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Shield AI, a venture-backed defense-tech company, is seeking a Staff Aerostructures Design Engineer to lead structural design and development for next-generation autonomous aircraft platforms. You will own the full design lifecycle for flight-critical structural components—from conceptual development through production release—while collaborating across aerodynamics, propulsion, avionics, payload, and manufacturing teams to ensure structural integrity, manufacturability, and seamless system integration.
Key responsibilities include:
- Design and develop structural components and assemblies for Shield AI's UAV platforms using CAD tools
- Execute all stages of the design lifecycle: conceptual development, CAD modeling, detailed design, and drawing release
- Perform hand calculations and basic FEA analysis for stress/strain, with guidance from senior engineers as needed
- Collaborate cross-functionally on system integration across airframe interfaces
- Support structural validation through coupon testing, subcomponent testing, and system-level verification
- Generate high-quality design documentation, drawings, interface definitions, and analysis reports per aerospace standards
- Partner with manufacturing and flight test teams to resolve build issues and support hardware through test and deployment
- Participate in design reviews, present technical work clearly, and incorporate feedback
- Continuously develop expertise in structural layout, joints, fasteners, tolerancing, and structural optimization
Shield AI operates globally with offices and facilities across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific, actively supporting operations worldwide. The company develops Hivemind autonomy software, V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft, and Aechelon simulation and synthetic reality technologies.
Requirements:
- Bachelor's or Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or related discipline
- 5+ years of experience in aircraft structural design or closely related aerospace structures
- Experience designing and releasing structural components in development or production environments
- Working knowledge of composite and metallic structures, including fasteners, bonded joints, and load paths
- Proficiency in CAD tools (NX, CATIA, SolidWorks, or similar)
- Understanding of GD&T, tolerance stackups, and DFMA principles
- Strong written and verbal technical communication skills
- Demonstrated ability to operate in fast-paced, high-ownership engineering environments
Preferred qualifications:
- M.S. degree in Aerospace or Mechanical Engineering
- Experience supporting UAV, DoD, or aerospace vehicle programs
- Familiarity with aerospace standards (MIL-STD, ASME Y14.5, FAA)
- Experience supporting hardware through test, failure analysis, and design iteration
- Exposure to composite design and manufacturing methods
- Experience using FEA tools (ANSYS, Abaqus, NASTRAN, or similar) for linear structural analysis
