a16z Senior Engineer, Electrical - Fleet Support (R5080)
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:
Shield AI is seeking a Senior Electrical Engineer to serve as the electrical SME for the V-BAT Fleet Support team. In this role, you will own customer-facing engineering support for aircraft electrical issues across the fielded fleet. You will act as the bridge between Fleet Support and the avionics, electrical, software, and systems engineering teams to resolve complex technical problems quickly and thoroughly.
This role is best suited for an engineer with strong avionics and aircraft electrical troubleshooting experience who can move fluidly between schematic-level analysis, hardware debug, and field support.
What you'll do:
- Serve as the electrical SME for Fleet Support and lead escalated investigations involving aircraft electrical and avionics issues.
- Diagnose avionics system issues, onboard communication hardware issues, wiring and harness problems, power-distribution faults, connector failures, grounding issues, and intermittent electrical anomalies.
- Troubleshoot aircraft electrical problems at the aircraft, subsystem, harness, connector, and line-replaceable unit levels.
- Review and maintain schematics, pinouts, wiring diagrams, interface definitions, and troubleshooting documentation used by Fleet Support and customer teams.
- Use standard debug equipment to isolate faults, validate corrective actions, and support return-to-service decisions.
- Partner closely with software, mission systems, and radio frequency (RF) engineers on issues that cross electrical, software, and communications boundaries.
- Identify recurring failure patterns and drive clear feedback into design, manufacturing, integration, and quality organizations.
- Develop field-ready troubleshooting guides, repair recommendations, and service documentation for the Fleet Support organization.
Required qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering or a related discipline.
- 5+ years of experience in avionics, aircraft electrical systems, embedded hardware integration, or aerospace electrical engineering.
- Strong ability to read and interpret schematics, wiring diagrams, pinouts, and interface documentation.
- Hands-on experience troubleshooting harnesses, connectors, power systems, avionics hardware, and electrical integration issues.
- Experience diagnosing intermittent failures caused by vibration, temperature, installation, environment, or interface mismatch.
- Strong communication skills and ability to support technical conversations with both customers and internal engineering teams.
- Ability to possess a Secret DoD security clearance as required by customers.
Preferred qualifications:
- Experience with unmanned aircraft system electrical or avionics integration.
- Experience supporting fielded military, maritime, or expeditionary systems.
- Experience with sensors, radios, onboard compute, or payload electrical interfaces.
- Experience supporting ground test, flight test, or operational readiness events.
#LI-JM1
#LC
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.
###
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.