Senior Staff Engineer, Mission Architect (R5876)

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. Follow Shield AI on LinkedIn, X, Instagram, and YouTube.

Job Description:

We are seeking a Mission Engineer to own the mission representation of various programs, applying systems engineering, modeling, simulation, and operational analysis techniques to evaluate how Shield AI’s autonomous systems enable desired mission effects. This role is pivotal in analyzing mission architectures, system interactions, capability gaps, and performance drivers across multiple platforms and domains. You will work closely with engineering, product development, operational analysis, and defense stakeholders to translate mission needs into traceable autonomy requirements that inform design trade-offs, system requirements, technology priorities, and operational concepts.

This position requires a strong understanding of military operations, systems engineering, modeling & simulation (M&S), mission analysis, operational analysis techniques, requirements traceability, and model verification and validation techniques. Your work will directly shape Shield AI’s strategy and product development by connecting mission objectives and operational needs to system capabilities, architectures, and engineering decisions.

What you'll do:

• Employ the Mission Engineering process to develop pertinent analyses and assess how current and emerging autonomous capabilities enable desired mission effects in representative military scenarios.
• Utilize systems engineering tools (e.g., Cameo, Sysml 2.0) alongside modeling and simulation tools (AFSIM, STK, MATLAB, Python) to develop mission models, architectures, analytical frameworks, requirements, and traceability artifacts.
• Development of Mission Engineering artifacts such as mission threads, concepts of operations (CONOPS), and mission architectures for new AI-driven autonomous capabilities.
• Work closely with engineering teams and product managers to translate mission needs and operational insights into system requirements, design decisions, and capability improvements.
• Define trade studies and sensitivity analyses to identify key mission drivers, capability gaps, system dependencies, and performance thresholds under varying operational conditions and threats.
• Collaborate with DoD stakeholders, operators, and warfighters to characterize missions, define measures of effectiveness and performance, establish the data, modeling, and analysis required to assess them, and align system capabilities with operational needs.
• Develop and present technical reports, mission architectures, trade studies, and recommendations to senior leadership, customers, and government agencies.
• Leverage modern compute and development best practices (e.g., scalable cloud/HPC workflows, containerization, version control, CI/CD, and automated testing) to build, run, and iterate mission models and analysis pipelines quickly and reliably.

Required qualifications:

• 5+ years of experience in mission engineering, systems engineering, operational analysis, modeling & simulation (M&S) or a related discipline.
• Prior experience in mission-thread analysis, force-on-force analysis, capability-gap analysis, CONOPS development, or military campaign modeling.
• Proficiency with SysML or other systems engineering tools in conjunction with AFSIM, STK, MATLAB, or Python for aerospace and defense applications.
• Experience working with DoD stakeholders, warfighters, and government agencies to characterize mission needs and translate operational objectives into system capabilities, requirements, and engineering trades.
• Demonstrated ability to apply systems engineering, modern compute, data analysis, and software development best practices to build and maintain reliable models, simulations, and analytical workflows.
• Excellent communication and briefing skills, with experience presenting technical and operational analyses to senior leadership, customers, and military personnel.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced, agile development environment with shifting priorities.
• Active Secret or Top-Secret clearance (or ability to obtain one).

Preferred qualifications:

• Experience with model-based systems engineering (MBSE), digital engineering, and SysML 2.0.
• Familiarity with DoD Mission Engineering methodologies, systems-of-systems engineering, DoD acquisition processes and JCIDS.
• Experience integrating AI-driven decision-making algorithms or autonomous systems into mission engineering and operational analysis frameworks.
• Prior military service or experience working with U.S. Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, Army, or Special Operations Forces.

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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.