Senior Staff Engineer, Actuation Systems Architecture & Design (RX) (R6003)

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

As a Senior Staff Engineer (L4/L5), you will take full technical ownership of actuation systems architecture, design, and integration for actuated systems and mechanisms on a Group 5 UAV fighter aircraft.

Responsibilities

• Actuation System Ownership: Lead the architecture, requirements definition, and detailed design of actuation systems across bay doors and other airframe mechanisms.
• Actuator and Mechanism Design: Own actuator selection and sizing, sequencing, redundancy management, failure mode analysis, and interfaces with the mechanisms they actuate.
• Vehicle Mechanism Integration: Drive integration of actuation systems with control surfaces, weapons bay doors, and other vehicle mechanisms, including timing, load, sealing, and structural interface requirements.
• Power and Thermal Integration: Own actuator power architecture and load-analysis interfaces with EPS, and heat-generation and heat-rejection interfaces with thermal management.
• Requirements and Verification: Define, allocate, and own verification traceability for actuation system requirements with FCAS, EPS, thermal management, structures, and propulsion IPTs.
• Targeted Technical Decisions: Perform focused technology assessments when needed to resolve specific actuation design and integration risks.
• 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.
• Program Execution: Lead design-maturity and qualification-status reviews at SRR, PDR, and CDR.

Required Qualifications

• Clearance required: US Citizens Only & Must have an Active Secret or higher clearance.
• Experience: 8 to 15 years in aircraft actuation systems design, with hands-on depth in electric actuation, including EMA or EHA, or centralized hydraulics and working knowledge of the other.
• Education: B.S. or M.S. in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
• 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.
• Actuation Design Fundamentals: Demonstrated depth in actuator sizing, power and thermal interfaces, FMEA, redundancy management, and mechanical mechanism integration.
• Systems Integration: Demonstrated experience leading multi-disciplinary actuation design and integration efforts with electrical power, thermal management, structures, and adjacent mechanical systems stakeholders.
• Standards and Reviews: Familiarity with MIL-HDBK-516 and MIL-STD-810 as applied to actuation and mechanical systems, and experience supporting SRR, PDR, and CDR on a DoD or fighter-class aircraft program.

Preferred Qualifications

• Prior fighter or fighter-adjacent program experience, manned or unmanned.
• Experience developing electric actuation architectures for aircraft control surfaces or other mechanisms.
• Weapons bay mechanism or store separation-adjacent mechanical systems experience.

Additional Information

• Salary: USD 173,760-260,640 per-year-salary
• Benefits: Full-time regular employee offer package: Pay within range listed + Bonus + Benefits + Equity