Senior Manager, Software Test and Automation

About the role

Shield AI is seeking a Senior Manager of Software Test to lead verification and validation of autonomy‑focused avionics software for next‑generation aircraft. You will design scalable, automated test infrastructure and ensure mission‑critical behaviors are validated across simulation and real‑flight environments.

Key responsibilities

• Build a world‑class software and system test infrastructure for rapid software deployments.
• Own end‑to‑end system test strategy for software‑in‑the‑loop (SIL), hardware‑in‑the‑loop (HIL) and vehicle‑in‑the‑loop (VIL) environments, scaling them for continuous integration and rapid release cycles.
• Design and implement mission‑critical test cases that validate autonomous behaviors, requirements compliance, and edge‑case performance under nominal, safety‑critical, and degraded conditions.
• Coordinate and execute flight‑test and software‑release campaigns, collaborating with autonomy, embedded systems, flight‑ops, and safety engineering teams.

Required profile

• BS or MS in Computer Science, Aerospace Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Robotics, or a related field.
• 8+ years of experience in software testing, systems testing, or verification & validation for complex, safety‑critical or mission‑critical systems.
• 3+ years of experience leading teams, including managing other managers.
• Strong proficiency in test automation, scripting, data analysis, and test‑infrastructure development.
• Hands‑on experience building and maintaining automated test frameworks (SIL, HIL, VIL, CI/CD pipelines).
• Experience validating autonomous behaviors or distributed real‑time systems.

Required skills

• Test automation
• Scripting
• Data analysis
• Automated test frameworks (SIL, HIL, VIL)
• CI/CD pipelines (Jenkins, GitLab CI, Buildkite)
• Hardware‑in‑the‑loop testbeds
• Embedded systems
• Avionics integration
• Simulation tools (Gazebo, Isaac, ROS/ROS2)
• Autonomy algorithms (navigation, planning, perception)