# Staff Mission Systems Engineer - Ranger (R6405)

**Company**: Shield AI
**Location**: Seattle, Washington
**Work arrangement**: onsite
**Experience**: staff
**Job type**: Full Time Employee
**Salary**: USD 185,000-280,000 per-year-salary
**Category**: Engineering
**Industry**: Technology

**Apply**: https://jobs.lever.co/shieldai/0edc2cfa-d7df-497e-ae42-a4aa88867c06?utm_source=yubhub.co&utm_medium=jobs_feed&utm_campaign=apply
**Canonical**: https://yubhub.co/jobs/job_b1b0adfe-76f

## Description

Shield AI is a venture-backed defense-tech company with the mission of protecting service members and civilians with intelligent systems.

This staff engineer for mission systems will serve as a senior technical leader responsible for the end-to-end engineering of mission systems on advanced next-gen unmanned aircraft, including payloads, communications, avionics, weapons, and associated support systems.

## Responsibilities

- Lead system architecture and requirements development and integration for payloads, avionics, and weapons integration

- Serve as a technical subject matter expert for mission systems engineering across the aircraft program

- Drive trade studies and system-of-systems analysis to balance performance, cost, and schedule

- Oversee integration and test campaigns, from bench-level hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) to flight test

- Ensure compliance with MIL-HDBK-516C, DO-178C, DO-254, and related standards

- Collaborate with program management to de-risk architectures and ensure technical maturity gates are met

- Interface with customers, partners, and suppliers to align system requirements and certifications

## Required Qualifications

- B.S. in Aerospace Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Systems Engineering, or related field

- Typically requires a minimum of 7 years of relevant Aerospace/defense experience, with at least 5 years in mission systems integration

- Demonstrated experience with aircraft payloads, avionics, and/or weapons integration

- Demonstrated experience with line-of-sight and beyond line-of-sight aircraft communications systems and components

- Working knowledge of Government modular open system approach (MOSA) standards to include open mission systems (OMS), Government Reference Architectures (GRA) or modular avionics standards

- Proven ability to lead multidisciplinary teams and deliver complex systems to fielded capability

- Strong knowledge of systems engineering processes and product development lifecycle

- Familiarity with DO-178C/DO-254 certification requirements for software and hardware

- Excellent communication skills and ability to brief technical findings to executives and customers

- Active Secret clearance and have the ability to obtain a Top-Secret clearance

## Preferred Qualifications

- Master’s or PhD in Aerospace, Systems, or Electrical Engineering

- Hands-on experience with flight test operations and mission system validation

- Direct experience integrating advanced sensors, autonomy, AI-enabled payloads, or guided weapons

- Background in model-based systems engineering (MBSE) and SysML tools

- Strong knowledge of current aircraft mission systems vendors and capabilities

- Active DoD Secret clearance

## Skills

### Required
- Aerospace Engineering
- Electrical Engineering
- Systems Engineering
- Mission Systems Integration
- Payloads Integration
- Avionics Integration
- Weapons Integration
- MIL-HDBK-516C
- DO-178C
- DO-254
- Government Modular Open System Approach (MOSA)
- Open Mission Systems (OMS)
- Government Reference Architectures (GRA)
- Modular Avionics Standards

### Nice to have
- Master’s or PhD in Aerospace, Systems, or Electrical Engineering
- Flight Test Operations
- Mission System Validation
- Advanced Sensors Integration
- Autonomy
- AI-enabled Payloads
- Guided Weapons
- Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE)
- SysML Tools

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Source: [Apply at jobs.lever.co](https://jobs.lever.co/shieldai/0edc2cfa-d7df-497e-ae42-a4aa88867c06?utm_source=yubhub.co&utm_medium=jobs_feed&utm_campaign=apply)