Mechanical Engineer I (New Grad) - Autonomous Aircraft

About the role

Shield AI is a venture-backed defense-tech company developing autonomous aircraft, including the X-BAT aircraft, and is hiring a new-grad Mechanical Engineer I on its Mechanisms team in Seattle. You will help design, develop and integrate mechanical systems for autonomous aircraft, with a possible focus on gearbox development and integration (gears, shafts, bearings, housings, lubrication systems and related interfaces). You will work alongside experienced engineers and partners to design, prototype, test and release hardware.

Key responsibilities

• Support the design and integration of mechanical mechanisms, potentially including gearboxes and other power-transmission systems
• Create and update 3D CAD models, engineering drawings, bills of materials and interface documentation
• Complete design tasks such as component sizing, material selection, tolerance analysis and mechanical packaging
• Perform foundational structural, kinematic and machine-design calculations with guidance from senior engineers
• Assist with preliminary finite element analysis and document assumptions, methods and results
• Support the selection and integration of gears, bearings, shafts, splines, seals, fasteners and lubrication components
• Help build, inspect, test and iterate prototype hardware, and support pre-production builds, integration and ground and flight testing
• Investigate technical issues, document findings and contribute to root-cause and corrective-action activities
• Collaborate with mechanical, propulsion, electrical, avionics, flight-controls, manufacturing and test teams, and follow engineering, configuration-management and product-release processes

Required profile

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering or a related technical field, or equivalent experience (0-1 years of related experience)
• Understanding of statics, dynamics, mechanics of materials, materials science and machine design
• Academic, internship, student-team, research or project experience using 3D CAD software
• Ability to create or interpret basic engineering drawings and to perform foundational engineering calculations
• Ability to work with guidance from peers and managers, in a fast-paced environment, and to obtain an S//SAR-level security clearance is desired

Required skills

• Familiarity with dimensional tolerancing and GD&T fundamentals
• Preferred: NX or similar production CAD, gear geometry and power transmission, finite element analysis, MATLAB/Python, machine-shop or fabrication experience, exposure to FMEA, DO-160/MIL-STD-810 testing and additive manufacturing