Senior Engineer, Flight Test

Founded in 2015, 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 and V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft. 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.

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.

• Develop and execute flight test plans that validate new autonomy capabilities, software integrations, and system performance in real-world flight environments.

• Design and execute test scenarios that reproduce operational customer workflows and mission conditions to identify software defects, integration issues, and performance limitations.

• Build analysis tools and validation workflows that improve test coverage, accelerate regression testing, and reduce time to identify issues.

• Review flight logs, telemetry, rosbags, and system data to triage issues, perform root-cause analysis, and collaborate with engineering teams to drive resolution.

• Work closely with middleware, autonomy, and integration teams to develop complementary test strategies, share tooling, and improve overall product quality.

• Provide technical guidance to junior engineers, establish testing standards, and help improve engineering processes across the organization.

• Maintain standard operating procedures, participate in flight operations, and contribute to the continuous improvement of testing processes and operational readiness.
• Typically requires a minimum of 5 years of related experience with a Bachelor's degree; or 4 years and a Master's degree; or equivalent work experience.

• Proficiency in software quality engineering, test automation, and programming with Python and C++.

• Experience planning and executing field or flight testing for robotics, autonomous systems, or complex software platforms.

• Experience developing automated test tooling, validation frameworks, or data analysis tools.

• Demonstrated experience designing, documenting, executing, and tracking test plans, test cases, and software defects.

• Strong problem-solving skills with the ability to analyze flight logs, telemetry, and system behavior to identify root causes.

• Excellent communication skills with the ability to collaborate across software, hardware, product, and test organizations.

• FAA Part 107 Remote Pilot Certificate (or the ability to obtain one within a reasonable timeframe).
• Experience using GenAI tools to improve engineering productivity or software quality.

• Experience with C++14/C++17, TypeScript, JSON, and modern software development practices.

• Experience with ROS.

• Proficiency with simulation tools and Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) testing environments.

• Experience with CI/CD pipelines.

• Familiarity with networking, Linux operating systems, and radio communications.

• Experience testing autonomous aerial systems or other robotic platforms.

• Experience analyzing flight telemetry, sensor data, and autonomy behaviors.