Staff Electrical Engineer, Hardware Test (R6121)

Shield; Washington (District of Columbia); On-site; USD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Shield AI is seeking a Staff Electrical Engineer to define and lead the electrical test-equipment strategy for X-BAT avionics and subsystems. You will be the technical authority for test capabilities, guiding architecture, safety practices, and lifecycle expectations while mentoring engineers across teams.

You will influence aircraft design through testability and establish reusable platforms, with no direct people management required.

Qualifications

• B.S. in Electrical Engineering or related STEM; practical experience acceptable.
• 8+ years in electrical hardware, automated test equipment, or verification systems.
• Experience leading hardware development cycles from ambiguous requirements to deployment.
• Expertise across power electronics, analog/digital design, RF, instrumentation, data acquisition, control systems, signal integrity, grounding, or safety.

Responsibilities

• Own the technical strategy, architecture, and roadmap for electrical test equipment for X-BAT avionics and subsystems.
• Lead complex test-equipment programs through requirements, design, build, integration, and sustainment.
• Define common architectures for racks, interface units, power, instrumentation, data acquisition, timing, and diagnostics.
• Set engineering standards for schematics, PCB/harness design, calibration, and documentation.
• Mentor senior engineers and drive cross-domain technical decisions and reviews.

Skills

Electrical engineering

Power electronics

RF design

Data acquisition

System safety

Root-cause analysis

Requirements decomposition

Technical leadership

Cross-domain collaboration

Education

B.S. in Electrical Engineering

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-BATaircraft, 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 Follow Shield AI onLinkedIn,X,Instagram, andYouTube.

Job Description: Shield AI is seeking a Staff Electrical Engineer to define and lead the electrical test‑equipment strategy that enables X-BAT hardware to move from rapid development through qualification, integration, and sustained operation. The Hardware Test Engineering team builds the multidisciplinary systems used to characterize, stress, verify, and troubleshoot mission‑critical aircraft components and subsystems. You will be the technical authority for a portfolio of electrical test capabilities rather than a single stand or project. You will establish common architectures, engineering standards, safety practices, and lifecycle expectations; align capability roadmaps with program risk and verification needs; and lead the most ambiguous or consequential test‑equipment efforts from concept through deployment. Your influence will extend into aircraft design through design‑for‑testability, interface definition, reliability learning, and closed‑loop corrective action. This is a hands‑on staff individual‑contributor role with broad organizational reach. You will remain close to schematics, code, hardware, and lab operations while multiplying the effectiveness of other engineers through architecture, reviews, mentorship, reusable platforms, and clear technical decisions. Direct people management is not required.

What success looks like

• Create a coherent test‑equipment architecture and roadmap that closes the program's highest‑risk verification gaps and supports development, qualification, and recurring test needs.
• Standardize reusable electrical, software, data, safety, calibration, and documentation patterns that shorten delivery time without weakening rigor.
• Increase equipment reliability, diagnosability, maintainability, and utilization while reducing recurring failures, manual interventions, and one‑off designs.
• Raise the quality of aircraft requirements and interfaces by making testability, observability, fault isolation, and verification strategy explicit early in design.
• Develop senior technical talent and create durable practices that allow the organization to deliver more capability through the team rather than through individual heroics.

