Shield AI
Staff Engineer, Mechanical & Actuated Systems (R5293)
Seattle, Washington · Staff · Full-time · Posted Aug 25, 2026
- Experience
- 7+ years in mechanical or mechanism design.
- Education
- B.S. in Mechanical/Aerospace Engineering.
About the job
Designs and develops mechanical and actuated systems for Shield AI’s autonomous aircraft, from concept through testing and production release.
What you'll do
- Design aircraft mechanisms and own concept, CAD, analysis, tolerance stack-ups, material selection, and drawing release.
- Perform structural and kinematic calculations and preliminary FEA; prototype, test, and refine mechanisms.
- Collaborate across engineering teams and support pre-production builds, integration, and ground and flight testing.
What they ask for
- B.S. in Mechanical/Aerospace Engineering.
- 7+ years in mechanical or mechanism design.
- Strong CAD skills; kinematic analysis and optimization; structural analysis using hand calculations and finite element methods.
- Experience with FEA, GD&T, tolerance stack-ups, and materials selection for mechanical systems.
Nice to have
- Experience with UAVs, aircraft, or robotic systems; familiarity with electro-mechanical actuators.
- FMEA, DOE, and root cause analysis; hands-on machine shop or mechanic experience; relevant testing experience.
Tools
NX, FEA, GD&T, FMEA, DOE, RTCA DO-160, MIL-STD-810
AI focus
The role develops mechanical and actuated systems for autonomous aircraft; no specific AI development work is stated.
Model-written summary · the original posting is authoritative