the development of maintenance task instructions. Requires experience in aviation maintenance, ability to obtain a security clearance, and a US passport. FAA A&P license and UAS/avionics experience are preferred. | — | 0 |
| Senior Verification and Validation Engineer (R4835) Senior Verification and Validation Engineer at Shield AI, a deep-tech company focused on intelligent systems for defense. The role involves generating mission test scenarios, participating in design reviews, conducting system verification and validation, writing Python test analyzers, producing test coverage reports, and recommending improvements to simulation models. Requires 5+ years of experience in testing complex integrated software systems, expertise in test automation, and understanding of the software product development lifecycle, particularly for autonomy or vehicle systems. Experience with the V-model, automating test cases, and producing technical documentation is also required. The role is focused on ensuring the quality and readiness of autonomy and flight control software for Shield AI's aircraft products. | — | 0 |
| Senior V-BAT Air Vehicle Operator, Deployed Operations Site Lead This role is for a Senior Air Vehicle Operator responsible for executing and leading V-BAT flight operations in support of DoD and foreign customers. It requires strong aviation judgment, disciplined execution, and leadership in austere conditions. Responsibilities include mission planning, risk assessment, flight execution, post-flight debriefs, and system validation. The role also involves mentoring junior operators and serving as an on-site operational representative. | — | 0 |
| Electrical Integration - Electrical Engineer II (R4627) Electrical Integration Engineer II role focused on integrating avionics systems, sensors, actuators, and payloads onto aircraft and launch/recovery vehicles. Responsibilities include harness design, hardware bring-up, testing, debugging, documentation, and cross-functional collaboration. Requires a Bachelor's degree in a relevant engineering field and 0-3 years of experience with electrical systems and hardware integration. | — | 0 |
| Senior Engineer, Aeronautical Modeling & Simulation (Dallas/San Diego) (R4538) Shield AI is seeking a Senior Engineer for their Software Integration & Operations group to improve and enhance aeronautical physics models for simulation and evaluation. The role involves translating theoretical models into C++ implementations, validating them against real-world data, and prototyping new modeling techniques. This position is crucial for ensuring the fidelity and reliability of AI-driven aircraft simulations for training and engineering pipelines. | — | 0 |
| Senior Engineer, Radar Modeling & Simulation (Dallas/San Diego) (R4537) The role focuses on developing and enhancing radar sensor models for simulation and evaluation within the aerospace domain. It involves translating theoretical models into C++ implementations, validating them against real-world data, and prototyping new modeling techniques, including ML-based surrogates. The primary output is simulation models, not AI models themselves. | — | 0 |
| Engineer II, Electrical Failure Analysis (R4593) Shield AI is seeking an Electrical Failure Analysis Engineer to join their team, focusing on the design, integration, and troubleshooting of electronics systems for their aircraft. The role involves performing failure analysis investigations, root cause analysis, and collaborating with cross-functional teams to drive corrective actions. This is a hardware-focused role within an AI company, but the specific position is not directly building or deploying AI models. | — | 0 |
| Senior Staff Engineer, Structural Analysis (R4722) Senior Staff Structural Analyst for UAV platforms, focusing on structural analysis, validation, and integrity across development, flight test, and production. Requires advanced technical leadership and expertise in aerospace structures. | — | 0 |
| Principal Engineer, Software Architect (R4562) Principal Engineer, Software Architect for Shield AI's XBAT program, focusing on defining and evolving the system-wide software architecture for airborne vehicles, ground stations, and autonomy layers. The role emphasizes translating safety and security goals into technical requirements, ensuring architecture supports safety-critical and cyber-relevant workflows, and driving cross-team alignment. It involves setting technical direction for long-term scalability, mentoring engineers, producing architecture artifacts, leading technical reviews, defining architecture governance, and collaborating with various teams to manage boundaries and drive technology evaluation. The position requires deep expertise in software architecture for complex, multi-domain systems, particularly in safety-critical fields like aerospace or defense, with a proven track record of delivering production software that meets stringent requirements. | — | 0 |
| Senior Aerostructures Design Engineer (R4721) Senior Aerostructures Design Engineer for autonomous aircraft development, focusing on structural components from concept to production. Requires experience in aerospace structures, CAD, and collaboration with cross-functional teams. | — | 0 |
| Receiving Quality Inspector (R4568) The Receiving Inspector is responsible for performing inspections on incoming materials, components, and final products to ensure conformance to aerospace industry specifications, customer requirements, and company quality standards. This position helps ensure product quality, compliance with AS9100 and customer requirements, and supports continuous improvement initiatives within the organization. | — | 0 |
| RF - Senior Principal Engineer (R4491) Senior Staff RF Engineer responsible for technical leadership, design, integration, testing, and compliance of RF systems for the VBAT aircraft. This role involves optimizing RF link performance, defining system requirements, improving processes, and mentoring teammates within a defense technology company. | — | 0 |