What you'll do

• Own the technical strategy, architecture, and roadmap for electrical test equipment supporting X-BAT avionics, power, communications, actuation, and other aircraft subsystems.
• Identify program verification risks and capability gaps; convert them into prioritized investments, platform decisions, development plans, and clear technical ownership.
• Define common architectures for racks, stands, interface units, power and fault insertion, instrumentation, data acquisition, timing, automation, diagnostics, and operator interfaces.
• Lead the most complex or novel test‑equipment programs through requirements, trade studies, architecture, detailed design, build, integration, acceptance, deployment, and sustainment.
• Set and uphold engineering standards for schematics, PCB and harness design, calibration, documentation, and release readiness.
• Establish system‑safety expectations for energized test equipment, including hazard analysis, safe‑state design, interlocks, isolation, emergency stops, access control, and verification of protective functions.
• Chair high‑consequence architecture, design, and readiness reviews; make or drive closure on cross‑domain technical decisions and unresolved risks.
• Partner with systems and design engineering to define testable requirements, electrical interfaces, built‑in observability, fault isolation, and verification approaches before aircraft designs are released.
• Develop strategies for equipment reliability, availability, maintainability, calibration, obsolescence, spares, vendor support, and recovery from failures during critical test campaigns.
• Lead cross‑functional root‑cause investigations that span test equipment, units under test, software, facilities, manufacturing, and supplier processes; ensure corrective actions improve both products and test capability.
• Make informed build‑versus‑buy decisions and provide technical direction to vendors, integrators, technicians, and partner teams delivering portions of the test ecosystem.
• Define and use meaningful operating metrics such as first‑pass acceptance, schedule predictability, equipment uptime, test repeatability, recurring anomalies, action closure, and reuse of proven designs.
• Mentor senior and developing engineers, delegate architecture and project ownership effectively, and improve the quality of technical reasoning and review across the organization.

Required qualifications

• B.S. in Electrical Engineering or a related STEM discipline, or equivalent practical experience.
• 8+ years of relevant industry experience developing complex electrical hardware, automated test equipment, or multidisciplinary verification systems.
• A record of leading multiple hardware development cycles and delivering equipment or products from ambiguous requirements through release, deployment, and sustained use.
• Deep expertise in several relevant domains, such as power electronics, analog and digital design, RF and communications, instrumentation, data acquisition, control systems, signal integrity, grounding, or system safety.
• Demonstrated ability to architect systems that span custom electronics, commercial instruments, harnessing, embedded control, automation software, mechanical equipment, and facility interfaces.
• Strong command of requirements decomposition, interface control, verification planning, design reviews, configuration management, acceptance testing, and technical documentation.
• Experience establishing technical standards or reusable platforms and influencing teams beyond direct project authority.
• Demonstrated success resolving complex cross‑domain failures using data, first‑principles reasoning, structured root‑cause analysis, and disciplined corrective action.
• Ability to communicate technical decisions, risks, and tradeoffs clearly to engineers, operators, program leaders, and executives.
• A record of mentoring engineers, raising technical quality, and delivering exceptional outcomes in a fast‑moving environment.

Preferred qualifications

• Experience architecting aerospace or defense ground‑test, qualification‑test, hardware‑in‑the‑loop, or production‑test systems for flight‑critical hardware.
• Experience across several aircraft electrical domains, including high‑voltage or high‑power systems, batteries, motors and drives, RF, avionics networks, sensors, flight controls, or mission systems.
• Experience scaling a test capability from early prototype equipment to configuration‑controlled platforms used across multiple teams, sites, or product phases.
• Experience applying safety and reliability methods such as hazard analysis, FMEA, fault‑tree analysis, proof testing, fault insertion, redundancy, and safe‑state verification.
• Knowledge of environmental and qualification testing such as thermal, vibration, shock, HALT, HASS, ESS, EMI or EMC, and the controls and instrumentation required to execute it well.
• Working knowledge of standards such as DO‑160, MIL‑STD‑810, MIL‑STD‑461, IPC, IEEE, NFPA 70E, or equivalent standards relevant to prior work.
• Experience with calibration systems, measurement uncertainty, metrology, data traceability, equipment cybersecurity, or regulated lab and production environments.
• Experience developing capital‑equipment plans, managing technical suppliers or integrators, and balancing capability, schedule, cost, and lifecycle risk.

Eligibility to obtain a U.S. security clearance if required by the program.

Compensation for this role is based on the position’s work location. The salary range shown reflects the listed location and may vary if the position is based in a different geographic market. Actual compensation will also consider factors such as experience, skills, qualifications, and internal equity. Pay within range listed + Bonus + Benefits + Equity. Temporary employee offer package: Pay within range listed above + temporary benefits package (applicable after 60 days of employment). Salary compensation is influenced by a wide array of factors including skill set, level of experience, licenses and certifications, and specific work location. All offers are contingent on a cleared background and possible reference check. Military fellows and part‑time employees are not eligible for benefits.

Shield AI is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. We are committed toequal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know.

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses and identifying potential inconsistencies or verification signals in application materials based on available information. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.