Lead, Electrical Engineering (Avionics)

About the role

Shield AI is a defense-tech company building intelligent systems for aircraft, including V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft. As Lead, Electrical Engineer, you will lead the architecture, design, integration and delivery of advanced electrical systems for autonomous aircraft and support equipment, while directly managing and developing a small team of electrical engineers. The role suits an experienced technical leader who wants to combine hands-on engineering leadership with people management, with growth toward leading full avionics organizations.

Key responsibilities

• Lead the architecture, design, integration and production release of electrical systems and subsystems for autonomous aircraft and support equipment.
• Own technical decisions across complex architectures involving FPGAs, power management, analog and digital circuitry, servos, microcontrollers, sensors, radios and embedded systems.
• Stay hands-on with part selection, schematic capture, simulation, analysis, verification, debugging, design reviews and production support.
• Mentor, coach and delegate to a team of electrical engineers, and set technical direction and priorities aligned with program and aircraft objectives.
• Partner with firmware, software, mechanical, manufacturing, supply chain, test and systems engineering teams to deliver integrated products.
• Support embedded systems and sensors that enable aircraft autonomy and AI capabilities, and define requirements, interfaces and verification strategies.
• Own project execution, including schedules, risks, dependencies, deliverables and cross-functional communication.
• Lead and take part in architecture, design, integration and production readiness reviews, and help develop automated test solutions.
• Improve engineering efficiency, product quality, aircraft reliability and team effectiveness, and build the foundation to scale the avionics team.

Required profile

• Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering or equivalent practical experience.
• 8+ years of industry experience in electrical engineering, including multiple product development cycles.
• Experience leading technically complex electrical or avionics designs from concept through production.
• Experience delivering products across EE, ME, firmware, software, manufacturing and systems engineering disciplines.
• Demonstrated ability to lead, mentor and develop engineers while keeping hands-on technical ownership.
• Proven track record of shipping high-quality products on challenging schedules.
• Ability to obtain a Secret/SAR-level security clearance is desired.

Required skills

• Circuit design, embedded systems, hardware architecture, analysis, verification and debugging.
• FPGA and microcontroller design.
• Strong communication, collaboration, prioritization and cross-functional leadership skills.