| Principal Aerostructures Design Engineer (R4721) This role is for a Principal Structural Design Engineer at Shield AI, a defense technology company focused on autonomous aircraft. The engineer will lead the design and development of structural components for next-generation UAVs, working across disciplines to ensure structural integrity and manufacturability. Responsibilities include CAD modeling, FEA analysis, material selection, design reviews, and mentoring junior engineers. The role requires extensive experience in aircraft structural design, particularly with composites and metallic structures, and expertise in CAD and FEA tools. | — | 0 |
| Power System - High Voltage Specialist/Sr. Technician (R4728) Shield AI is a deep-tech company developing intelligent systems for defense, including aircraft and AI-powered products. This role is for a High Voltage Specialist/Sr. Technician supporting the Avionics Engineering team in designing and verifying high voltage power systems for the X-BAT aircraft. Responsibilities include setting up and executing tests for custom circuits, performing PCBA testing and debugging, supporting environmental qualifications, and assisting with lab buildout. Requires 2+ years of experience with high voltage systems (270V+), benchtop testing, PCBA/harness rework, and reading schematics. | — | 0 |
| Senior Staff Engineer, Mechanical Test (R4413) This role is for a Senior Staff Engineer focused on Mechanical Test for aircraft development at Shield AI. The position involves designing, building, and operating test fixtures and systems, integrating sensors, automating tests with Python, analyzing data, and collaborating with cross-functional teams. Experience with hydraulic systems, CAD (NX), and Finite Element Analysis is required. The role is not directly AI/ML related but supports the development of AI-powered aircraft. | — | 0 |
| Principal Engineer, Aircraft Thermal (R4353) Principal Engineer, Aircraft Thermal at Shield AI, a deep-tech company focused on intelligent systems for defense. The role involves leading thermal analysis and characterization for unmanned aerial vehicles, architecting and validating models, defining test plans, and mentoring teams. Requires B.S. in Mechanical/Aerospace Engineering, 12+ years of experience in avionics/electronics thermal engineering, and expertise in heat transfer, fluid mechanics, and thermal management techniques for aircraft. Proficiency with thermal analysis/CFD tools and CAD is necessary. The role emphasizes first-principles problem solving and leadership in a mission-critical aerospace context. | — | 0 |
| Senior Staff Engineer, Advanced Manufacturing (R4359) Senior Staff NPI Manufacturing Engineer with 10+ years of experience in establishing manufacturing sequences, standardized work, ergonomic workstations, and MES-driven instructions for aerospace assemblies. This role drives production stability during early builds and rate acceleration by developing repeatable processes, eliminating waste, and enhancing quality. | — | 0 |
| Associate Engineer, Manufacturing (R4637) Seeking a Manufacturing Engineer to support the fabrication and assembly of advanced composite airframes for next-generation aircraft. Responsibilities include designing assembly tools, optimizing manufacturing processes, and ensuring compliance with aerospace standards. Requires experience in aircraft manufacturing and tooling design, with proficiency in CAD software. | — | 0 |
| Engineering Manager, Mechanical Systems (R4427) Engineering Manager for Mechanical Design to lead a team developing mechanical systems for autonomous UAV platforms. Responsibilities include supporting design reviews, scoping resources, assigning individuals to projects, and creating development processes. Requires B.S. in Mechanical/Aerospace Engineering, leadership experience, and strong CAD/analysis skills. | — | 0 |
| Senior Staff Propulsion Test Engineer (R4380) This role is for a Senior Staff Propulsion Test Engineer at Shield AI, a defense tech company focused on intelligent systems for aircraft. The engineer will lead propulsion test planning and execution for the X-BAT autonomous VTOL jet aircraft, directing engine and hover test campaigns and providing technical leadership. The role requires deep expertise in jet propulsion testing, developmental flight test operations, and high-energy ground testing, working closely with various engineering teams to ensure safe and rapid development. | — | 0 |
| Composite Senior Technician, Prototype (R4609) This role involves the precision assembly, inspection, and testing of early-design stage wire harnesses, PCBAs, and composite structures for aircraft and aerospace systems. It requires adherence to stringent quality standards, technical specifications, and industry regulations like IPC/WHMA-A-620 and AS9100, contributing to high-reliability products for aerospace applications. | — | 0 |
| Staff Engineer, Software (C++/Networking) (R4337) Senior Staff Engineer role focused on designing and developing advanced networking capabilities for autonomous systems, specifically the EdgeOS Communication stack. The role involves owning the architecture, implementation, and integration of high-performance C++ networking components for reliable, low-latency communication in dynamic environments. | — | 0 |
| Senior Contracts Manager (R4378) Shield AI is seeking a Senior Contracts Manager to support defense contracting operations. The role involves preparing, negotiating, and managing contracts, ensuring compliance with federal regulations like FAR, DFARS, and ITAR. Responsibilities include drafting agreements, administering government contracts, identifying risks, and supporting proposal development. Requires 8-12 years of experience in contract management within a defense contracting environment and a strong understanding of government procurement processes. | — | 0 |
