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Shield AI is seeking a Staff Engineer to design, build, configure, and maintain scalable network architectures for hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) laboratories, integration environments, simulation systems, and shared test infrastructure across multiple defense and autonomous systems programs.
Key Responsibilities:
You will design and manage Layer 2 and Layer 3 network configurations, including addressing, VLANs, routing, multicast, quality of service, access controls, redundancy, and time-synchronization services. You'll develop and maintain networking software, configuration-as-code, automation tools, and validation utilities to make lab network deployment repeatable, reviewable, and recoverable.
Integration work includes switches, routers, firewalls, servers, real-time compute systems, simulators, flight computers, sensors, radios, and other program hardware into representative HIL and program network environments. You'll work with mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) using platforms such as Persistent Systems MPU5/Wave Relay and Silvus StreamCaster.
You will develop and execute comprehensive network test plans measuring connectivity, interoperability, throughput, latency, jitter, packet loss, multicast behavior, failover, and performance under load. You'll build network observability capabilities using packet capture, device telemetry, logs, metrics, alerts, dashboards, and automated health checks.
Complex troubleshooting is a core responsibility: you'll reproduce, isolate, and resolve network and distributed-system issues using Wireshark, tcpdump, traffic generators, device diagnostics, and controlled experiments. You'll partner with Solutions & Integration teams to reproduce deployed networking issues, translate customer and operational feedback into representative HIL configurations, and provide second-line network support for customer demonstrations and evaluations.
You'll maintain authoritative network baselines, IP address assignments, hardware inventories, cable and port maps, architecture diagrams, interface-control documentation, and change records. You'll integrate network configuration and test automation into source-control and CI/CD workflows, including peer review, automated verification, deployment, rollback, and auditability.
Additional responsibilities include evaluating network equipment and technologies, supporting capacity planning and procurement, standardizing reusable solutions, and providing technical guidance to lab users and program teams.
Required Qualifications:
- Minimum 5 years of related experience with a Bachelor's degree; or 3 years with a Master's degree; or equivalent practical experience in network engineering, systems integration, test infrastructure, or software development.
- Strong knowledge of Ethernet and TCP/IP networking, including switching, routing, subnetting, VLANs, multicast, DNS, DHCP, network address translation, quality of service, and common transport protocols.
- Hands-on experience configuring and troubleshooting managed switches, routers, firewalls, Linux hosts, and networked computing systems in laboratory, development, or production environments.
- Proficiency in Python or a comparable language for network automation, configuration generation, API integration, test development, data processing, or infrastructure tooling.
- Experience developing and executing structured network or system tests using tools such as Wireshark, tcpdump, iperf, traffic generators, device telemetry, and application logs.
- Experience supporting complex HIL, integration-lab, distributed-system, or test-infrastructure environments with shared resources and multiple engineering users.
- Experience with source control, configuration management, technical documentation, network diagrams, issue tracking, and disciplined change-control practices.
- Strong analytical, communication, and customer-service skills, with the ability to prioritize cross-program needs, troubleshoot under schedule pressure, and support occasional off-hours lab activities.
- Ability to obtain a SECRET clearance.
Preferred Qualifications:
- Experience supporting aerospace, defense, robotics, autonomous systems, avionics, flight-test, or other mission-critical engineering programs.
- Experience with HIL, SIL, or VIL test environments, real-time simulation, flight computers, sensors, vehicle networks, or aircraft integration laboratories.
- Advanced experience with multicast routing, precision time protocol, network timing, deterministic networking, traffic shaping, redundancy, or high-availability design.
- Experience with network-automation and infrastructure-as-code tools such as Ansible, Netmiko, NAPALM, Terraform, or vendor APIs and software development kits.
- Familiarity with enterprise network operating systems and hardware from vendors such as Cisco, Arista, Juniper, NVIDIA, or equivalent platforms.
- Experience with virtualization, containers, Docker, Kubernetes, virtual switching, software-defined networking, or cloud-connected test infrastructure.
- Experience implementing network security controls, secure remote access, vulnerability remediation, zero-trust principles, or DoD security and hardening requirements.
- Experience configuring, integrating, and troubleshooting tactical MANET and mesh-radio systems, particularly Persistent Systems MPU5/Wave Relay and Silvus StreamCaster platforms, including RF and IP-network performance, routing, multicast, voice, video, data, and connectivity among airborne, ground, and laboratory nodes. Familiarity with tactical data links, serial communications, CAN, DDS, or gateways that bridge aircraft and laboratory network interfaces.
