Shield AI · 1 day ago
Director, Engineering Excellence & Design Standards
Shield AI is a defense-technology company developing intelligent systems, including autonomous aircraft and AI pilot technologies. The Director, Engineering Excellence & Design Standards will establish and operationalize engineering design standards across aerospace programs, improve consistency and rigor across disciplines, and scale engineering processes in areas such as design, analysis, CAD, documentation, certification, and configuration management.
AerospaceArtificial Intelligence (AI)TransportationDronesNational DefenseAutonomous VehiclesMachine LearningNational Security
H1B Sponsor LikelyUnicorn with $12.7B valuation
Responsibilities
Establish and own engineering design standards across programs, including XBAT and VBAT
Define and standardize best practices for aerospace design, analysis workflows, and system-level engineering rigor
Develop standards for CAD usage, drawing quality, standard notes, release processes, and engineering documentation
Manufacturing & supply chain handoff including EBOM and MBOM creation along with driving part demand
Build and mature an engineering excellence framework that scales with the company
Partner with engineering leadership to align teams on consistent ways of working
Ensure standards are practical, accessible, and consistently applied across teams
Influence design decisions and engineering processes across disciplines without becoming a bottleneck
Support both near-term program execution and long-term scalability of engineering processes
Drive improvements in configuration management, documentation quality, and design consistency
Ability to obtain a S//SAR level security clearance desired
Qualification
Required
10+ years of experience in aerospace or high-performance hardware design environments
Deep experience working within organizations that maintain strong engineering standards and design rigor
Broad technical background across multiple engineering domains (mechanical, aerospace, systems, etc.)
Experience defining or applying design standards, documentation practices, and configuration management systems
Familiarity with industry standards such as MIL-STD-810, DO-160, and ASME Y14.5 (GD&T)
Demonstrated ability to influence senior engineers and drive alignment across teams
Strong track record of improving engineering quality, consistency, and scalability
Excellent communication skills with the ability to clearly articulate standards and expectations across technical audiences
Preferred
Ability to obtain a S//SAR level security clearance desired
Benefits
Bonus
Benefits
Equity
Temporary benefits package applicable after 60 days of employment
Company
Shield AI
Defense-tech building AI pilots and next-generation aircraft.
H1B Sponsorship
Shield AI has a track record of offering H1B sponsorships. Please note that this does not
guarantee sponsorship for this specific role. Below presents additional info for your
reference. (Data Powered by US Department of Labor)
Distribution of Different Job Fields Receiving Sponsorship
75%
Represents job field similar to this job
Engineering and Development
Accounting and Finance
Trends of Total Sponsorships
*2026 (1)
2025 (3)
2024 (3)
2021 (1)
Funding
Current Stage
Late StageTotal Funding
$3.59BKey Investors
Advent International,JP Morgan ChaseBlackstoneHanwha Aerospace,L3Harris Technologies
2026-06-11Series Unknown· $2.09M
2026-03-26Series G· $2B
2026-03-26Debt Financing· $250M
Leadership Team
Gary Steele
Chief Executive Officer
Brandon Tseng
Co-Founder
Recent News
Propel(X)
2026-09-04
Company data provided by crunchbase