Operations
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 https://shield.ai/. Follow Shield AI on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/shield-ai, X https://x.com/shieldaitech, Instagram https://www.instagram.com/shield_ai, and YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@Shield_AI.
Candidates for this role will own the day-to-day management, readiness, organization, and growth of Hivemind's Hardware-in-the-Loop and engineering laboratories. This is a highly hands-on position with direct accountability for lab operations while also building, maintaining, configuring, and troubleshooting the systems that enable software development and integration testing. We are looking for someone with relevant defense, aerospace, aviation, robotics, or comparable technical experience who brings strong asset discipline, practical technical judgment, excellent organization, and a service-oriented approach to supporting engineering teams across multiple programs.
What You'll Do:
- •Own daily operations and technical readiness for HIL and infrastructure laboratories, ensuring systems, workspaces, tools, documentation, and shared resources are available and ready for engineering use
•Build, install, configure, inspect, and maintain HIL racks, test benches, compute systems, network equipment, storage, power distribution, simulation hardware, flight hardware, and supporting lab infrastructure
•Own and maintain accurate asset control for lab and program equipment, including receiving, tagging, serial-number tracking, location, custody, configuration, calibration, maintenance, spares, and disposition records
•Manage lab schedules, equipment reservations, maintenance windows, integration priorities, and competing cross-program demands in coordination with software, hardware, systems, test, and program teams
•Perform wiring and fabrication tasks such as cable assembly, connector installation, crimping, soldering, continuity checks, cable routing, rack assembly, panel modification, bracket installation, and minor mechanical rework using approved procedures
•Read, apply, and update wiring diagrams, electrical schematics, rack elevations, mechanical and installation drawings, cable and port maps, bills of material, work instructions, and interface-control documentation
•Support software development by provisioning and restoring development and test environments, imaging computers, installing approved software, managing configurations, collecting logs, and assisting with automated lab workflows
•Diagnose and resolve lab issues across power, wiring, compute, networking, software, instrumentation, and mechanical interfaces using appropriate test equipment, logs, drawings, and structured troubleshooting methods
•Manage procurement coordination, incoming inspection, shipping and receiving, vendor repair activity, consumables, tool control, calibration, equipment staging, and capacity planning for lab growth and program execution
•Establish, maintain, and enforce lab standards for safety, access, cybersecurity, export control, electrostatic-discharge protection, foreign-object-debris prevention, cleanliness, labeling, and configuration management
•Own and maintain lab operating procedures, build records, maintenance logs, configuration baselines, status dashboards, issue trackers, and work instructions that provide traceability and support knowledge sharing
•Support customer integration events, demonstrations, operational exercises, and evaluations by preparing representative lab environments, reproducing field issues, and incorporating approved updates into HIL configurations and test infrastructure
Required Qualifications:
- •Typically requires 5+ years of hands-on experience supporting engineering laboratories, integration and test facilities, avionics, mission systems, electronics, IT infrastructure, industrial equipment, or comparable technical operations. A four-year engineering degree is not required. Relevant demonstrated experience, military service, vocational training, or technical certifications are acceptable pathways to qualification.
•Hands-on experience operating or supporting engineering laboratories, integration facilities, test environments, maintenance operations, or mission systems in the defense, aerospace, aviation, robotics, manufacturing, or another mission-critical industry
•Demonstrated experience assembling, installing, maintaining, and troubleshooting electro-mechanical equipment, test infrastructure, computing systems, electronics, or avionics hardware
•Experience maintaining accountable assets, serialized hardware, inventory, tools, calibration, spares, shipping and receiving, maintenance history, or configuration records
•Strong planning and organizational skills with demonstrated ability to own shared lab operations and coordinate schedules, equipment availability, maintenance activities, priorities, and dependencies across multiple teams or programs
•Ability to read and work from wiring diagrams, electrical schematics, mechanical and installation drawings, rack layouts, bills of material, work instructions, and technical manuals
•Competence with wiring, cable and connector work, fabrication, hand tools, digital multimeters, continuity testing, rack integration, and safe electro-mechanical troubleshooting
•Comfort working with Windows- and Linux-based computers, installing and configuring software, collecting logs, documenting technical work, and communicating clearly with software and hardware engineers
•Ability to obtain a SECRET clearan