Staff Engineer, Manufacturing Equipment

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

Benefits offered by this job

Bonus

Benefits

Equity

Job summary

Shield AI invites applications for a Staff Equipment Engineer to lead the development, sustainment, and improvement of production equipment, test racks, and test cells in a manufacturing environment. The role emphasizes hands-on work on electromechanical systems, with close collaboration across Manufacturing, Test, Quality, and Design Engineering teams to ensure reliability and readiness for production.

You will own the equipment lifecycle, drive root-cause analysis, and implement corrective

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical, Electrical, Mechatronics, or related field.
• 8+ years of experience with production equipment/test racks/test cells.
• Hands-on experience with electromechanical systems, controls, instrumentation, data acquisition.
• Ability to troubleshoot complex equipment across hardware, software, and controls domains.
• Experience documenting production equipment and procedures.
• Experience mentoring engineers and leading technical projects.
• Familiarity with PLCs, HMIs, industrial networks, LabVIEW or Python.
• Ability to work on the factory floor and in cross-functional teams.

Responsibilities

• Own the technical lifecycle of production equipment, test racks, and test cells, from production readiness through sustainment and continuous improvement.
• Lead troubleshooting and root-cause analysis of equipment failures, downtime events, and test anomalies; implement corrective and preventive actions.
• Drive equipment reliability, availability, and maintainability (RAM) improvements to support production goals.
• Develop and maintain equipment documentation including schematics, BOMs, calibration plans, maintenance procedures, and operating instructions.
• Collaborate with Manufacturing, Test, and Quality teams to ensure equipment meets production, safety, and compliance requirements.
• Support equipment upgrades, obsolescence management, and capacity expansion as production scales.
• Define and execute equipment acceptance testing, validation, and handoff to production.
• Mentor junior engineers and technicians and provide technical leadership across equipment-related efforts.
• Manage external vendors and integrators as needed for equipment design, build, or modification.

Skills

Electromechanical systems

Controls

Instrumentation

Data acquisition

Troubleshooting

Technical documentation

Mentoring engineers

Project leadership

PLC / HMI familiarity

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechatronics, or related field

Tools

LabVIEW

Python

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 www.shield.ai. Follow Shield AI on LinkedIn, X, Instagram, and YouTube.

Job Description:

We are seeking a Staff Equipment Engineer to lead the development, sustainment, and improvement of production equipment, test racks, and test cells supporting manufacturing and system-level testing. This role is highly hands-on and works closely with Manufacturing, Test, Quality, and Design Engineering teams to ensure equipment reliability, scalability, and readiness for production. The ideal candidate has deep experience supporting complex electromechanical equipment in a production environment and driving improvements across safety, uptime, and throughput.

• Own the technical lifecycle of production equipment, test racks, and test cells, from production readiness through sustainment and continuous improvement
• Lead troubleshooting and root-cause analysis of equipment failures, downtime events, and test anomalies; implement corrective and preventive actions
• Drive equipment reliability, availability, and maintainability (RAM) improvements to support production goals
• Develop and maintain equipment documentation including schematics, BOMs, calibration plans, maintenance procedures, and operating instructions
• Collaborate with Manufacturing, Test, and Quality teams to ensure equipment meets production, safety, and compliance requirements
• Support equipment upgrades, obsolescence management, and capacity expansion as production scales
• Define and execute equipment acceptance testing, validation, and handoff to production
• Mentor junior engineers and technicians and provide technical leadership across equipment-related efforts
• Manage external vendors and integrators as needed for equipment design, build, or modification
• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechatronics, or a related field
• 8+ years of experience supporting production equipment, test racks, or test cells in a manufacturing or test environment
• Strong hands-on experience with electromechanical systems, controls, instrumentation, and data acquisition
• Proven ability to troubleshoot complex equipment issues across hardware, software, and controls domains
• Experience developing and maintaining technical documentation for production equipment
• Ability to work effectively on the factory floor and in cross-functional engineering teams
• Experience supporting automated or semi-automated production and test equipment
• Familiarity with PLCs, HMIs, industrial networks, or test software (e.g., LabVIEW, Python, or similar)
• Experience with equipment safety standards, lockout/tagout, and risk assessments
• Background in scaling equipment from prototype or low-rate production to higher-rate manufacturing
• Experience mentoring engineers or leading technical projects without direct authority

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.