Engineer, Autonomous Systems Integration (R6266)

f7d8749a-72d6-407c-bf98-292ea630c73a•San Diego, CA

About The Position

Shield AI is seeking a senior, hands-on UxS Integration and Systems Expert to ensure Hivemind can be developed, tested, demonstrated, and supported on representative unmanned systems. The role spans autonomy software, unmanned aircraft and robotic systems, onboard compute, networking, radios, sensors, flight controllers, simulation, test operations, and customer-facing demonstrations. The position serves as a trusted systems-integration authority for Hivemind test and demonstration hardware. The engineer helps teams select and prepare representative platforms, assess integration tradeoffs, improve test readiness, diagnose cross-disciplinary issues, and translate real-hardware lessons into better engineering, test, and operational practices. It calls for a builder and operator who can move between architecture, benchtop integration, lab troubleshooting, field execution, platform evaluation, and recommendations to engineering, test, product, and operations leaders. Shield AI is a venture-backed defense technology company whose mission is to protect 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. The company supports customers and operations worldwide.

Requirements

10+ years of experience in UxS or UAS systems integration, robotics hardware integration, autonomy test operations, flight test, field engineering, embedded systems, or similar hands-on technical roles.
Demonstrated experience leading complex integration across hardware, software, autonomy, networking, communications, sensors, and operational test environments.
Practical experience bringing up, configuring, operating, and troubleshooting unmanned systems, onboard compute, flight controllers, radios, sensors, ground stations, and supporting test equipment.
Working knowledge of Linux, embedded systems, networking, system configuration, data collection, logs, services, and field diagnostics.
Experience with unmanned-systems autopilot or flight-control ecosystems such as PX4, ArduPilot, MAVLink, Pixhawk/Cube-class flight controllers, QGroundControl, Mission Planner, or equivalent systems.
Experience supporting testing across simulation, hardware-in-the-loop, live-vehicle, field, or flight-test environments.
Ability to develop and communicate test plans, readiness criteria, operating assumptions, technical recommendations, and post-test findings to cross-functional audiences.
Strong analytical, problem-solving, and debugging skills across ambiguous, cross-disciplinary technical issues.
Ability to lead through influence across engineering, test, product, operations, field, and customer-facing teams.
Familiarity with scripting, automation, or data-analysis workflows using Python, Bash, MATLAB, or similar tools.
Strong ownership, urgency, and judgment in fast-moving environments where requirements, platforms, and constraints may evolve quickly.
Ability to comply with export-control, safety, security, customer-site, and mission-specific operating requirements.
Ability to obtain and maintain a Secret security clearance; U.S. citizenship is required.

Nice To Haves

Experience with Hivemind, autonomy SDKs, autonomous aircraft systems, robotics middleware, simulation infrastructure, or edge-deployed autonomy software.
Hands-on experience with NVIDIA Jetson, embedded Linux, systemd services, containerized deployment, device provisioning, and field update workflows.
Experience with RF/radio setup, mesh networking, tactical datalinks, software-defined radios, or communications-degraded test scenarios.
Experience supporting flight test, range operations, customer trials, operational rehearsals, or complex demonstrations.
Experience integrating EO/IR cameras, gimbals, lidar, GPS/GNSS, IMUs, payloads, or perception sensors.
Experience contributing to test automation, regression frameworks, data validation, performance benchmarking, or CI/CD-integrated test workflows.
Familiarity with C++ for debugging, interface review, or collaboration with software engineering teams.
FAA Part 107, private pilot license, military UAS, aviation maintenance, flight-test, or range-safety experience.
Experience defining reference configurations, hardware baselines, supported configurations, or setup guidance for internal and external users.
Active Secret clearance or higher.

Responsibilities

Serve as a senior technical focal point for Hivemind integration and test readiness across unmanned aircraft, robotic systems, representative test vehicles, onboard compute, radios, sensors, payloads, and supporting ground equipment.
Lead hands-on integration and troubleshooting across autonomy software, hardware, flight controllers, communications systems, networking, operator interfaces, and field operations.
Partner with engineering, test, product, operations, field, and customer-facing teams to evaluate platforms for Hivemind development, validation, training, demonstrations, and customer objectives.
Help take systems from early concept or benchtop integration through representative testing, field execution, and operationally relevant demonstrations.
Provide technical judgment on platform suitability, integration complexity, test readiness, risk, safety, maintainability, cost, availability, and customer value.
Support test planning and execution in simulated, hardware-in-the-loop, live-vehicle, and flight-test environments, focusing on practical system readiness and evidence quality.
Define readiness criteria, test expectations, operating assumptions, and handoff points for representative hardware used by Hivemind teams.
Diagnose complex cross-disciplinary issues and coordinate resolution among software, autonomy, hardware, flight-test, networking, and operations stakeholders.
Contribute test methods, metrics, and evidence practices that improve confidence in Hivemind behavior across representative and real-world environments.
Support automation, tooling, and data-review practices that improve repeatability, reduce manual work, and make hardware-based testing easier to scale.
Capture and share lessons from platform bring-up, test events, flight operations, and customer-facing demonstrations.
Mentor engineers and operators on systems integration, hardware readiness, field troubleshooting, test discipline, and practical autonomy test execution.