Senior Director, Engineering

Chief Engineer

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.

We are seeking a Chief Engineer to lead all engineering efforts for V-BAT, an established Group 3 VTOL UAS program. This individual will be responsible for directing and sustaining a high-performing, multidisciplinary team that delivers flight software, autonomy, ground control systems, aircraft, and payloads for a vertical takeoff and landing autonomous aircraft that is currently deployed worldwide.

This is a foundational leadership role for an existing product line that is growing in system maturity and mission capability. The ideal candidate combines deep technical experience across complex aerospace and UAS systems (with the ability to dive deep across a broad spectrum of engineering disciplines), a background in innovative and disruptive companies, and a proven ability to build and scale organizations and collaborate across disciplines in a fast-paced, mission-driven environment.

Leadership & Strategy

• Build and lead the engineering and software team for the Group 3 UAS program, spanning flight software, autonomy, flight controls/GNC, ground systems, flight systems, flight sciences, avionics, payloads, and propulsion.
• Define the engineering vision, technical strategy, and system architecture in alignment with the program roadmap, product line strategy, and long-term technology investments.
• Serve as the senior technical leader for engineering within the program, making architectural decisions, managing technical and program risk, and driving execution across subsystems and suppliers.
• Lead organizational planning, workforce strategy, and capability roadmap to support multiple concurrent development, test, and sustainment efforts.
• Drive cross-functional collaboration across engineering, flight test, operations, program management, supply chain, quality, and production to enable predictable, high-quality product delivery.

Technical Governance & Engineering Excellence

• Establish and continuously improve engineering standards, technical governance, configuration management, documentation practices, and development processes (including CI/CD, automated testing, and modern DevOps practices).
• Drive engineering rigor through disciplined technical reviews, root cause analysis, lessons learned, and continuous improvement while maintaining the execution speed required in a fast-paced development environment.
• Ensure compliance with applicable aerospace standards, certification or airworthiness expectations, regulatory requirements, and company engineering policies.

Team Building

• Attract, hire, and retain top-tier talent across engineering disciplines, building scalable organizations capable of supporting current and future platforms.
• Foster a culture of technical excellence, continuous learning, accountability, and high ownership.
• Mentor and grow Directors, engineering managers, and technical leads to support scaling and program longevity.

Stakeholder & Executive Engagement

• Report regularly on progress, risks, and technical decisions to senior leadership, clearly articulating tradeoffs and investment recommendations.
• Interface with external partners, customers, and government stakeholders as needed to represent the engineering roadmap, technical strategy, and program status.
• Support business development and capture activities by defining technical approaches, architectures, and execution plans for new opportunities.

Required qualifications:

• Typically requires a minimum of 15 years of related experience with a Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience.
• Strong technical background in one or more of: aerospace engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and avionics, propulsion, or closely related disciplines.
• Experience building and leading multidisciplinary engineering teams and organizations (including direct managers and technical leaders) across hardware, software, and systems.
• Strong leadership and interpersonal skills, with the ability to manage and inspire cross-functional teams; excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Proven track record of successfully shipping products, showcasing the ability to navigate development cycles, overcome obstacles, and deliver high-quality solutions to meet project deadlines and customer expectations in a fast-paced environment.

$250,000 - $380,000 a year

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 to equal 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.