Director, Systems Engineering & Architecture - Hivemind Enterprise

F7d8749a; San Diego (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Shield AI in the United States is seeking a Director of Systems Engineering & Architecture (SE&A) for its Hivemind Enterprise to lead systems engineering, architecture, cybersecurity, and safety/aerworthiness disciplines across the lifecycle of software-intensive autonomous systems.

You will hire and mentor teams, define operating models, own requirements traceability, guide architecture trade-offs, and drive verification plans to ensure rapid, credible delivery that meets mission needs.

Qualifications

• 15+ years of experience in systems engineering for complex multidisciplinary systems.
• Proven leadership of engineering teams and senior technical talent across org boundaries.
• Deep experience with requirements development and management including decomposition, allocation, traceability, and change control.
• Ability to develop system architectures and use models to analyze structure, behavior, interfaces, constraints, and tradeoffs.
• Experience defining verification methods, measurable criteria, and evidence for readiness.
• Experience applying systems engineering within software lifecycles (iterative development, CI, testing, release).
• Ability to drive engineering maturity and tailor rigor to risk with measurable delivery benefits.
• Strong technical judgment to guide cybersecurity, safety, and airworthiness disciplines.
• Experience in autonomous systems, AI-enabled platforms, robotics, or related tools.

Responsibilities

• Lead the SE&A engineering disciplines: hire, develop, and set clear responsibilities and standards.
• Define operating model for SE&A engagement with product and engineering, prioritizing work and allocating resources.
• Own requirements development, architecture modeling, interface definition, traceability and impact analysis.
• Drive system-level verification and validation planning with measurable acceptance criteria.
• Support software development by integrating SE&A into planning, design, testing, release readiness, and sustainment.
• Lead integrated assurance addressing cybersecurity, safety, and airworthiness from the outset.
• Guide technical decisions, lead risk-based design reviews, and resolve cross-team issues.
• Improve engineering effectiveness by establishing practical methods and workflows with earlier risk discovery.

Skills

15+ years

Systems engineering

Leadership

Requirements engineering

Architecture modeling

Verification & validation

Software lifecycle

Engineering effectiveness

Technical judgment

Autonomous systems

Education

Engineering degree

Tools

SysML

Cameo

Job description

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, V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft, and Aechelon simulation and synthetic reality technologies. 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 www.shield.ai https://shield.ai/. Follow Shield AI on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/shield-ai, X https://x.com/shieldaitech, Instagram https://www.instagram.com/shield_ai, and YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@Shield_AI. We are seeking a Director of Systems Engineering & Architecture (SE&A) for Shield AI’s Hivemind Enterprise organization, supporting development of our autonomy platform and development ecosystem for AI Pilots. This leader will oversee Systems Engineering, System Architecture, Cybersecurity Engineering, and Safety/Airworthiness Engineering, building the teams and technical practices needed to deliver dependable, software-intensive autonomous systems. You will connect operational product needs to measurable requirements, coherent architectures, and credible verification and assurance evidence. Partnering with Product, Software Engineering, Program Management, and Integration and Test teams, you will embed practical engineering rigor throughout the development lifecycle.

What You'll Do:

• Lead the team: Hire, develop, and lead the SE&A engineering disciplines, establishing clear responsibilities, technical standards, and effective cross-functional partnerships.
• Establish the operating model: Define how SE&A engages with product and engineering teams, prioritizes competing demands, and allocates resources. Establish clear decision rights, escalation paths, and risk-proportionate engineering practices that improve delivery without unnecessary process overhead.
• Own requirements and architecture: Guide requirements development and management, system modeling, architectural trade studies, interface definition, traceability, and change impact analysis.
• Drive verification and validation planning: Establish system-level verification and validation strategies, measurable acceptance criteria, and evidence expectations. Partner with integration and test teams to demonstrate end-to-end capability.
• Support software development: Integrate systems engineering and architecture into iterative planning, design, implementation, testing, release readiness, and sustainment.
• Lead integrated assurance: Ensure cybersecurity, safety, and airworthiness considerations shape requirements, architecture, development, and verification from the outset.
• Guide technical decisions: Lead risk-based design reviews, resolve cross-team technical issues, and provide evidence-based readiness recommendations while preserving designated approval and risk-acceptance authorities.
• Improve engineering effectiveness: Establish and continuously improve practical methods, models, and workflows that connect requirements, architecture, implementation, and evidence. Measure success through earlier risk discovery, reduced rework, improved integration and release predictability, and timely closure of verification and assurance gaps.

What You'll Bring:

• At least 15 years of applied systems engineering experience with complex, multidisciplinary systems, including direct involvement in development, integration, verification, and delivery.
• Leadership: Demonstrated success leading engineering teams and senior technical talent, setting technical direction, and driving execution across organizational boundaries.
• Requirements engineering: Deep experience with requirements development and management, including decomposition, allocation, traceability, interface requirements, baselining, and change control.
• Architecture and modeling: Demonstrated ability to develop system architectures and use system models to analyze structure, behavior, interfaces, constraints, and design tradeoffs.
• Verification and validation: Experience defining verification methods, measurable acceptance criteria, representative validation scenarios, and the evidence needed to assess system readiness.
• Software lifecycle support: Experience applying systems engineering within software development lifecycles, including iterative development, continuous integration, testing, configuration management, and release processes.
• Engineering effectiveness: Demonstrated ability to improve engineering maturity in an iterative development environment, tailoring rigor to technical risk and achieving measurable delivery benefits rather than process adoption alone.
• Technical judgment: Ability to lead specialists across cybersecurity, safety, and airworthiness disciplines and communicate technical decisions and risks clearly to engineering, executive, and customer stakeholders.
• Autonomous systems: Experience with autonomy software, AI-enabled systems, robotics, mission systems, or autonomy development platforms and tools.
• A Degree in a relevant engineering or computer science discipline, or equivalent practical experience; an advanced technical degree is a plus Experience That Will Help You Stand Out:

Experience That Will Help You Stand Out:

• Engineering methods: Experience applying model-based systems engineering (MBSE) and scaling engineering practices without unnecessary process overhead. Familiarity with SysML and Cameo or similar system modeling tools.
• Aerospace and defense: Experience delivering aerospace or defense systems with government customers, platform integrators, or operational users.
• Safety and airworthiness: Practical experience with safety-critical development, hazard analysis, airworthiness planning, and compliance or certification evidence.
• Applied cybersecurity: Experience translating threat assessments and security obligations into requirements, architectural controls, and verification activities.
• Full-