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Staff Electrical Engineer

San Diego, California
Full Time On-site

Summary

Job Description

Shield AI is seeking an exceptional Electrical Engineer to join the team in building our next-generation autonomous aircraft. Joining now places you at the earliest stages of development, tackling open-ended design challenges that will shape the future of autonomous flight.
You will collaborate closely with other Electrical Engineers, Mechanical, Thermal, CAD, Hardware Test, Reliability, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, and other cross-functional teams. This is an opportunity to shape our team processes and own critical aspects of our hardware development.

What you'll do:

  • Own full product and circuit design for flight critical subsystems. This includes analog, digital, high-speed, power, compute, sensors, FPGA, and other functional blocks as needed
  • Design for high reliability in challenging environments. Including temperature, altitude, radiation, and vibration
  • Full-cycle hardware development: Own the entire flow — concept, modeling, worst case analysis, schematic capture, simulation, prototyping, design reiteration for improving design maturity, testing and validation
  • PCB ownership: Drive PCB layout and design with ECAD engineers, optimizing for power density, EMI, thermal, and manufacturability
  • Design for Safety, Manufacturability and Reliability: Design robust systems keeping in mind best practices for safety, manufacturing and reliability
  • Board Bring Up and Testing: Execute  board bring up, verification, validation and HALT testing to meet rigorous aerospace reliability standards
  • Cross-functional collaboration: Work closely with Mechanical, CAD, Embedded, Software, Production and various aircraft teams throughout the product lifecycle
  • Design review leadership: Lead and contribute to cross-functional reviews ensuring robust, high-integrity engineering decisions
  • Program execution: Manage project timelines, deliverables, and technical milestones to drive on-time, high-quality outcomes
  • Mentor and lead other engineers supporting your project

Required qualifications:

  • You have a B.S. in Electrical Engineering or equivalent 
  • You have 5+ years of experience as an Electrical Engineer
  • You are experienced with: circuit design, schematic capture, component selection, circuit testing, circuit debugging, and system integration
  • You have a demonstrated record of working hard, being a trustworthy teammate, holding yourself and others to high standards, and being kind to others
  • Familiarity with Altium or equivalent
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. 

About Shield AI

Shield AI

Shield AI is a defense technology company building autonomous AI systems for aircraft, drones, and intelligent mission software used in complex military environments. Founded in 2015, the company is best known for developing Hivemind, an AI pilot system that enables aircraft and drones to operate autonomously in contested and GPS-denied environments, supporting U.S. and allied defense missions.

For job seekers, Shield AI offers opportunities across advanced fields including artificial intelligence, robotics, software engineering, autonomy systems, aerospace engineering, embedded systems, and mission operations. The company is especially attractive to engineers, AI researchers, and defense professionals who want to work on real-world autonomous systems that are actively being deployed in operational military scenarios.

Unlike traditional defense contractors, Shield AI operates with a startup-style engineering culture focused on rapid experimentation, real-world testing, and fast deployment of autonomous capabilities. Employees work on tightly integrated AI and robotics systems that combine perception, decision-making, and control, enabling platforms to operate without direct human input in highly complex environments.

As modern warfare increasingly shifts toward autonomous systems, distributed sensing, and AI-enabled decision-making, Shield AI continues to grow as one of the most prominent companies in next-generation defense technology. For professionals seeking to build cutting-edge autonomy systems with direct mission impact, Shield AI stands out as a leading employer in the defense innovation ecosystem.

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