Staff Engineer, Manufacturing Equipment

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

Job summary

Shield AI seeks a Staff Equipment Engineer to lead the development, sustainment, and continuous improvement of production equipment, test racks, and test cells.

You will collaborate with Manufacturing, Test, Quality, and Design Engineering to ensure equipment reliability, safety, and readiness for production, while mentoring junior engineers and coordinating vendor integration.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical, Electrical, Mechatronics or related field.
• 8+ years supporting production equipment or test environments.
• Hands-on experience with electromechanical systems, controls, instrumentation, and data acquisition.
• Experience documenting production equipment and working on cross-functional teams.

Responsibilities

• Own the technical lifecycle of production equipment, test racks, and test cells from readiness through sustainment and improvement.
• Lead troubleshooting and root-cause analysis of equipment failures and test anomalies; implement corrective and preventive actions.
• Improve RAM (reliability, availability, maintainability) of equipment to meet production goals.
• Develop and maintain equipment documentation including schematics, BOMs, maintenance procedures, and operating instructions.
• Collaborate with Manufacturing, Test, and Quality to meet 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; provide technical leadership across equipment-related efforts.
• Manage external vendors and integrators for equipment design, build, or modification.

Skills

Production equipment

Test racks

Diagnostics

Data acquisition

Troubleshooting

Documentation

Cross-functional teams

Vendor management

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical/Electrical/Mechatronics or related field

Tools

LabVIEW

Python

PLCs

HMIs

Job description

About Shield AI

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 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.

What you'll do:

• 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

Required qualifications:

• 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

Preferred qualifications:

• 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

Compensation:

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. * Compensation for this role is based on the position’s work location. 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.

Equal Opportunity Employer Statement

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.