Shield AI
Senior Staff Engineer, Actuation Systems Architecture & Design (RX) (R6003)
Dallas, Texas · Senior Staff · Full-time · Posted Oct 7, 2026
- Experience
- 8 to 15 years in aircraft actuation systems design.
- Education
- B.S. or M.S. in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
- Visa sponsorship
- US citizens only; must have an active Secret or higher clearance.
About the job
Owns the architecture, design, integration, qualification, and production transition of actuation systems and mechanisms for a Group 5 UAV fighter aircraft.
What you'll do
- Lead actuation-system architecture, requirements, actuator selection and sizing, and mechanism integration.
- Own power and thermal interfaces, requirements verification, and qualification testing; support airworthiness certification.
- Drive technical decisions, hardware delivery, and design-maturity reviews at SRR, PDR, and CDR.
What they ask for
- 8 to 15 years in aircraft actuation systems design, with hands-on electric actuation (EMA or EHA) or centralized hydraulics and working knowledge of the other.
- B.S. or M.S. in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
- US citizen with an active Secret or higher clearance.
- Experience sourcing aerospace components, driving suppliers, building test setups, and leading multidisciplinary actuation integration; familiarity with MIL-HDBK-516, MIL-STD-810, SRR, PDR, and CDR on a DoD or fighter-class aircraft program.
Nice to have
- Fighter or fighter-adjacent program experience, manned or unmanned.
- Electric aircraft actuation architecture, weapons bay mechanisms, or store separation-adjacent systems experience.
Tools
EMA, EHA, MIL-STD-810, MIL-HDBK-516, SRR, PDR, CDR, EPS
Model-written summary · the original posting is authoritative