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
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Job Description:
Shield AI’s mission is to protect the lives of service members and civilians with intelligent systems.
As a Mission Systems Engineer II, you will support the hands-on integration of avionics, sensors, and mission payloads onto the V-BAT and our next-generation aircraft. We’re looking for engineers with a strong mix of hardware and software experience—people who can move fluidly from hardware and software integration and system bring-up to real-time troubleshooting.
Ideal candidates have hands-on experience taking hardware–software systems from 0→1, understanding what truly matters to end users, and delivering reliable capabilities into real-world field use.
In this role, you will contribute to the specification, integration, testing, and validation of mission and avionics systems that expand the capabilities of our aircraft. You’ll work closely with electrical, mechanical, software, and flight test teams in both the lab and the field, supporting the development lifecycle of payload systems from concept through deployment.
Help us save lives as we strive to deliver the most highly reliable aerospace hardware in the industry.
What you'll do:
- Support the design, integration, and validation of avionics and mission sensors and payloads for V-BAT —from concept through production & deployment
- Collaborate with operators, mission SMEs, and internal stakeholders to understand user needs and prioritize system features and capabilities.
- Support and drive 0→1 development: take loosely defined mission problems, propose solutions, prototype quickly, iterate with flight test data, and mature systems into production-ready capabilities.
- Work with cross functional development: mechanical & electrical design, firmware/embedded interfaces, data paths, networking, and onboard software integration.
- Assist in debugging and root-cause complex hardware, software, and integration failures throughout development and flight operations.
- Conduct hands-on bring-up, lab testing, HIL testing, and flight test preparation.
- Support flight operations with real-time troubleshooting, anomaly resolution, and post-mission data analysis.
- Use Python, MATLAB, or similar tools to analyze logs, automate tests, and drive informed design decisions.
- Collaborate with Mechanical, Electrical, Software, Flight Test, and Manufacturing to deliver reliable and maintainable avionics systems.
- Contribute to continuous design improvement to increase reliability, robustness, and mission performance.
Required qualifications:
- B.S. in Electrical Engineering or related STEM field.
- 2-5 years engineering experience with electrical system design, integration, testing, debug, and repair
- Hands-on experience with test equipment, schematics, harness/wiring diagrams, and HW/SW debugging.
- Experience working on multidisciplinary hardware development projects, which can be from an internship, job, club, team, personal project, etc…
- Demonstrated ability to take ownership of tasks and deliver reliable results within a multidisciplinary engineering team. Record of working hard, being a trustworthy teammate, holding yourself and others to high standards, and being kind to others.
Preferred qualifications:
- Experience integrating avionics, sensors, radios, mission payloads, or flight computing systems.
- Experience with flight test, field testing, or hardware-in-the-loop development.
- Experience with Python or any scripting language.
- Active Secret Security Clearance (or ability to obtain one if needed.
- Demonstrated adaptability, agility, and the ability to innovate under pressure to meet dynamic project demands and drive successful outcomes.
- Experience contributing to the development of a hardware + software system from concept through testing or deployment.
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Full-time regular employee offer package:
Pay within range listed + Bonus + Benefits + Equity
Temporary employee offer package:
Pay within range listed above + temporary benefits package (applicable after 60 days of employment)
Salary compensation is influenced by a wide array of factors including but not limited to skill set, level of experience, licenses and certifications, and specific work location. All offers are contingent on a cleared background and possible reference check. Military fellows and part-time employees are not eligible for benefits. Please speak to your talent acquisition representative for more information.
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Shield AI is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know.