Senior Staff Weapons Integration Engineer (R3929)
Shield AI
Full-time
On-site
United States
Aviation Tech
Founded in 2015, Shield AI is a venture-backed deep-tech company with the mission of protecting service members and civilians with intelligent systems. Its products include the V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft, Hivemind Enterprise, and the Hivemind Vision product lines. With nine offices and facilities across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and the 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’re hiring a technical leader to own weapons integration for our next-generation aircraft. This role will own the end-to-end technical direction for integrating kinetic weapons and air-launched effects into the aircraft and mission systems architecture — from architecture definition and vendor coordination through verification, flight test, and certification. If you take pride in extreme ownership, authoritative technical decisions, and mentoring cross-functional teams to deliver safe, mission-ready systems, we want to talk to you.
WHAT YOU’LL DO:
- Lead the integration of kinetic weapons and air-launched effects into the aircraft and mission systems architecture, ensuring compatibility across physical, electrical, and logical interfaces.
- Act as the weapon subject matter expert (SME), aligning weapon capability with CONOPS, mission profiles, and operational analysis.
- Define, own, and verify the Stores Management System (SMS) architecture — including weapon control logic, release sequencing, safety interlocks, and fault handling.
- Set technical direction and make architecture decisions for weapon control software, separation modeling, and release-envelope definition. Provide clear, defensible tradeoffs and drive alignment across stakeholders.
- Produce and maintain Interface Control Documents (ICDs), software requirements, and integration plans in collaboration with internal avionics, flight controls, software, aerodynamics, and structures teams.
- Coordinate closely with weapon vendors and external suppliers to define integration requirements, prove compatibility, and manage change.
- Develop detailed test and certification plans; lead planning and execution of captive-carry, safe-separation, and live-fire test campaigns with government and contractor ranges.
- Define and analyze payload-bay fall-lines, separation dynamics, and release envelopes using physics-based models and verification tools.
- Own compliance with safety, performance, and mission effectiveness requirements; shepherd the weapon integration lifecycle from concept through flight certification.
- Mentor engineers, drive best practices for safety and verification, and champion a culture of extreme ownership and technical excellence.
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:
- Proven experience integrating kinetic weapons or air-launched effects into aircraft or unmanned systems (stores management, release systems, or equivalent).
- Deep understanding of Stores Management Systems (SMS), release sequencing, weapon control logic, and safety interlocks.
- Experience producing and negotiating Interface Control Documents (ICDs) and defining software/hardware interfaces.
- Demonstrated experience with separation modeling, release envelope definition, and payload bay fall-line analysis.
- Hands-on experience planning and executing flight test campaigns (captive-carry, safe separation, live fire) and writing test/certification plans.
- Strong systems engineering skills and experience working cross-functionally with avionics, flight controls, aerodynamics, software, and suppliers.
- Track record of making technical decisions, setting direction, and taking full ownership of technical programs.
- Excellent written and verbal communication — able to represent technical positions to internal leadership, external partners, and government stakeholders.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:
- Prior experience with military product certification processes and government test ranges.
- Background in modelling & simulation tools for separation analysis (e.g., CFD, multibody dynamics, custom separation tools).
- Experience with EW, weapon fuzing/safety standards, or live-fire certification standards.
- Active or prior security clearance, or ability to obtain one.
$193,000 - $289,000 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.
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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.
We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.