Staff Engineer, Industrial

Shield; Washington (District of Columbia); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Bonus

Benefits

Equity

Job summary

Shield AI seeks a Staff Advanced Industrial Engineer to design, optimize, and scale manufacturing systems for advanced aerospace products. You will lead factory layouts, material flow, line balancing, and capacity planning while driving production readiness across cross-functional teams.

You will shape greenfield facilities, develop 2D/3D layouts, and implement lean practices to maximize throughput, quality, and safety in a fast-growing environment.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Industrial Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Systems Engineering, or related field.
• 8+ years in industrial engineering, factory design, or greenfield facility development.
• Experience designing factory layouts, production lines, and scalable manufacturing systems for complex products.
• Experience supporting greenfield manufacturing projects, facility expansions, or major production line launches.
• Strong understanding of machining, composites, electrical assemblies, and final integration processes.
• Experience with production ramp-up, new product introduction, and manufacturing process development.
• Ability to lead cross-functional projects in a fast-paced, high-growth environment.
• Excellent analytical, communication, and problem-solving skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead factory layout development, production line design, and manufacturing system optimization for new and existing programs.
• Plan and execute greenfield manufacturing facilities, including master planning, space allocation, and capacity planning.
• Develop factory concepts from initial planning through production launch, ensuring scalability and efficiency.
• Design and optimize material flow, storage, replenishment systems, and warehouse logistics.
• Create 2D layouts and 3D models with equipment placement, utilities, and safety zones.
• Perform capacity planning, takt time analysis, labor planning, and bottleneck analysis to meet targets.
• Conduct time studies and workflow analyses to reduce waste and improve productivity.
• Develop manufacturing standards, visual controls, and operating procedures.
• Lead cross-functional design reviews across Manufacturing, Operations, Facilities, Supply Chain, and Quality.
• Use discrete-event simulation to model throughput and validate factory designs before implementation.
• Support facility construction, equipment installation, and production readiness during launches.
• Drive Lean initiatives including 5S, visual management, and value stream optimization.

Skills

Analytical skills

Project management

Cross-functional leadership

Communication skills

Problem-solving

Education

Bachelor's degree in Industrial Engineering

Tools

AutoCAD

SolidWorks

Revit

Visio

Siemens Plant Simulation

FlexSim

AnyLogic

Job description

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:We areseekinga highly motivated StaffAdvanceIndustrial Engineer to design,optimize, and scale world-class manufacturing systems for advanced aerospace products. In this role, you will lead factory and production system design, including facility layouts, material flow, line balancing, capacity planning, and production readiness. You will also play a critical role in planning and executing greenfield manufacturing facilities, developing factory concepts from the ground up, including production layouts, infrastructure requirements, equipment planning, material flow strategies, and manufacturing standards.Partnering with Manufacturing Engineering, Operations, Supply Chain, Facilities, Quality, EHS, and Program Management, you will develop efficient, scalable, and data-driven manufacturing solutions that enable rapid production growth. This is a high-impact role responsible for transforming manufacturing concepts into production-ready factories while driving safety, quality, throughput, and operational excellence.

What you’ll do

• Lead factory layout development, production line design, and manufacturing system optimization for new and existing production programs.
• Support the planning and execution of greenfield manufacturing facilities, including factory master planning, space allocation, utility requirements, equipment placement, production flow, and long-term capacity planning.
• Develop manufacturing concepts frominitialfactory planning through production launch, ensuring scalability, flexibility, and operational efficiency.
• Design andoptimizematerial flow, point-of-use storage, supermarkets, kitting strategies, replenishment systems, tugger routes, and warehouselogistics.
• Develop detailed 2D factory layouts and 3D manufacturing models, including equipment placement, utilities, workstations, safety zones, production support infrastructure, and future expansion plans.
• Perform capacity planning, line balancing, takt time analysis, labor planning, buffer sizing, and bottleneck analysis to achieve production targets.
• Conduct time studies, ergonomic assessments, spaghetti diagrams, and workflow analyses to improve productivity andeliminatewaste.
• Develop manufacturing standards for material presentation, packaging, FIFO management, visual controls, workstation design, and factory operating standards.
• Lead cross-functional factory design reviews with Manufacturing Engineering, Production, Facilities, Supply Chain, Quality, EHS, and Program Management.
• Utilize discrete-event simulation tools to model production throughput,identifyconstraints,validatefactory designs, andoptimizemanufacturing strategies before implementation.
• Support facility construction, equipment installation, tape-outs, utility coordination, commissioning, and production readiness activities during factory launches.
• Drive Lean Manufacturing initiatives including 5S, visual management, standardized work, continuous improvement, and value stream optimization.
• Develop andmaintainfactory design standards, launch playbooks, production system guidelines, and manufacturing best practices to support future factory expansions and replication.

Tools & Skills

• AutoCAD, SolidWorks, Revit, Visio, or equivalent CAD/layout software
• Siemens Plant Simulation,FlexSim,AnyLogic, or equivalent discrete-event simulation software
• Time studies, MTM/MOST, work measurement, and labor analysis
• Capacity modeling, line balancing, takt planning, and production system design
• Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, Value Stream Mapping (VSM), 5S, Kanban, and Visual Management
• Material flow analysis,warehouseandlogisticsdesign
• Factory master planning and facility layout development
• Strong analytical, project management, and cross-functional leadership skills

Required qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Industrial Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Systems Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
• 8+ years of experience in industrial engineering, factory design, manufacturing systems, production planning, advanced manufacturing engineering, or greenfield facility development.
• Experience designing factory layouts, production lines, and scalable manufacturing systems for complex products.
• Experience supporting greenfield manufacturing projects, facility expansions, or major production line launches.
• Strong understanding of manufacturing processes including machining, composites, electrical assemblies, precision mechanical assemblies, and final integration.
• Experience supporting production ramp-up, new product introduction (NPI), and manufacturing process development.
• Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional projects in a fast-paced, high-growth manufacturing environment.
• Excellent analytical, communication, and problem-solving skills.

Preferred qualifications

• Aerospace, defense, automotive, or advanced manufacturing industry experience.
• Experience leading greenfield factory development, factory relocation, or major manufacturing expansion projects.
• Knowledge of AS9100, ISO 9001, or other regulated manufacturing environments.
• Experience with automated material handling systems, robotics, AGVs/AMRs, automated storage systems, or Industry 4.0 technologies.
• Lean Six Sigma Green Belt, Black Belt, or equivalent continuous improvement certification.
• Experience with Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES), ERP systems, digital factory technologies, and production simulation software.

• * 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.
• Full-time regular employee offer package: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 but not limited to 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. Please speak to your talent acquisition representative for more information.

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.