Senior Mission Systems Engineer - UAV Autonomy & Avionics

Shield AI; Dallas, Northern (TX, KY); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Shield AI is seeking a senior staff engineer for mission systems to lead end-to-end engineering of unmanned aircraft systems, including payloads, avionics and weapons integration.

You will drive system architectures, requirements development, and certification readiness, ensuring robust, integrated and certifiable designs while coordinating with customers and suppliers. The role requires strong leadership, deep systems engineering expertise, and security clearances.

Qualifications

• B.S. in Aerospace, Electrical, Systems Engineering or related field.
• 8+ years in aerospace/defense, with 5+ years in mission systems integration.
• Experience with payloads, avionics, and/or weapons integration.
• Experience with LOS/BLOS communications systems.

Responsibilities

• Lead system architecture and requirements development for payloads, avionics, and weapons integration.
• Serve as a technical SME for mission systems across the aircraft program.
• Drive trades studies and system-of-systems analysis balancing performance, cost and schedule.
• Oversee integration and test campaigns from bench HIL to flight test.
• Ensure compliance with MIL-HDBK-516C, DO-178C, DO-254 and related standards.
• Collaborate with program management to de-risk architectures and ensure maturity gates.
• Interface with customers, partners and suppliers to align system requirements and certifications.

Skills

Payloads & avionics

Weapons integration

LOS/BLOS communications

MOSA/M Mission System standards

Technical leadership

Systems engineering

Certification readiness (DO-178C/DO-CO

Education

B.S. in Aerospace/Electrical/Systems Engineering

Tools

MBSE

SysML

Job description

Shield AI is seeking a senior staff engineer for mission systems to lead end-to-end engineering of unmanned aircraft systems, including payloads, avionics and weapons integration.

You will drive system architectures, requirements development, and certification readiness, ensuring robust, integrated and certifiable designs while coordinating with customers and suppliers. The role requires strong leadership, deep systems engineering expertise, and security clearances.