Senior Director Engineering
Shield AI is a U.S. defense-technology company developing mission-autonomy software and autonomous aircraft for military and allied operations.
Funding history
Investors
About Shield AI
Founded in 2015, Shield AI builds Hivemind autonomy software and V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft for operations in contested, GPS- and communications-denied environments. Its current site also presents Aechelon synthetic-reality simulation and Vision Systems detection and tracking products.
Skills
Candidate Availability
Required and preferred rules are kept separate and reflect the wording in the original posting.
About the Role
You will lead engineering for the V-BAT program across flight software, autonomy, controls, ground systems, aircraft, avionics, payloads, and propulsion. You will set technical strategy and architecture, manage risk, improve engineering governance, build the organization, and engage executive, customer, government, and partner stakeholders.
Requirements
- 15+ years of related experience with a Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience
- Technical background in aerospace, mechanical, electrical, avionics, propulsion, or related engineering disciplines
- Experience building and leading multidisciplinary engineering teams across hardware, software, and systems
- Leadership, interpersonal, written, and verbal communication skills
- Proven record of shipping high-quality products in fast-paced environments
Responsibilities
- Lead the multidisciplinary engineering and software organization for the Group 3 UAS program
- Define engineering vision, technical strategy, and system architecture
- Make architectural decisions and manage technical and program risk across subsystems and suppliers
- Lead organizational planning, workforce strategy, and capability roadmaps
- Drive collaboration across engineering, flight test, operations, program management, supply chain, quality, and production
- Improve engineering standards, technical governance, configuration management, documentation, CI/CD, testing, and DevOps practices
- Ensure compliance with aerospace standards, airworthiness expectations, regulatory requirements, and engineering policies
- Hire, retain, mentor, and develop engineering leaders
- Report progress, risks, and technical decisions to senior leadership
- Support business development and capture activities with technical approaches and execution plans
Benefits
- Bonus
- Equity