Staff Engineer, Integration (R6009)

Shield; San Diego (CA); On-site; USD 144,000 - 217,000; Full time

Job summary

Shield AI is seeking an hands-on Integration Engineer to deploy, integrate, maintain, and support vision and detection systems on crewed and uncrewed aircraft across lab, production, and field environments.

The role bridges software, electrical, and mechanical disciplines, requiring precise configuration management, troubleshooting, and strong customer-facing communication. Expect up to ~50% travel and occasional after-hours work.

Qualifications

• Typically requires a minimum of 5 years of experience in field service, aerospace integration, electronics, avionics, mechatronics, or a related technical discipline with a Bachelor's or Associate's degree; or equivalent practical experience.
• Hands-on experience installing, integrating, maintaining, or troubleshooting electro-mechanical systems, electronic assemblies, sensors, computing hardware, or airborne payloads.
• Experience installing, configuring, updating, and verifying software or firmware on fielded systems while following release and configuration-control procedures.
• Ability to read and work from wiring diagrams, electrical schematics, mechanical and installation drawings, pinouts, work instructions, and technical manuals.
• Willingness to travel approximately 50% to support customer integration, deployments, demonstrations, exercises, and field activities.
• Ability to obtain a SECRET clearance.

Responsibilities

• Install, integrate, configure, and support deployment of vision systems on aircraft and supporting test assets.
• Load, configure, update, and validate software releases per release instructions and config-control processes.
• Perform system bring-up, functional checkout, and post-install verification of interfaces.
• Maintain hardware/software configuration records, including serial numbers and software versions.
• Read and apply mechanical drawings, wiring diagrams, schematics, and installation documents.
• Perform basic wiring and electro-mechanical work with connectors, cabling, and harness rework when allowed.
• Troubleshoot across software, electrical, network, and mechanical interfaces and document actions.
• Coordinate with engineering, production, quality, and customer teams to resolve issues and implement changes.
• Support customer deployments, demonstrations, and field activities including logistics and site readiness.
• Provide hands-on customer support and technical guidance for operation and maintenance.

Skills

Field hardware integration

Customer-facing communication

Troubleshooting

Linux/Windows proficiency

Education

Bachelor's or Associate degree

Tools

Linux

Windows

CAN

Ethernet

Oscilloscope

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 .

Candidates for this role will deploy, integrate, maintain, and support Shield AI's advanced vision and detection systems in laboratory, production, customer, and field environments. These systems combine imaging sensors, onboard processing, and intelligent detection capabilities in ruggedized camera pods and gimbals for crewed and uncrewed fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft. We are looking for a hands-on integration engineer who can bridge software, electrical, and mechanical disciplines; manage hardware and software configurations with precision; troubleshoot effectively; and represent Shield AI with customers and mission partners.

What You'll Do:

• Install, integrate, configure, and support deployment of vision systems including: camera pods, imaging sensors, onboard processing hardware, and associated electronic assemblies on crewed and uncrewed aircraft and supporting test assets
• Load, configure, update, and validate software releases in accordance with release instructions and configuration-control processes
• Perform system bring-up, functional checkout, acceptance testing, and post-installation verification of sensor, compute, power, network, and aircraft interfaces
• Maintain accurate hardware and software configuration records, including serial numbers, part numbers, software versions, installation status, service history, spares, and returned-material activity
• Read and apply mechanical drawings, installation drawings, wiring diagrams, schematics, pinouts, interface-control documents, work instructions, and technical manuals
• Perform basic wiring and electro-mechanical work, including connector inspection, continuity checks, pin verification, cable routing, termination, and minor harness rework when authorized by approved procedures
• Diagnose and resolve software, electrical, network, sensor, and mechanical integration issues using logs, built-in diagnostics, test equipment, drawings, and controlled troubleshooting methods
• Document field issues, troubleshooting steps, test results, repairs, configuration changes, and corrective actions in clear service reports and engineering-tracking systems
• Coordinate with engineering, production, quality, program, and customer teams to resolve issues, implement approved changes, and communicate operational feedback
• Support customer deployments, demonstrations, operational exercises, and evaluations, including site readiness, equipment staging, installation planning, shipping and receiving, tool control, inventory, and field-service logistics
• Provide hands-on customer support, operator and maintainer familiarization, and technical guidance for system operation, routine maintenance, and fault isolation
• Follow applicable safety, quality, airworthiness, cybersecurity, export-control, and configuration-management requirements while traveling to customer, test, and operational sites

Required Qualifications:

• Typically requires a minimum of 5 years of experience in field service, aerospace integration, electronics, avionics, mechatronics, or a related technical discipline with a Bachelor's or Associate's degree; or equivalent practical experience.
• Hands-on experience installing, integrating, maintaining, or troubleshooting electro-mechanical systems, electronic assemblies, sensors, computing hardware, or airborne payloads.
• Experience installing, configuring, updating, and verifying software or firmware on fielded systems while following release and configuration-control procedures.
• Ability to read and work from wiring diagrams, electrical schematics, mechanical and installation drawings, pinouts, work instructions, and technical manuals.
• Familiarity with Linux- and Windows-based systems, command-line tools, software deployment workflows, networking, and log collection.
• Competence with basic wiring and electrical troubleshooting, including safe use of digital multimeters, continuity testing, connector inspection, pin verification, cable routing, and basic termination or rework.
• Strong hardware accountability and documentation skills, including asset, serial-number, inventory, maintenance, and software-version tracking.
• Demonstrated ability to troubleshoot across software, electrical, network, and mechanical interfaces and to clearly document findings and corrective actions.
• Strong customer-facing communication, organization, and teamwork skills, with the ability and willingness to travel approximately 50% to support customer integration, deployments, demonstrations, exercises, evaluations, and other field activities, including work outside standard hours when required.
• Ability to obtain a SECRET clearance.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Field-service, deployment, or integration experience in the aerospace, defense, robotics, or other mission-critical equipment industry.
• Experience with electro-optical or infrared imaging systems, camera systems, optical sensors, ruggedized sensor pods, or airborne mission payloads.
• Experience integrating equipment on crewed or uncrewed fixed-wing or rotary-wing aircraft.
• Experience with aviation or military wiring practices, cable and connector assembly, soldering or crimping, and standards such as IPC/WHMA-A-620.
• Experience using oscilloscopes, power supplies, network analyzers, serial interfaces, Ethernet, CAN, or other common integration and diagnostic tools.
• Experience with configuration-management, asset-management, inventory, enterprise resource planning, product lifecycle management, or maintenance-tracking systems.
• Experience providing customer training, technical demonstrations, service documentation, or remote and on-site technical support.
• Familiarity with FAA, DoD, or U.S. test-site operations, aviation safety practices, and airworthiness expectations.

$144,400 - $216,600 a year

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 to equal 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.