Staff Electrical Test Architect for Avionics

Shield; Seattle (WA); Hybrid; USD 185,000 - 275,000; Full time

Job summary

Shield AI seeks a Staff Electrical Engineer to define and lead the electrical test-equipment strategy for X-BAT avionics, powering development through qualification and sustainment. You will influence design-for-testability, interfaces, and diagnostics while guiding teammates from schematics to lab operations.

This hands-on IC role emphasizes architecture, mentorship, and reusable platforms, with no direct people management required, and a focus on delivering high-integrity test capabilities

Qualifications

• B.S./equivalent in Electrical Engineering or related STEM field.
• 8+ years in electrical hardware, automated test equipment, or verification systems.
• Led hardware development cycles from ambiguous requirements to release and sustainment.
• Deep expertise across power electronics, analog/digital design, RF, instrumentation, data acquisition, control, signal integrity, grounding, safety.
• Architects systems spanning custom electronics, harnessing, automation software, and lab interfaces.
• Strong requirements decomposition, interface control, verification planning, reviews, CM, acceptance testing, and docs.
• Experience establishing standards or reusable platforms and influencing beyond direct authority.
• Proven ability to resolve cross-domain failures using data and root-cause analysis.
• Ability to clearly communicate decisions to engineers, operators, executives.
• Mentors engineers and drives high-quality technical outcomes in fast-paced environments.

Responsibilities

• Own the technical strategy, architecture, and roadmap for electrical test equipment for X-BAT subsystems.
• Identify verification risks; convert into investments, platform decisions, and ownership.
• Define common architectures for racks, interfaces, power, instrumentation, data acquisition, timing, automation, and diagnostics.
• Lead complex test-equipment programs from requirements through deployment and sustainment.
• Set and uphold standards for schematics, PCB/harness design, calibration, and release readiness.
• Establish safety expectations for energized test equipment including interlocks and hazard analysis.
• Chair architecture/design readiness reviews and close cross-domain risks.
• Partner to define testable requirements, interfaces, observability, fault isolation, and verification before designs release.
• Develop strategies for reliability, obsolescence, spares, vendor support, and recoveries during tests.
• Lead cross-functional RCA investigations to improve products and test capability.
• Guide build-vs-buy decisions and provide direction to vendors and partner teams.
• Define operating metrics like first-pass acceptance, uptime, and test repeatability.
• Mentor senior engineers and elevate technical reasoning across the organization.

Skills

Electrical engineering

Test equipment design

Systems engineering

Requirements decomposition

Communication

Mentoring

Root-cause analysis

Cross-domain collaboration

Architecture & reviews

Documentation

Education

B.S. in Electrical Engineering

Job description

Shield AI seeks a Staff Electrical Engineer to define and lead the electrical test-equipment strategy for X-BAT avionics, powering development through qualification and sustainment. You will influence design-for-testability, interfaces, and diagnostics while guiding teammates from schematics to lab operations.

This hands-on IC role emphasizes architecture, mentorship, and reusable platforms, with no direct people management required, and a focus on delivering high-integrity test capabilities