Aerospace Actuated Systems Lead - Aircraft Mechanisms

f7d8749a-72d6-407c-bf98-292ea630c73a; San Diego (CA); On-site; USD 153,000 - 229,000; Full time

Job summary

Shield AI seeks a Manager of Actuated Systems to lead a mechanical systems team for the X-BAT jet-engine VTOL platform. You will manage engineers designing doors, uplocks/downlocks, landing gear, and propulsion actuation, ensuring high-quality architecture and implementation across flight-critical mechanisms.

You will mentor engineers, drive end-to-end design, coordinate with systems, structures, aero, propulsion, and manufacturing, and manage workloads across multiple builds and test campaigns.

Qualifications

• B.S. in Mechanical Engineering (or equivalent).
• 10+ years experience with aerospace mechanisms and actuated system design, build, integration, test and flight.
• 2+ years leading teams or performing in a leadership role.
• Strong engineering fundamentals: kinematics, statics/dynamics, fatigue/wear, tolerancing/GD&T, materials and finishes, lubrication/bearings, failure modes.
• Experience shipping hardware through prototype build, test, iteration, and release, including supplier and manufacturing engagement.

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop a team of high talent mechanical engineers, from new grad to Principal, focused on aircraft mechanisms and actuation systems (architecture, detailed design, analysis support, release, and sustaining).
• Support your team as a technical resource for end-to-end design of mechanisms including doors & latching, uplocks/downlocks, landing gear, actuation integration for flight controls, nozzle/propulsion actuation mechanisms, and hydraulics.
• Set the quality bar for mechanisms engineering: sizing, tolerances, margins, drawings/MBD, materials/process selection, and verification evidence.
• Enable extreme ownership by ensuring engineers have clear goals, interfaces, resources, and decision rights.
• Drive cross-functional collaboration across systems, aero, propulsion, GNC, avionics, manufacturing, quality, supply chain, test, flight test.
• Coach and develop engineers through mentorship, career development, feedback, hiring, onboarding, and performance management.
• Manage team workload across builds and test campaigns; communicate risk, staffing needs, and schedule impacts with transparency.

Skills

Aerospace mechanism design

Actuation systems

Team leadership

Design verification

Education

Bachelor's in Mechanical Engineering

Job description

Shield AI seeks a Manager of Actuated Systems to lead a mechanical systems team for the X-BAT jet-engine VTOL platform. You will manage engineers designing doors, uplocks/downlocks, landing gear, and propulsion actuation, ensuring high-quality architecture and implementation across flight-critical mechanisms.

You will mentor engineers, drive end-to-end design, coordinate with systems, structures, aero, propulsion, and manufacturing, and manage workloads across multiple builds and test campaigns.