Staff Engineer, Actuated Systems (RX) (R6001)

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, V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft, and Aechelon simulation and synthetic reality technologies.

As a Staff (L4) Actuated Systems Engineer, you will take hands-on technical ownership of the mechanical design, layout, and integration of actuation systems for flight control surfaces, bay doors, and other airframe mechanisms on a Group 5 UAV fighter aircraft.

Responsibilities

• Actuated System Layouts: Develop and mature system layouts and installation concepts for actuators, mechanisms, linkages, brackets, mounting provisions, and associated hardware within vehicle packaging constraints.
• Mechanical Design Ownership: Own detailed CAD design of actuated systems hardware from concept through drawing release, including load paths, materials, interfaces, GD&T, and tolerance stack-ups.
• Actuator and Mechanism Integration: Perform actuator sizing, kinematic layout, and installation analysis for flight control surfaces, bay doors, and other airframe mechanisms.
• Installation Analysis: Perform hand calculations and basic FEA to substantiate brackets, mounts, linkages, and mechanical installation hardware.
• Vehicle Interfaces: Define and resolve installation interfaces with structures, EWIS, EPS, thermal management, and adjacent systems, including routing, clearances, and maintainability provisions.
• Design Documentation: Develop and maintain CAD models, drawings, interface definitions, and design data packages to program standards for SRR, PDR, and CDR.
• Hardware and Supplier Execution: Support component selection, technical specifications, supplier technical execution, prototype assembly, and mechanical test-fixture development.
• Qualification and Hardware Delivery: Define and execute qualification test plans per MIL-STD-810, using results to mature the design into production-ready hardware and support MIL-HDBK-516 Airworthiness Certification.

Required qualifications

• Clearance required: US Citizens Only & Must have an Active Secret or higher clearance.
• Experience: 7 to 12 years of mechanical systems design experience in aerospace or a comparable regulated industry, with hands-on experience designing actuated mechanisms or aircraft installations.
• Education: B.S. or M.S. in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
• Core Fundamentals: Deep mastery of mechanical design, kinematics, load paths, materials selection, GD&T, and tolerance stack-up methodologies.
• Analysis and Modeling: Demonstrated capability performing closed-form hand calculations and basic FEA for mechanisms, brackets, mounts, and structural installation components.
• CAD and PLM: Extensive experience in 3D CAD modeling, mechanical layouts, and drawing release, with Siemens NX, CATIA, Creo, or equivalent PLM workflows.
• Actuated Systems Integration: Demonstrated ability to develop actuator and mechanism installations that satisfy packaging, load, clearance, maintainability, and vehicle-interface requirements.
• Hardware and Supplier Execution: Proven track record sourcing COTS/custom aerospace components, driving suppliers to schedule, and assembling benchtop or vehicle-level test setups.
• Autonomy: Demonstrated ability to self-direct, prioritize technical tasks without oversight, and deliver functional hardware under tight timelines.

Preferred qualifications

• Aircraft flight control actuation, weapons bay door, landing gear, or other deployable-mechanism design experience.
• Experience with electro-mechanical or electro-hydrostatic actuation systems.
• Familiarity with MIL-HDBK-516, MIL-STD-810, and airworthiness verification planning for mechanical systems.
• Hands-on machine shop, fabrication, mechanical assembly, or prototype-build experience in a rapid R&D environment.

Additional Information

• Salary: USD 142,880-214,320 per-year-salary
• Benefits: Pay within range listed + Bonus + Benefits + Equity