Staff Engineer, Reliability Test (R5532)

Shield AI; Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Shield AI seeks a Reliability Test Engineer to lead environmental testing of electronic flight hardware across VBAT and XBAT platforms. You will define stress profiles, instrument hardware with sensors, and build test fixtures in CAD, coordinating multiple campaigns to ensure data quality.

You will operate chambers, monitor tests for failures, and document results with clear reports and visualizations for stakeholders.

Qualifications

• Experience designing and executing environmental tests on electronic flight hardware.
• Define stress profiles, sample sizes, and pass/fail criteria.
• Experience with CAD and test fixture design.
• Ability to instrument hardware with sensors and configure data acquisition.
• Coordinate multiple campaigns and schedule equipment.

Responsibilities

• Design and run environmental test campaigns on VBAT and XBAT hardware.
• Operate test chambers and instrumentation; monitor tests for anomalies.
• Analyze results and document findings with clear plots and reports.
• Collaborate with design and reliability teams to drive product quality.

Skills

Environmental testing

Test planning

Data logging/analysis

Troubleshooting

Tools

CAD

DAQ

Sensors

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.

As a Reliability Test Engineer at Shield AI, you'll prepare, execute, and manage environmental tests on electronic flight hardware across the VBAT and XBAT aircraft, ensuring it meets performance requirements through rigorous thermal, vibration, shock, humidity, and altitude testing. This is a highly hands-on role. Working with design and reliability stakeholders, you'll define test plans — stress profiles, sample sizes, and pass/fail criteria — then bring them to the bench: designing and modeling test fixtures in CAD, instrumenting hardware with thermocouples, accelerometers, strain gauges, and humidity sensors, configuring data acquisition, and programming and loading chambers. You'll frequently run several campaigns at once, owning the equipment scheduling needed to keep them moving without compromising data quality.

Once tests are running, you'll operate the equipment, monitor for and investigate failures, and reduce and document results in clear reports — including the plots and visualizations stakeholders rely on to make disposition and qualification decisions. You'll work with cutting-edge deep-tech hardware, collaborate across disciplines, and directly influence product quality and long-term reliability over the vehicles’ lifecycles.