Senior Mechanical Engineer, Systems Integration

Founded in 2015, 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 and V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft. 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.

Job Description

Shield AI is seeking a Spatial Integration Design Engineer to lead the design and physical integration of secondary support structures, subsystem installations, and vehicle routing architecture across the platform. This role is heavily focused on mechanical design, packaging, and installation definition within a highly constrained aerospace environment.

This engineer will own the design and development of support hardware, LRU installations, and routing solutions for EWIS, hydraulic, ECS, fuel, and mechanical systems. This includes concept development, CAD modeling, trade studies, structural and fitment analysis, drawing release, procurement support, and installation strategy development.

The ideal candidate has strong aerospace mechanical design experience, excellent spatial reasoning skills, and a deep understanding of vehicle integration constraints including maintainability, manufacturability, accessibility, thermal management, and assembly sequencing.

What You'll Do

Lead the mechanical design and spatial integration of secondary support structures and subsystem installations across the vehicle

Design brackets, trays, mounting provisions, equipment racks, supports, clips, and installation hardware

Develop and maintain vehicle-level LRU layouts and packaging architectures

Design routing solutions and installation provisions for

EWIS harnessing

Hydraulic lines

ECS ducting

Fuel plumbing

Pneumatic systems

Perform CAD-based integration and packaging studies to resolve spatial conflicts and optimize vehicle layouts

Generate detailed 3D models, installation drawings, interface definitions, and engineering release packages

Perform fitment, tolerance, and installation analyses to validate integration solutions

Develop installation strategies including assembly sequencing, accessibility, tooling access, and maintainability considerations

Coordinate with manufacturing, structures, avionics, systems engineering, and test teams to ensure integration compatibility

Support procurement and fabrication activities for designed hardware

Support prototype build and vehicle integration activities by resolving installation and interference issues

Participate in design reviews including PDR, CDR, and manufacturing readiness reviews

Manage the CAD product structure for BOM exports

Required Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or related field

Experience designing mechanical hardware and integrated aerospace installations

Strong proficiency with CAD tools such as CATIA or Siemens NX

Experience sizing parts for various failure scenarios

Experience creating detailed engineering drawings and installation definitions

Strong understanding of aerospace integration and packaging principles

Familiarity with EWIS routing and subsystem installation constraints

Experience integrating hydraulic, ECS, fuel, or mechanical systems within aircraft or vehicle platforms

Understanding of GD&T, tolerance stack-up, and installation analysis principles

Ability to balance structural, thermal, manufacturing, accessibility, and maintainability constraints within designs

Strong communication and cross-functional coordination skills

Ability to obtain a S//SAR level security clearance desired.

Preferred Qualifications

Experience with military aircraft, spacecraft, UAVs, or advanced aerospace systems

Experience supporting prototype builds or vehicle assembly activities

Familiarity with aerospace installation and EWIS standards

Experience with digital mock-up (DMU) and clash detection workflows

Understanding of structural load paths and equipment mounting considerations

Experience with PLM and configuration management systems