Senior Staff Engineer, Systems Test; R3896

Position: Senior Staff Engineer, Systems Test (R3896)
Founded in 2015, Shield AI is a venture-backed deep-tech company with the mission of protecting service members and civilians with intelligent systems. Its products include the V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft, Hivemind Enterprise, and the Hivemind Vision product lines. With nine offices and facilities across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and the Asia-Pacific, Shield AI’s technology actively supports operations worldwide.

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Job Description

As a Hivemind Solutions Systems Test Engineer, you will be at the epicenter of integration and testing for deploying our Hivemind Software and AI Pilot on 3rd Party Platforms. You will be planning and executing the integration and testing of SW and HW systems throughout the Software Development Life Cycle, preparing them for simulation demonstrations and on‑ground, in‑flight, or sea trial test campaigns.

Our test campaigns are hands‑on and fast paced, with lots of planning, documentation, communication, coordination, manual testing, scripted testing, test reviewing, debugging, and system verification. Your efforts will be rewarded with successful flight test events and your contributions will play a key role in developing an AI autopilot, enabling intelligent aircraft, historic aviation firsts and fulfilling our mission to protect service members and civilians the world over!

What you’ll do:

• Work with Hivemind and Hivemind Solutions engineering to test and integrate software and hardware systems preparing for simulation milestones and flight tests.

• Support on‑site flight testing that involves system configuration, running aircraft software, and data post‑analysis.

• Hands‑on debugging during on‑ground and in‑flight test and/or sea trial campaigns.

• Write Python code to test complex Hivemind + aircraft SW and HW systems (with SW emphasis).

• Create SW based tools to improve flight testing and troubleshooting (Python and/or C++).

• Become a subject‑matter‑expert for running Hivemind tests on our Hardware‑In‑The‑Loop and Vehicle‑In‑The‑Loop systems.

• Run simulated flight tests to validate Hivemind + platform subsystems.

• Contribute to software utilities and automated test suites for Hardware‑In‑The‑Loop infrastructure.

• Contribute to and execute test plans to validate Hivemind SW and HW systems.

• Create test team data Dashboards to provide high‑level results visibility and data analysis.

• Review artifacts related to simulated and real flight test data for any anomalous behavior.

• Identify, analyze, and document software defects, issues, and inconsistencies in software behavior.

• Drive continuous improvement in testing methodologies, tools, and processes.

Required qualifications:

• Typically requires a minimum of 10 years of related experience with a Bachelor’s degree; or 9 years and a Master’s degree; or 7 years with a PhD; or equivalent work experience.

• Proficiency in Python.

• Experience in robotics, small UAS, USV, UUV, or related hands‑on engineering projects.

• Strong analytical, problem‑solving, and debugging skills.

• Passionate about intelligent systems.

• Excellent communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to work effectively with cross‑functional software, hardware and mechanical engineering teams.

• Adaptability and a willingness to learn new technologies and methodologies quickly in a fast‑paced environment.

• The ability to obtain and maintain a SECRET Clearance. US citizenship is required as only US citizens are eligible for a security clearance.

Preferred qualifications:

• Experience building unmanned systems, such as quadrotor drones or similar.

• Proficiency in Python and C++.

• FIRST Robotics experience.

• Software management tools (Git, Azure Dev Ops /Jira, Artifactory).

• Experience in the aerospace or defense industries, working with complex systems and adhering to stringent standards and regulations.

• Active SECRET clearance.

Salary range: $170,000 - $250,000 a year.

Full‑time regular employee offer package:
Pay within range listed + Bonus + Benefits + Equity.

Temporary employee offer package:
Pay within range listed above + temporary benefits…