Staff Electrical Engineer, Hardware Test

Job Description:
At Shield AI, we are revolutionizing defense technology to protect service members and civilians with intelligent, autonomous systems. Our Hardware Test Engineering team plays a critical role in ensuring the X-BAT Becomes the most reliable, mission-ready UAV in the industry. We design cutting-edge test solutions—custom-built electrical and mechanical systems that push our hardware to its limits in real-world and extreme environments.
 
As a Senior Electrical Engineer on our Hardware Test team, you will own the design and development of test systems that push our hardware to its limits. From designing custom PCBs and automated test sequences to developing electrical and mechanical test stands, you’ll be at the forefront of ensuring the highest reliability in aerospace hardware. This is a high-impact role where your expertise in power electronics, RF, communications, and automation will help shape the future of intelligent defense systems.

What you'll do:

- Own the technical strategy, architecture, and roadmap for electrical test equipment supporting X-BAT avionics, power, communications, actuation, and other aircraft subsystems.

- Identify program verification risks and capability gaps; convert them into prioritized investments, platform decisions, development plans, and clear technical ownership.

- Define common architectures for racks, stands, interface units, power and fault insertion, instrumentation, data acquisition, timing, automation, diagnostics, and operator interfaces.

- Lead the most complex or novel test-equipment programs through requirements, trade studies, architecture, detailed design, build, integration, acceptance, deployment, and sustainment.

- Set and uphold engineering standards for schematics, PCB and harness design, calibration, documentation, and release readiness.

- Establish system-safety expectations for energized test equipment, including hazard analysis, safe-state design, interlocks, isolation, emergency stops, access control, and verification of protective functions.

- Chair high-consequence architecture, design, and readiness reviews; make or drive closure on cross-domain technical decisions and unresolved risks.

- Partner with systems and design engineering to define testable requirements, electrical interfaces, built-in observability, fault isolation, and verification approaches before aircraft designs are released.

- Develop strategies for equipment reliability, availability, maintainability, calibration, obsolescence, spares, vendor support, and recovery from failures during critical test campaigns.

- Lead cross-functional root-cause investigations that span test equipment, units under test, software, facilities, manufacturing, and supplier processes; ensure corrective actions improve both products and test capability.

- Make informed build-versus-buy decisions and provide technical direction to vendors, integrators, technicians, and partner teams delivering portions of the test ecosystem.

- Define and use meaningful operating metrics such as first-pass acceptance, schedule predictability, equipment uptime, test repeatability, recurring anomalies, action closure, and reuse of proven designs.

- Mentor senior and developing engineers, delegate architecture and project ownership effectively, and improve the quality of technical reasoning and review across the organization.

Required qualifications:

- B.S. in Electrical Engineering or a related STEM discipline, or equivalent practical experience.

- 8+ years of relevant industry experience developing complex electrical hardware, automated test equipment, or multidisciplinary verification systems.

- A record of leading multiple hardware development cycles and delivering equipment or products from ambiguous requirements through release, deployment, and sustained use.

- Deep expertise in several relevant domains, such as power electronics, analog and digital design, RF and communications, instrumentation, data acquisition, control systems, signal integrity, grounding, or system safety.

- Demonstrated ability to architect systems that span custom electronics, commercial instruments, harnessing, embedded control, automation software, mechanical equipment, and facility interfaces.

- Strong command of requirements decomposition, interface control, verification planning, design reviews, configuration management, acceptance testing, and technical documentation.

- Experience establishing technical standards or reusable platforms and influencing teams beyond direct project authority.

- Demonstrated success resolving complex cross-domain failures using data, first-principles reasoning, structured root-cause analysis, and disciplined corrective action.

- Ability to communicate technical decisions, risks, and tradeoffs clearly to engineers, operators, program leaders, and executives.

- A record of mentoring engineers, raising technical quality, and delivering exceptional outcomes in a fast-moving environment.

Preferred qualifications:

- Experience architecting aerospace or defense ground-test, qualification-test, hardware-in-the-loop, or production-test systems for flight-critical hardware.

- Experience across several aircraft electrical domains, including high-voltage or high-power systems, batteries, motors and drives, RF, avionics networks, sensors, flight controls, or mission systems.

- Experience scaling a test capability from early prototype equipment to configuration-controlled platforms used across multiple teams, sites, or product phases.

- Experience applying safety and reliability methods such as hazard analysis, FMEA, fault-tree analysis, proof testing, fault insertion, redundancy, and safe-state verification.

- Knowledge of environmental and qualification testing such as thermal, vibration, shock, HALT, HASS, ESS, EMI or EMC, and the controls and instrumentation required to execute it well.

- Working knowledge of standards such as DO-160, MIL-STD-810, MIL-STD-461, IPC, IEEE, NFPA 70E, or equivalent standards relevant to prior work.

- Experience with calibration systems, measurement uncertainty, metrology, data traceability, equipment cybersecurity, or regulated lab and production environments.

- Experience developing capital-equipment plans, managing technical suppliers or integrators, and balancing capability, schedule, cost, and lifecycle risk.

- Eligibility to obtain a U.S. security clearance if required by the program.

#LI-JM2
#LC

Full-time regular employee offer package:
Pay within range listed + Bonus + Benefits + Equity
 
Temporary employee offer package:
Pay within range listed above + temporary benefits package (applicable after 60 days of employment)
 
Salary compensation is influenced by a wide array of factors including but not limited to skill set, level of experience, licenses and certifications, and specific work location. All offers are contingent on a cleared background and possible reference check. Military fellows and part-time employees are not eligible for benefits. Please speak to your talent acquisition representative for more information.
 
###
 
Shield AI is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know.

Compensation for this role is based on the position’s work location. The salary range shown reflects the listed location and may vary if the position is based in a different geographic market. Actual compensation will also consider factors such as experience, skills, qualifications, and internal equity.