Manager, Environmental Control Systems & Thermal Engineering (R6306)

Shield AI•Seattle, WA

About The Position

Shield AI is hiring a Manager, Environmental Control Systems & Thermal Engineering to lead and develop a team of individual contributors responsible for environmental control systems, aircraft thermal management, and associated fluid and heat-transfer hardware on the X-BAT program, while supporting these capabilities across Group 5 programs. The manager is accountable for team execution and people development, and maintains sufficient technical depth to guide architecture, requirements, design, integration, testing, supplier execution, and flight readiness. The role balances direct people leadership, technical judgment, and hands-on engagement in a fast-moving aircraft development environment. The successful candidate will set clear priorities, develop strong engineers, maintain high technical standards, and help the team deliver capability to operators. The position requires U.S. citizenship and an active Secret or higher security clearance. Shield AI lists a salary range of $200,000–$300,000 per year. The regular full-time employee offer package includes pay within the range, bonus, benefits, and equity; compensation depends on factors including skills, experience, credentials, and work location. Offers are contingent on a cleared background check and may include a reference check.

Requirements

U.S. citizenship and an active Secret or higher security clearance.
At least 8 years of experience in aerospace environmental control systems, thermal engineering, fluid systems, or comparable aircraft mechanical systems development.
Experience directly managing and developing individual contributors, including setting expectations, giving feedback, and supporting career growth.
B.S. or M.S. in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
Deep understanding of thermodynamics, heat transfer, fluid dynamics, and aircraft thermal management.
Ability to guide architecture, requirements, analysis, design, integration, and verification through hardware delivery.
Sound engineering judgment, ability to identify risk early, and clear communication across technical and program teams.
Record of working hard, building trust, maintaining high standards, and treating others with kindness.

Nice To Haves

Experience managing engineers on UAV, autonomous aircraft, fighter, tactical aircraft, or other high-performance aerospace programs.
Experience with Group 5 aircraft, aircraft-level thermal management, environmental control systems, or integrated fluid and thermal systems.
Hands-on experience with thermal and fluid testing, instrumentation, data acquisition, model correlation, or flight-test troubleshooting.
Experience with first-principles analysis, fluid-thermal network modeling, CFD, or thermal-analysis tools such as FloEFD, STAR-CCM+, Thermal Desktop, Amesim, or Flowmaster.
Familiarity with aerospace environmental, qualification, and airworthiness practices, including MIL-STD-810, MIL-HDBK-516, RTCA DO-160, and SAE AIR or ARP standards.
Experience with aerospace suppliers, COTS or custom components, technical specifications, SOWs, and prototype or vehicle-level test setups.
Experience hiring, onboarding, and scaling a small engineering team in a rapid R&D or production environment.
Advanced degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related discipline.

Responsibilities

Manage, mentor, and develop individual contributors by setting goals and expectations, providing feedback, supporting career growth, and building a high-trust, high-standard team.
Set priorities, ownership, staffing, and execution cadence for X-BAT and Group 5 work; remove blockers and manage dependencies.
Guide environmental control systems and thermal architecture, trade studies, and design reviews covering thermal environments, cooling, airflow, ducting, heat exchangers, fluid circuits, and related hardware.
Set expectations for requirements, reviews, verification, risk management, configuration control, and design release through delivery of flight-ready hardware.
Resolve vehicle interfaces with structures, propulsion, avionics, EWIS, payloads, manufacturing, systems engineering, and test teams.
Lead component, qualification, ground, and flight test planning; ensure data collection, anomaly resolution, and corrective actions support hardware delivery.
Set expectations for components, specifications, statements of work, supplier reviews, prototype builds, and acceptance activities.
Engage in first-principles analysis and root-cause investigations, coach engineers, and unblock complex technical problems.
Represent the team in program and engineering reviews; communicate decisions, risks, progress, resources, and dependencies.