# Aerostructures Design Manager

**Company**: Shield AI
**Work arrangement**: onsite
**Experience**: senior
**Job type**: full-time
**Salary**: Pay within range listed + Bonus + Benefits + Equity
**Category**: Engineering
**Industry**: Technology

**Apply**: https://jobs.lever.co/shieldai/e2937327-d2de-44b5-8975-a3612ef2dfbe
**Canonical**: https://yubhub.co/jobs/job_30e8cb24-1dc

## Description

Shield AI is seeking an Aerostructures Design Manager to support the development of mechanisms for our next-generation autonomous aircraft. As a contributor on the Launch and Recovery Vehicle team, you will lead the design and development of high-performance mechanisms from concept through production release.

In this role, you'll lead and contribute to the development of complex, mission-critical technologies while guiding a talented team to deliver at a high level. Blending hands-on technical work with leadership, you'll help drive innovation, solve challenging problems, and bring cutting-edge systems from concept to reality.

**Functional Excellence:**

- Directly contribute to the design, analysis, and integration of mechanical systems and subsystems for X-BAT Launch and Recovery Vehicle.

- Establish and improve pragmatic mechanical engineering standards, templates, specifications, and best practices that increase design quality, reduce rework, and enable faster iteration.

- Own mechanical engineering deliverables across the product lifecycle,from early concept and prototyping through test, production, and field support,with a bias toward execution and delivery.

- Own failure mode analysis and reliability modeling for mechanical systems, establish lightweight, repeatable practices (e.g., FMEA, fault trees) that proactively identify risks, reduce field failures, and inform design tradeoffs.

- Partner closely with Engineering, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Quality, Program Management, and Flight Operations to ensure designs are buildable, testable, and reliable in real-world environments.

- Provide hands-on technical support during ground and flight testing, demos, and field operations; rapidly troubleshoot and implement design fixes under tight timelines.

**Team Leadership and Development:**

- Lead, mentor, and develop a team of mechanical engineers, providing technical guidance, regular feedback, and clear expectations for ownership and execution.

- Recruit and hire experienced mechanical engineers to strengthen team capability, elevate technical standards, and improve mentorship depth.

- Act as a player-coach: balance meaningful individual technical contribution with team leadership, design reviews, and day-to-day unblock of engineers.

- Establish team norms around accountability, decision-making speed, and engineering rigor,ensuring high-quality output without slowing momentum.

- Set clear priorities aligned with program goals; actively manage team bandwidth, identify risks early, and communicate tradeoffs to leadership.

- Drive clear and concise technical communication, ensuring design decisions, assumptions, and tradeoffs are well-documented and understood across functions.

**Required qualifications:**

- Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or related discipline.

- 10+ years of experience in mechanical design for aerospace, ground support equipment, or related ruggedized hardware systems.

- 3+ years of leadership/manger with demonstrated excellence in building, retaining, and leading a high performing engineering team

- Proficiency in 3D CAD software (NX preferred) with demonstrated ability to create detailed GD&T-compliant component and assembly 3D models and drawings.

- Proficiency in developing drawing templates/standards, and design/manufacturing specifications.

- Familiarity with industry standards (ASME, ISO, ASTM, or industry-specific regulatory requirements).

- Experience with engineering analysis methods (FEA, stress, thermal, tolerance stack-up, fatigue, fluid flow as applicable) to validate design integrity.

- Ownership of 2–3 full product development cycles from concept through release to production to on-going customer sustainment.

- Cross-functional collaboration experience with other Engineering Functions, Manufacturing, Quality, Supply Chain, Program Management, and Field Operations.

- Demonstrated ability to work effectively in a fast-paced, high-ownership development environment with evolving priorities

- Strong written and verbal technical communication skills.

**Preferred qualifications:**

- M.S. degree in Aerospace or Mechanical Engineering.

- Experience supporting UAV, DoD, or aerospace full vehicle programs.

- Familiarity with aerospace standards (MIL-STD, ASME Y14.5, FAA).

- Knowledge of manufacturing processes (machining, sheet metal, injection molding, casting, additive manufacturing) and ability to design for manufacturability (DFM)

- Knowledge of reliability modeling and analysis methods.

- Experience using FEA tools (ANSYS, Abaqus, NASTRAN, or similar) for linear structural analysis.

## Skills

### Required
- Mechanical Engineering
- Aerospace Engineering
- 3D CAD software
- GD&T-compliant component and assembly 3D models and drawings
- Drawing templates/standards, and design/manufacturing specifications
- Industry standards (ASME, ISO, ASTM, or industry-specific regulatory requirements)
- Engineering analysis methods (FEA, stress, thermal, tolerance stack-up, fatigue, fluid flow as applicable)

### Nice to have
- M.S. degree in Aerospace or Mechanical Engineering
- Experience supporting UAV, DoD, or aerospace full vehicle programs
- Familiarity with aerospace standards (MIL-STD, ASME Y14.5, FAA)
- Knowledge of manufacturing processes (machining, sheet metal, injection molding, casting, additive manufacturing) and ability to design for manufacturability (DFM)
- Knowledge of reliability modeling and analysis methods
- Experience using FEA tools (ANSYS, Abaqus, NASTRAN, or similar) for linear structural analysis