Principal Engineer, Software Architect; R4562 Security Clearance

Position: Principal Engineer, Software Architect (R4562) with Security Clearance
Founded in 2015, 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 and V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft. With offices and facilities across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific, Shield AI's technology actively supports operations worldwide. For more information, visit (Use the "Apply for this Job" box below). . Follow Shield AI on Linked In , X , Instagram , and You Tube .

Lead the software architecture for Shield AI's XBAT program across Mission, Vehicle, and Autonomy software domains. Build a safe, secure, and scalable architecture that enables high-assurance, cyber-relevant software development for an advanced airborne system and its ground stations, reporting to the XBAT Software Lead. WHAT YOU'LL DO:
* Define and evolve the system-wide software architecture for XBAT, spanning airborne vehicle, ground station, and autonomy layers.
* Translate safety and security goals into technical requirements, standards, and design patterns that guide engineers across multiple software teams.
* Ensure architecture supports safety-critical and cyber-relevant workflows. This includes formalizing architecture decisions, traceability, and compliance pathways appropriate for advanced airborne systems.
* Drive cross-team alignment on APIs, data flows, fault handling, verification strategy, and risk management so mission, vehicle, and autonomy components integrate cleanly.
* Partner with engineering leadership, system architects, and validation teams to balance innovation speed with rigorous assurance practices.
* Set technical direction for long-term scalability: modularity, maintainability, testability, and support for future capability growth or certification needs.
* Mentor senior engineers and architects, raising the bar for design rigor, documentation quality, and architectural judgment across the organization.
* Produce and maintain architecture artifacts: high-level system diagrams, component interfaces, data models, risk analyses, and design rationales.
* Lead technical reviews for major features, changes, or integration points; ensure alignment with architectural standards and safety/security constraints.
* Define architecture governance: decision records, change control processes, quality gates, and collaboration flows among development, verification, and operations.
* Collaborate with systems, hardware, and avionics teams to manage boundaries, timing, resource allocation, and failure modes that affect overall aircraft and mission performance.
* Drive technology evaluation and roadmap: select or validate frameworks, middleware, and tooling that meet performance, assurance, and cyber-hardening needs.
* Support external or internal readiness evaluations: provide architectural evidence, participate in reviews, and help the program articulate compliance posture as requirements evolve.
* Advocate for continuous improvement in architecture practice: metrics, architecture reviews, knowledge sharing, and onboarding for new team members.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:

* Deep expertise in software architecture for complex, multi-domain systems-ideally aerospace, defense, autonomous systems, or similarly safety-critical fields.
* Proven track record designing and delivering production software that must satisfy stringent safety, security, or mission assurance requirements.
* Strong systems thinking: able to navigate tradeoffs across performance, latency, reliability, testability, and certification or compliance considerations.
* Excellent written and verbal communication; able to convey architecture vision and rationale to engineers, program leads, and stakeholders.
* Experience driving architecture adoption and discipline across multiple teams, not just authoring designs in isolation.
* Bachelor's or advanced degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Aerospace, or a closely related field, or equivalent practical experience.
* Ability to obtain a S//SAR level security clearance desired.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

* Familiarity with aerospace software assurance frameworks or standards that guide high-assurance airborne software development.
* Experience working on or integrating autonomy, mission planning, or AI-enabled software into real-world systems.
* Strong understanding of cyber hardening and secure design practices for distributed or networked vehicle systems and ground infrastructure.
* Prior leadership or mentor role with responsibility for building and scaling architecture practices and design culture in a fast-moving engineering organization.
* Experience dealing with constrained platforms: real-time requirements, limited compute, or avionics-style integration challenges.
* Hands-on experience in VTOL or other advanced aircraft programs, or in programs that require austere operations, long-range operations, or resilient autonomy.
* Exposure to end-to-end product lifecycle from…