Shield AI
Staff Engineer, Mission Systems (R5893)
$180K–$260K
Seattle, Washington +2 · On-site · Staff · Full-time · Posted Sep 16, 2026
- Location
- Seattle, Washington
Washington, D.C.
Dallas, Texas - Experience
- Minimum 7 years of relevant aerospace/defense experience, with at least 5 years in mission systems integration.
- Education
- B.S. in Aerospace Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Systems Engineering, or related field.
About the job
Leads end-to-end engineering of mission systems for unmanned aircraft, from architecture and requirements through integration, flight testing, and fielding.
What you'll do
- Lead mission-system architecture, requirements development, and integration for payloads, avionics, and weapons.
- Oversee integration and test campaigns, including hardware-in-the-loop and flight testing.
- Conduct trade studies and systems analysis, and ensure compliance with applicable standards and certification objectives.
What they ask for
- Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Systems Engineering, or a related field.
- At least 7 years of relevant aerospace/defense experience, including at least 5 years in mission systems integration.
- Experience integrating aircraft payloads, avionics, and/or weapons, and with line-of-sight and beyond-line-of-sight aircraft communications.
- Active Secret clearance and ability to obtain Top Secret clearance.
Nice to have
- Master’s or PhD in Aerospace, Systems, or Electrical Engineering.
- Flight-test and mission-system validation experience; integration of advanced sensors, autonomy, AI-enabled payloads, or guided weapons; or MBSE/SysML experience.
Pay
USD 180,000–260,000 per year base salary
Tools
MIL-HDBK-516C, DO-178C, DO-254, MOSA, OMS, GRA, MBSE, SysML
AI focus
Preferred experience includes integrating autonomy, AI-enabled payloads, or advanced sensors.
Model-written summary · the original posting is authoritative