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.
Job Description:
Shield AI is seeking a Senior Mission Systems Engineer to serve as the mission systems SME for the V-BAT Fleet Support team. In this role, you will own customer-facing engineering support for payload system issues, transponder system issues, emerging mission-technology integrations, and systems that communicate with external sources or provide data externally.
You will serve as the bridge between Fleet Support and the mission systems, payload, software, electrical, and communications engineering teams to ensure customers receive expert engineering support for mission-critical capabilities.
What you'll do:
Serve as the mission systems SME for Fleet Support and lead escalated investigations involving payloads, transponders, and externally connected mission systems.
Diagnose payload integration and performance issues involving power, thermal behavior, compute, configuration, data interfaces, timing, and subsystem interoperability.
Troubleshoot systems that communicate with external sources or provide data externally, including mission-data outputs, external interfaces, and system-to-system connectivity issues.
Support the introduction of emerging technologies and new mission capabilities into the fielded fleet by identifying support risks, validation needs, and integration challenges.
Work directly with customers, operators, and maintainers to understand mission impact, reproduce issues, and define corrective actions.
Partner with electrical, software, and RF teams on cross-functional mission-system problems.
Support lab validation, hardware integration, test readiness, and field demonstrations related to mission-system fixes.
Create technical guidance, interface notes, troubleshooting procedures, and customer-facing documentation for fielded mission capabilities.
Capture recurring issues and feed lessons learned back into product, systems, and design teams.
Required qualifications:
Bachelor’s degree in Systems Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related discipline.
5+ years of experience in payload integration, sensor integration, mission systems, avionics integration, or aircraft systems engineering.
Experience troubleshooting complex systems that span hardware, software, networking, and operational workflows.
Strong ability to move between high-level mission context and detailed subsystem investigation.
Experience working across design, integration, test, and field-support environments.
Strong written and verbal communication skills in customer-facing technical settings.
Preferred qualifications:
Experience with electro-optical and infrared (EO/IR) payloads, radar, transponders, or other externally connected aircraft mission systems.
Experience with interface control documents, validation planning, and flight-test support.
Experience introducing new payloads or mission kits into operational fleets.
Experience with defense, maritime, or expeditionary mission systems.
