Engineering Manager, Air Vehicle Mechanical Systems (R5391)

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.

Job Description: Shield AI is seeking an engineering manager of Mechanical Design to support the development of our next-generation autonomous UAV platform. In this high-ownership, high visibility role you will lead a team of engineers developing mechanical systems to support Shield AI’s next generation aircraft program(s).

You will work the director of engineering in a deputy capacity to support collaboration across engineering sites, align technical leaders, create mentorship opportunities for junior engineers, and assist in leveling engineering resources across vehicles and programs.

You will set the bar for excellence through technical demonstration, guidance, and mentorship.

Lead and develop a team of high talent mechanical engineers, from new grad to Principal, focused on aircraft mechanisms and actuation systems (architecture, detailed design, analysis support, release, and sustaining).

Support your team as a technical resource for end-to-end design of mechanisms including (as applicable):

Doors & latching

Uplocks / Downlocks

Landing gear mechanisms

Actuation integration for flight controls

Nozzle / propulsion actuation mechanisms

Actuation, Hydraulics

Set the quality bar for mechanisms engineering: what “good” looks like in sizing, tolerances, margins, drawings/MBD, materials/process selection, and verification evidence.

Enable extreme ownership by ensuring engineers have clear goals, interfaces, resources, and decision rights

Drive effective cross-functional collaboration (systems, structures/loads, aero, propulsion, GNC, avionics, manufacturing, quality, supply chain, test, flight test) by fostering excelling communication across interfaces.

Coach and develop engineers through technical mentorship, career development, feedback, hiring, onboarding, and performance management.

Manage team workload across multiple builds and test campaigns; communicate risk, staffing needs, and schedule impacts with transparency.

B.S. in Mechanical Engineering (or equivalent).

10+ years experience with aerospace mechanisms and actuated system design, build, integration, test and flight.

2+ years leading teams or performing in a team leadership role.

Demonstrated ability to lead teams with high autonomy—setting direction, ensuring quality, and scaling output through people.

Strong engineering fundamentals: kinematics, statics/dynamics, fatigue/wear, tolerancing/GD&T, materials and finishes, lubrication/bearings, failure modes.

Experience shipping hardware through prototype build, test, iteration, and release, including supplier and manufacturing engagement.

Experience with environmental and operational robustness (vibration/shock, thermal extremes, contamination, corrosion, sand/dust, etc.).

Experience supporting ground test and flight test campaigns and mechanism failure investigations.

Familiarity with reliability and safety methods (DFMEA/FTA, fault containment, safe-state thinking) in collaboration with systems safety.

Experience building supplier relationships for machined parts, actuation systems, mechanisms assemblies, understanding of special processes and inspection/acceptance strategies.

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