a16z Senior Staff Engineer, UxS Integration and Systems (R5507)
Summary
Lead integration of autonomy software (Hivemind) with unmanned aircraft and robotic systems, troubleshooting hardware/software across flight controllers, sensors, radios, and test environments.
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 builds intelligent systems that protect service members and civilians. Our products include Hivemind autonomy software and aircraft systems, and our teams support customers and operations across the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific.
Shield AI is seeking a senior, hands-on UxS Integration and Systems Expert to help ensure Hivemind can be developed, tested, demonstrated, and supported on representative unmanned systems with confidence. This role sits at the intersection of autonomy software, unmanned aircraft and robotic systems, onboard compute, networking, radios, sensors, flight controllers, simulation, test operations, and customer-facing demonstrations.
This is a senior technical leadership role for someone who is both a builder and an operator. The right candidate can move comfortably from architecture discussions to benchtop integration, from lab troubleshooting to field execution, and from platform evaluation to clear recommendations for engineering, test, product, and operations leaders.
You will serve as a trusted systems-integration authority for Hivemind test and demonstration hardware. You will help teams select and prepare representative platforms, understand integration tradeoffs, improve test readiness, diagnose cross-disciplinary issues, and translate lessons from real hardware into better engineering, test, and operational practice. The role requires strong judgment, calm execution under pressure, and the ability to bring structure to ambiguous technical environments without overfitting to a single platform or workflow.
What you'll do:
- Serve as a senior technical focal point for Hivemind integration and test readiness across unmanned aircraft, robotic systems, representative test vehicles, onboard compute, radios, sensors, payloads, and supporting ground equipment.
- Lead hands-on integration and troubleshooting efforts that span autonomy software, hardware, flight controllers, communications systems, networking, operator interfaces, and field operations.
- Partner with engineering, test, product, operations, field, and customer-facing teams to evaluate new platforms and determine how they can best support Hivemind development, validation, training, demonstrations, and customer objectives.
- Help take systems from early concept or benchtop integration through representative test, field execution, and operationally relevant demonstrations.
- Provide senior-level technical judgment on platform suitability, integration complexity, test readiness, risk, safety, maintainability, cost, availability, and customer value.
- Support test planning and execution across simulated, hardware-in-the-loop, live-vehicle, and flight-test environments while keeping the role focused on practical system readiness and evidence quality.
- Help define clear readiness criteria, test expectations, operating assumptions, and handoff points for representative hardware used by Hivemind teams.
- Diagnose complex cross-disciplinary issues and help route them effectively across software, autonomy, hardware, flight-test, networking, and operations stakeholders.
- Contribute to test methods, metrics, and evidence practices that improve confidence in Hivemind behavior across representative and real-world environments.
- Support automation, tooling, and data-review practices that improve repeatability, reduce manual burden, and make hardware-based testing easier to operate at scale.
- Capture and share practical knowledge from platform bring-up, test events, flight operations, and customer-facing demonstrations so teams can reuse lessons learned.
- Mentor engineers and operators on systems integration, hardware readiness, field troubleshooting, test discipline, and practical autonomy test execution.
Projects you might work on:
- Evaluating a new unmanned aircraft, ground robot, customer-selected platform, or lab setup for suitability as a Hivemind development, test, training, or demonstration asset.
- Leading technical preparation for a Hivemind test event or customer demonstration that depends on representative hardware, onboard compute, communications, sensors, and operator workflows.
- Advising a program team on the right level of platform fidelity needed for a pilot effort, internal test campaign, or customer-facing technical engagement.
- Supporting integration between Hivemind and flight-control systems, onboard compute, sensors, payloads, radios, ground-control equipment, or simulation environments.
- Helping a test team define practical readiness criteria, test coverage, data-review expectations, and evidence standards for hardware-based autonomy validation.
- Working with engineering and operations leaders to turn lessons from field or lab execution into reusable guidance, training, and better test practices.
Required qualifications:
- 10+ years of experience in UxS or UAS systems integration, robotics hardware integration, autonomy test operations, flight test, field engineering, embedded systems, or similar hands-on technical roles.
- Demonstrated experience leading complex integration efforts across hardware, software, autonomy, networking, communications, sensors, and operational test environments.
- Strong practical experience bringing up, configuring, operating, and troubleshooting unmanned systems, onboard compute, flight controllers, radios, sensors, ground stations, and supporting test equipment.
- Working knowledge of Linux, embedded systems, networking, system configuration, data collection, logs, services, and field diagnostics.
- Experience with unmanned-systems autopilot or flight-control ecosystems such as PX4, ArduPilot, MAVLink, Pixhawk/Cube-class flight controllers, QGroundControl, Mission Planner, or equivalent systems.
- Experience supporting testing across simulation, hardware-in-the-loop, live-vehicle, field, or flight-test environments.
- Ability to develop and communicate test plans, readiness criteria, operating assumptions, technical recommendations, and post-test findings for cross-functional audiences.
- Strong analytical, problem-solving, and debugging skills across ambiguous, cross-disciplinary technical issues.
- Ability to lead through influence across engineering, test, product, operations, field, and customer-facing teams.
- Familiarity with scripting, automation, or data-analysis workflows using Python, Bash, MATLAB, or similar tools.
- Strong ownership, urgency, and judgment in fast-moving environments where requirements, platforms, and constraints may evolve quickly.
- Ability to comply with export-control, safety, security, customer-site, and mission-specific operating requirements.
- Ability to obtain and maintain a Secret security clearance; U.S. citizenship required.
Preferred qualifications:
- Experience with Hivemind, autonomy SDKs, autonomous aircraft systems, robotics middleware, simulation infrastructure, or edge-deployed autonomy software.
- Hands-on experience with NVIDIA Jetson, embedded Linux, systemd services, containerized deployment, device provisioning, and field update workflows.
- Experience with RF/radio setup, mesh networking, tactical datalinks, software-defined radios, or communications-degraded test scenarios.
- Experience supporting flight test, range operations, customer trials, operational rehearsals, or complex demonstrations.
- Experience integrating EO/IR cameras, gimbals, lidar, GPS/GNSS, IMUs, payloads, or perception sensors.
- Experience contributing to test automation, regression frameworks, data validation, performance benchmarking, or CI/CD-integrated test workflows.
- Familiarity with C++ for debugging, interface review, or collaboration with software engineering teams.
- FAA Part 107, private pilot license, military UAS, aviation maintenance, flight-test, or range-safety experience.
- Experience defining reference configurations, hardware baselines, supported configurations, or setup guidance for internal and external users.
- Active Secret clearance or higher.
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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.