Staff Engineer, Fuel Systems (R5900)

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.

We are seeking a highly motivated Staff Fuel System Engineer to support the design, development, integration, and fielding of a next-generation autonomous aircraft system. This position requires a balance of technical rigor, rapid decision-making, and hands-on engineering to efficiently transition concepts into operational capability. The ideal candidate is comfortable solving complex problems, taking ownership, working within an accelerated aircraft development environment, and is motivated by getting meaningful capability into the hands of operators quickly. You will serve as the Responsible Engineer (RE) for the aircraft fuel system, owning technical execution from requirements and architecture through design, procurement, integration, build, test, flight, and operational support. This role requires strong thermofluid fundamentals, engineering judgment, and the ability to understand fuel system behavior across demanding aircraft operating conditions while serving as the focal point between propulsion, vehicle teams, suppliers, and flight operations.

Serve as the Responsible Engineer for the aircraft fuel system, owning requirements, architecture, interfaces, hardware, and technical decisions from concept through operational deployment. Design, size, and integrate fuel tanks, pumps, valves, plumbing, venting and pressurization systems, filtration, level sensing, and associated fuel system hardware. Analyze fuel system performance across the aircraft operating envelope, including pressure and flow requirements, transient engine demand, elevated-G maneuvering, tank depletion, slosh, vapor pressure, cavitation, vapor ingestion, and thermal effects. Lead technical design reviews, supplier engagements, and hardware procurement while ensuring the fuel system meets performance, mass, thermal, reliability, safety, and mission requirements. Plan and execute component, subsystem, and vehicle-level testing, including instrumentation, procedures, data acquisition, performance validation, and flight readiness. Analyze ground and flight data to validate system performance, quantify margin, identify anomalies, and drive hardware or operational improvements. Lead failure investigations and root cause efforts using analysis, inspection, testing, and data to develop effective corrective actions. Work hands-on with design engineers, technicians, propulsion, controls, airframe, manufacturing, supply chain, test, and flight teams to build, integrate, troubleshoot, and iterate flight hardware.

Bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related engineering discipline. 7+ years of experience in aerospace fuel systems, fluid systems, propulsion, or related aircraft system development, with demonstrated ownership of complex aerospace hardware. Strong understanding of thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, heat transfer, and compressible and incompressible flow. Strong understanding of aerospace fuel system design, including pressure losses, pump performance, venting, vapor pressure, cavitation, transient flow behavior, and thermal effects. Hands-on experience with fluid system hardware integration, instrumentation, testing, flight support, and technical failure investigations. Strong proficiency in Python or similar tools for engineering analysis, data reduction, and model correlation. Demonstrated ability to independently drive ambiguous technical problems to measurable results in a fast-paced development environment. U.S. Citizenship and active security clearance.

Experience developing fuel systems for high-performance aircraft, tactical aircraft, UAVs, or similar aerospace platforms. Experience designing fuel systems for elevated-G maneuvering, aggressive vehicle dynamics, or challenging fuel delivery conditions. Experience with fuel tanks, pumps, valves, regulators, level sensing, venting, pressurization, and fuel system control hardware. Familiarity with GFSSP, REFPROP, CFD, ANSYS, FEA, or similar thermal-fluid analysis tools. Experience working with aerospace suppliers through component selection, procurement, development, qualification, and integration. Background in rocket propulsion or propellant systems with experience transferable to aerospace fuel system design, analysis, integration, or test. M.S. or Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related engineering discipline.

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