Lead Engineer, XBAT Software Integration & Test (R3696)

Shield AI • US

PythonC++

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.

Shield AI has been redefining autonomous aviation with cutting-edge AI and GPS/RF-denied navigation technologies for the past few years. Now, we’re building a next-generation aircraft like no other, X-BAT. A jet engine equipped VTOL aircraft, operating via Hivemind autonomy - breaking the boundaries of group 5 aircraft operations in comms-denied combat environments.

We’re looking for an excellent software engineer, well versed in vehicle integration & testing, to lead X-BAT software’s testing strategy and infrastructure development. For software components ranging from autonomy, embedded systems, ground control applications, and more – you will enable integration testing, own release campaigns, most importantly build the automated testing infrastructure for X-BAT commit-to-flight pipeline.

This is an opportunity to modern the defense aviation industry – setting the standard and building the capabilities required for rapid & qualified aircraft software releases - to active mission operations. Your role will center around designing scalable test infrastructure, validating mission-critical behaviors in simulation across operational environments, and enabling rapid but safe deployments of software to flight operations. You’ll need to be a technical expert and an extreme-owner – passionate in building aircraft software safelyand dedicated in our mission to do so quickly.

WHAT YOU'LL DO:

Architect & lead development of a system that integrates simulation, HIL solutions, and CI/CD pipelines for continuous testing - used by developers and test engineers daily to drive continuous software releases

Implement software interfaces and drivers to orchestrate simulation environments, hardware devices, and test equipment – enabling real-world behaviors, failure injection, and hardware manipulation to validate safety-critical software

Define and execute release test plans leading up to flight test events and major milestones, adopt them into automated CI pipelines

Build and sustain tools to optimize requirements-traceability between code and automated tests.

Work cross-functionally across Aircraft Autonomy & Software teams to derive requirements for the aircraft system, test infrastructure, and release gates. Partner with our hardware engineering team to define and obtain the hardware infrastructure we need.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:

Typically,7+ years of related experience with a BS degree (CE, CS, EE, or equivalent); or5+ years with a MS or PhD degree

Excellent proficiency in Python or C++, ideally for automate testing of software integrated with hardware

Demonstrated capability in building continuous integration testing solutions, using CI/CD pipelines, simulation, and/or hardware-in-the-loop solutions

Excellent understanding of software testing and quality assurance, with or without perfect system requirements.

Experience testing real-time systems, avionics, or vehicle software

Ability to work independently in fast-paced environments, on complex challenges warranting cross-discipline collaboration

Track record of impressive accomplishments and technical contributions

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

3+ years building automated test solutions for aircraft or autonomous vehicles

Experience with requirements-traceability and building moderns tools to optimize the processes required for airworthiness, DO-178C, or similar.

Direct experience leading software releases or flight test campaigns for aircraft or autonomous vehicles

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