Staff Engineer, Aerostructures Loads - Ranger (R6352)

Shield AI•Seattle, WA

19d

About The Position

Shield AI is seeking a Staff Aerostructures Loads Engineer to define, analyze, and validate the loads environments that drive structural design for Project Ranger. The role develops vehicle- and component-level loads analyses across flight, ground, transport, handling, and test conditions, supporting safe, efficient, flight-ready structural designs. The engineer applies aircraft loads fundamentals and engineering judgment to structural design, testing, and certification activities, working with structures, flight sciences, systems engineering, aerodynamics, flight controls, propulsion, manufacturing, and flight test teams to ensure the airframe is designed, validated, and operated within defined structural limits. The position is with Shield AI, a defense-technology company whose products include Hivemind autonomy software, V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft, and Aechelon simulation and synthetic reality technologies. The company operates offices and facilities across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific. The listed salary range is $170,000–$260,000 per year. Full-time regular employee offers include pay within the range, bonus, benefits, and equity. Compensation depends on factors including skills, experience, licenses and certifications, and work location. Offers are contingent on a cleared background check and may include a reference check.

Requirements

Bachelor’s or master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
At least 8 years of experience performing loads analysis for air vehicles, rotorcraft, uncrewed aircraft, launch vehicles, automobiles, or other complex vehicles.
Demonstrated experience developing loads models and performing static, dynamic, maneuver, gust, landing, ground, handling, transport, or test loads analyses for vehicle structures.
Strong understanding of structural mechanics, aircraft dynamics, aerodynamics, inertia relief, load paths, free-body diagrams, structural sizing inputs, and finite element model interface loads.
Proficiency with MATLAB, Python, Nastran, Patran, FEMAP, HyperMesh, or comparable loads-analysis, data-analysis, and finite-element tools.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree in Aerospace or Mechanical Engineering with an emphasis in structural dynamics, aeroelasticity, aircraft loads, flight mechanics, or a related field.
Experience supporting uncrewed aircraft, fixed-wing aircraft, rotorcraft, defense, space, or other aerospace vehicle development programs.
Experience developing or correlating loads models using flight-test, ground-test, structural-test, strain-gauge, pressure, acceleration, or other instrumentation data.
Familiarity with aeroelasticity, flutter, dynamic response, vibration, fatigue, durability, damage tolerance, or nonlinear structural analysis methods.
Experience working in multidisciplinary product-development environments with structural design, stress analysis, flight sciences, manufacturing, systems engineering, and flight-test teams.

Responsibilities

Develop vehicle- and component-level loads analyses for primary and secondary structures.
Create and maintain loads models, free-body diagrams, load paths, load cases, design envelopes, and critical load conditions to inform structural sizing, design decisions, and verification planning.
Partner with Aerodynamics, Flight Controls, Mass Properties, Propulsion, and Systems Engineering to define external, inertial, aerodynamic, actuator, and interface loads, as well as vehicle operating conditions.
Deliver loads documentation, including design load reports, interface control loads, critical condition summaries, assumptions, margins, and recommendations for structures, test, and certification stakeholders.
Support ground and flight test planning, instrumentation definition, correlation activities, structural test execution, and post-test data analysis to validate models and refine structural loads predictions.