Manager, Mechanical Engineering - Hardware Test (X-BAT) (R6093)

Shield AI is a venture-backed defense-tech company with the mission of protecting service members and civilians with intelligent systems. Its products include Hivemind autonomy software, V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft, and Aechelon simulation and synthetic reality technologies. With offices and facilities across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific, Shield AI’s technology actively supports operations worldwide. For more information, visit www.shield.ai. Follow Shield AI on LinkedIn, X, Instagram, and YouTube. 

About Shield AI Shield AI develops AI-powered autonomy software and aircraft systems that protect service members and civilians by enabling intelligent operations in contested environments. As part of the X-BAT program, you will help develop and validate next-generation autonomous aircraft and mission-critical hardware that must perform reliably in demanding operational conditions. Job Description: Shield AI is seeking a Manager, Mechanical Engineering to lead the mechanical hardware-test team supporting X-BAT. The team develops and sustains the test stands, fixtures, tooling, support equipment, and facility interfaces used to validate mission-critical aircraft hardware across development, integration, qualification, and production. You will be accountable for the team's people, technical direction, operating model, and delivery across a portfolio of test-equipment projects. You will translate program and verification priorities into a clear roadmap, build the capacity needed to execute it, and establish the engineering standards that make test systems safe, repeatable, maintainable, and ready for sustained use. The ideal candidate combines strong mechanical and test-equipment judgment with demonstrated people leadership. You know how to grow engineers, manage competing priorities, make sound technical tradeoffs, and scale a hardware capability from rapid prototype work into disciplined, configuration-controlled operations. You remain close enough to the hardware to guide architecture, lead critical reviews, and help the team resolve its hardest problems.

What you'll do:

Lead, coach, and grow a team of mechanical engineers responsible for X-BAT hardware-test equipment; set clear expectations and provide regular feedback, career development, performance management, hiring, and onboarding.

Own the mechanical hardware-test roadmap and delivery portfolio across development, subsystem integration, qualification, and production-test needs.

Convert program milestones and verification needs into executable plans with clear scope, priorities, staffing, schedule, dependencies, decision owners, and risk-reduction actions.

Manage team capacity and workload across concurrent test campaigns; identify resource gaps and communicate staffing, schedule, budget, and technical tradeoffs with transparency.

Set the quality bar for requirements, concepts, design reviews, analysis, GD&T, tolerance analysis, DFM/DFA, drawing and model release, configuration control, validation, acceptance, and sustaining documentation.

Ensure test stands and fixtures are safe, repeatable, maintainable, serviceable, and efficient for operators while meeting structural, thermal, durability, environmental, and facility-interface requirements.

Serve as the senior mechanical escalation point for test-equipment architecture, load paths, materials, mechanisms, mounting, cooling, plumbing, instrumentation accommodation, guarding, and other hazards or interfaces.

Establish and use meaningful operating metrics such as schedule predictability, design-review closure, first-pass checkout, equipment uptime, recurring failures, corrective-action closure, and reuse of proven designs.

Drive standardization and reuse across test assets, including common design practices, modular hardware, documentation, checkout methods, and maintenance strategies.

Partner with test, electrical, avionics, systems, manufacturing, quality, facilities, supply chain, technicians, …