a16z Director, Avionics Engineering, V-BAT
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Summary
Lead a team of electrical engineers and technicians to design, test, and improve avionics systems for Shield AI’s autonomous V-BAT aircraft, ensuring reliability and performance in defense 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 . Follow Shield AI on LinkedIn, X, Instagram, and YouTube.
Job Description:
We are seeking a hands-on engineering leader to direct multiple teams spanning electrical design engineering, avionics root cause analysis, and avionics build/test operations. In this role, you will own the technical health and reliability of the avionics systems powering the V-BAT platform — leading the people, processes, and designs that take issues from field observation through root cause resolution and durable design improvement. You will operate at the intersection of design, manufacturing, quality, and fleet support, and you will be measured by the reliability, performance, and manufacturability of what your teams deliver.
What you'll do:
- Lead and grow the team. Mentor and develop a multidisciplinary organization of electrical design engineers, root cause analysis engineers, and avionics build/test technicians, building career paths and technical depth across all three disciplines.
- Set direction and drive execution. Establish team priorities, allocate resources against competing demands, and drive execution while fostering a culture of technical excellence, ownership, and continuous improvement.
- Stay technical. Actively contribute to design development and reviews, hands-on root cause analysis, and the definition and validation of corrective actions — leading by technical example, not just management.
- Own investigations end to end. Lead cross-functional failure investigations, establish and verify corrective and preventive actions, and build tooling and infrastructure that accelerate debugging, test, and issue resolution.
- Improve system reliability. Drive coordination across Supply Chain, Reliability, Manufacturing, Quality, and Fleet Support to implement the processes and design changes that measurably increase the reliability and availability of the V-BAT system.
- Build the standard. Establish the standards, review cadences, and metrics (e.g., reliability growth, escape rates, time-to-resolution) that make technical quality repeatable and scalable as the program grows.
Required qualifications:
- B.S. in Electrical Engineering or an equivalent technical field.
- 10+ years of experience, including demonstrated success leading and growing teams of electrical engineers.
- Proven track record of building and scaling high-performing technical teams.
- Experience working cross-functionally across design, supply chain, manufacturing, quality, and fleet/field support.
- Proven ability to plan and execute complex electronic and electrical designs in a high-consequence industry (defense, aerospace, automotive, or medical device).
- Demonstrated ability to thrive in a fast-paced, high-ownership development environment with rapidly evolving priorities.
Preferred qualifications:
- M.S. or Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering.
- Experience with structured problem-solving and failure analysis methods such as fault tree analysis, fishbone/Ishikawa diagrams, FMEA/FMECA, 8D, or similar.
- Ownership of full product development lifecycles — from concept through release, production ramp, customer sustainment, and product retirement.
- Experience in UAV/UAS design or other autonomous or unmanned systems.
- Familiarity with reliability engineering practices (reliability growth modeling, MTBF/MTBUR analysis, accelerated life testing).
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Full-time regular employee offer package:
Pay within range listed + Bonus + Benefits + Equity
Temporary employee offer package:
Pay within range listed above + temporary benefits package (applicable after 60 days of employment)
Salary compensation is influenced by a wide array of factors including but not limited to skill set, level of experience, licenses and certifications, and specific work location. All offers are contingent on a cleared background and possible reference check. Military fellows and part-time employees are not eligible for benefits. Please speak to your talent acquisition representative for more information.
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Shield AI is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know.
Skills
As published by lever · 19 questions · 9 written answers
Basics
Resume/CV, Full name, Email, Phone, Current location, Current company, LinkedIn URL, Twitter URL, GitHub URL, Portfolio URL, Other website
Short answers (1)
- Please state your full legal name:
Pick from a list (9)
- Are you authorized to work in the United States?
- Will you require sponsorship for employment now or in the future?
- This position may require access to information and technology that is subject to export controls, such as EAR. Are you any of the following?
- Shield AI provides technology, services, and support to the United States military and allied forces with their various missions. If selected for employment with Shield AI, your contributions will directly relate to and/or support these missions. Are there any reasons why you would not be able to fully contribute in support of the U.S. military and allied forces?
- How did you hear about us?
- Are you a transitioning service member?
- If yes, what partnership program are you working with? optional
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Written answers (9)
- If yes, what type of sponsorship? optional
- If you selected "A protected Individual" OR "Other" to the above question, please explain further. optional
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- What full time job(s) are you applying for?
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