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 a Manager of Actuated Systems to lead an aircraft mechanical systems team for our groundbreaking jet-engine VTOL military UAV platform, X-BAT. You will manage a team of engineers designing and integrating flight- and mission-critical mechanisms such as doors, uplocks/downlocks, landing gear, folding/packaging mechanisms, flight-control actuation integration, and propulsion/nozzle actuation mechanisms. You will support your team in making key architectural decisions, by being a key technical resource, and by being a strong leader of great engineers. Projects that you might work on:
X-BAT Doors, FCAS, Landing Gear, Up/Down Locks

What you'll do:

• 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.

Required qualifications:

• 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.

Preferred qualifications:

• 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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