| Staff Software Engineer, C++ Software Integration (R4017) Staff Software Engineer, C++ Software Integration at Shield AI. This role focuses on C++ and Python systems, distributed systems, simulation environments, CI/CD pipelines, and debugging real-time systems. It requires significant experience in C++ and Linux, with a strong systems integration background. The role supports the development of intelligent systems for defense applications but is not directly involved in building AI models or agents. | — | 0 |
| Staff Software Engineer, C++ Software Integration (R4016) Staff Software Engineer, C++ Software Integration role at Shield AI, focusing on architecting and implementing high-performance C++ and Python systems, leading integration of distributed systems and simulation tools, defining technical direction, and owning CI/CD pipelines. Requires advanced C++ experience, Linux proficiency, systems integration background, and CI/CD experience. Active SECRET clearance required. | — | 0 |
| Staff Electrical Engineer Staff Electrical Engineer for an autonomous aircraft company, focusing on full product and circuit design for flight-critical subsystems, including analog, digital, high-speed, power, compute, sensors, and FPGA. Responsibilities include designing for high reliability in challenging environments, full-cycle hardware development, PCB ownership, board bring-up, testing, cross-functional collaboration, design review leadership, and program execution. Requires a B.S. in Electrical Engineering, 5+ years of experience, and familiarity with circuit design, schematic capture, testing, debugging, system integration, and Altium. | — | 0 |
| Senior Engineer, Manufacturing (R4265) Shield AI is seeking a Senior Manufacturing Engineer to support the fabrication and assembly of advanced composite airframes for next-generation aircraft. This role involves designing assembly tools and fixtures, optimizing manufacturing processes, and ensuring compliance with aerospace industry standards. The position requires expertise in aircraft structure assembly, CAD software proficiency, and strong problem-solving skills. | — | 0 |
| Avionics Mechanical Engineering - Senior Engineering Manager (R4416) Seeking an Engineering Manager of Mechanical Design to lead a team developing mechanical systems for Shield AI's next-generation autonomous UAV platform. Responsibilities include designing complex electro-mechanical solutions, driving analyses, ensuring compliance, and leading work from design through production. | — | 0 |
| Senior Electrical Engineer Senior Electrical Engineer for Shield AI's X-BAT aircraft avionics system development. Responsibilities include circuit and sub-system design, mixed-signal systems, test execution, system integration, and leading/mentoring teammates. Requires a Bachelor's degree in EE, 3+ years of experience, familiarity with CAD/PLM software, and a track record of ownership and delivery. | — | 0 |
| Staff Engineering Specialist, Avionics (R5109) This role is for an Avionics Engineering Specialist at Shield AI, a defense technology company. The specialist will support the design, verification, procurement, manufacturing, and testing of custom avionics systems for aircraft. Responsibilities include setting up and executing test campaigns, debugging issues, designing PCBs and wire harnesses, and documenting results. The role requires electrical engineering experience, proficiency with test equipment and schematics, and hands-on experience with harness design. | — | 0 |
| Staff Engineer, Advanced Manufacturing (R4301) This role is for a Staff Engineer focused on advanced manufacturing processes for aerospace assemblies, including establishing manufacturing sequences, standardized work, and ergonomic workstations. It involves driving production stability, developing repeatable processes, and enhancing quality within a deep-tech company that produces intelligent systems. | — | 0 |
| Staff Engineer, Industrial (R4300) Staff Engineer focused on industrial manufacturing systems, material flow, and factory layout for aerospace hardware production. Responsibilities include mapping current-state flow, designing 2D/3D layouts, running capacity analysis, defining material presentation, leading design reviews, and performing discrete-event simulations. Requires 7+ years of experience in factory layout/industrial engineering and a Bachelor's degree in a related engineering field, with experience in prototype manufacturing in a startup environment. | — | 0 |
| Staff Engineer, Tool Design (R4299) Staff Engineer focused on designing production tooling for complex aerospace systems, covering the entire lifecycle from concept to prove-out. The role involves cross-functional collaboration with Manufacturing, Quality, and Safety to ensure safe and repeatable assembly, and requires expertise in CAD software, FEA, and GD&T. | — | 0 |
| Strategic Sourcing Manager (R4734) Shield AI is a deep-tech company developing intelligent systems for defense applications. This role focuses on strategic sourcing and supply chain management for electronics and mechanical commodities, requiring partnership with engineering and manufacturing teams to ensure supply continuity and cost optimization. The position emphasizes leadership in sourcing strategy, supplier management, and cross-functional execution within defense and aerospace environments. | — | 0 |
| Power Electronics - Electrical Engineer I Entry-level Power Electronics Engineer to design and develop power systems for next-generation aircraft (XBAT), involving full hardware lifecycle from concept to flight test support, with a focus on DC-DC converters, inverters, motor controllers, and battery systems. | — | 0 |
| Electrical Engineer I (SD) Entry-level Electrical Engineer focused on the design, verification, integration, and flight testing of avionics systems for the X-BAT aircraft, with a strong emphasis on first principles engineering and extreme ownership. | — | 0 |