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Shield AI is seeking a Director of Mechanical Systems to lead the mechanical engineering organization for X-BAT, an advanced autonomous aircraft program, while providing leadership across Mechanical Engineering and Air Vehicle Systems for the Group 5 aircraft portfolio.
In this role, you will lead engineering managers and senior technical leaders responsible for all mechanical systems and mechanical test activities. You will establish technical strategy, build organizational capability, and oversee execution from architecture and design through integration, qualification, ground test, and flight readiness. The scope encompasses landing gear, wing fold, doors, flight control actuation, hydraulics, environmental control, and thermal management.
Key responsibilities include:
- Leading and developing the mechanical systems and mechanical test organization for X-BAT while providing cross-program leadership for Group 5 aircraft
- Defining organizational structure, establishing clear ownership and decision authority, and aligning talent and resources with aircraft and program priorities
- Recruiting, coaching, and developing engineering managers and senior technical leaders to build leadership capacity and succession capability
- Establishing technical strategy and capability roadmaps for all mechanical systems disciplines
- Leading aircraft-level architecture and trade studies balancing performance, reliability, safety, mass, power, volume, maintainability, cost, and schedule
- Partnering with adjacent engineering organizations to resolve interfaces, reconcile requirements, manage dependencies, and retire critical technical risks
- Overseeing execution from requirements definition and design through hardware development, systems integration, qualification, ground test, and flight readiness
- Establishing practical expectations for design reviews, verification, risk management, and configuration control
- Building mechanical test capability encompassing test strategy, facilities, fixtures, instrumentation, procedures, and data analysis
- Guiding hardware development and supplier strategy, establishing technical expectations, and holding suppliers accountable for quality and execution
- Working closely with manufacturing, ground test, and flight test leadership to align resources and deliver integrated systems
- Communicating technical direction, progress, risks, decisions, and resource needs to executive leadership, program stakeholders, and customers
Shield AI's mission is to protect service members and civilians with intelligent systems. The ideal candidate combines broad aircraft mechanical systems expertise with demonstrated ability to lead through managers, develop technical leaders, and balance engineering rigor with development speed.
REQUIREMENTS:
- Bachelor's degree or higher in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or related technical discipline
- 15+ years of relevant experience in aerospace mechanical systems, air vehicle systems, or comparable complex hardware development
- Substantial experience managing engineering managers and senior technical leaders within a multidisciplinary engineering organization
- Broad technical credibility across aircraft mechanical systems, with significant expertise in landing gear, actuation, mechanisms, environmental control, or thermal management
- Demonstrated success building engineering organizations, hiring and developing leaders, allocating resources, and maintaining high technical standards
- Experience guiding teams through hardware development, systems integration, verification, supplier execution, manufacturing, and flight test
- Proven ability to make aircraft-level tradeoffs, manage dependencies across programs, and focus teams on work that advances program objectives
- Sound engineering and business judgment, including ability to make decisions with incomplete information while balancing technical risk, cost, schedule, and program maturity
- Clear, decisive communication skills and demonstrated success creating alignment across engineering, program leadership, and external stakeholders
- U.S. citizenship
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:
- Leadership experience spanning multiple mechanical engineering departments or a broad air vehicle systems portfolio
- Development experience on UAVs, autonomous aircraft, fighters, tactical aircraft, or other high-performance aerospace programs
- Experience scaling engineering organizations, mechanical test facilities, and development processes in rapid R&D or production environments
- Familiarity with aircraft airworthiness, qualification, and verification practices, including MIL-HDBK-516 and MIL-STD-810
- Demonstrated success taking aircraft hardware through prototype build, integration, ground test, flight test, and transition to production
- Advanced degree in relevant engineering discipline
- Active Secret or higher security clearance
