Senior Staff Engineer, Supply Chain - Mechanical Commodities (R6524)

Shield AI; Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Shield AI is seeking a Supplier Development Engineer to lead the technical development, industrialization, and performance improvement of suppliers for precision mechanical components including airframe structures and propulsion hardware.

You will interface with engineering, quality, manufacturing, and program teams to resolve quality and delivery issues, onboard suppliers to new designs, and guide them through qualification and ramp-up.

Qualifications

• Experience in supplier development for mechanical commodities.
• Strong cross-functional collaboration with engineering, quality, manufacturing and supply chain.
• Willingness to travel up to 50%, including international trips.

Responsibilities

• Lead technical development and industrialization of suppliers for precision mechanical parts.
• Interface between suppliers and Shield AI's engineering, manufacturing and quality teams.
• Onboard suppliers to new designs and drive qualification and ramp-up to production.

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. Follow Shield AI on LinkedIn, X, Instagram, and YouTube.

About the role

Shield AI is looking for a highly skilled, motivated Supplier Development Engineer to lead the technical development, industrialization, and performance improvement of suppliers for critical mechanical commodities. These include precision-machined components, airframe structures, landing gear, composites and propulsion/engine hardware.

You’ll be the main technical interface between suppliers and Shield AI's Engineering, Quality, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, and Program teams. You’ll solve supplier problems that affect quality, on-time delivery, and scaling. You’ll onboard suppliers to new designs and lead them through qualification and production ramp-up. This work is central to our mission of delivering affordable, autonomous mass at scale.

The role involves a lot of travel, up to 50%, including regular trips internationally to develop and build the supply base there.