Senior Environmental Test Technician

About the role

Shield AI, a defense-tech company developing aircraft and autonomy software, is hiring a Senior Environmental Test Technician in Seattle. The role prepares, runs and manages environmental tests on electronic flight hardware for the VBAT and XBAT aircraft, covering thermal, vibration, shock, humidity and altitude testing. It is highly hands-on and works closely with design and reliability stakeholders.

Key responsibilities

• Operate and improve the environmental test lab, which includes HALT/HASS chambers, thermal-humidity chambers, vibration and shock equipment and data acquisition equipment.
• Define test plans, install test articles, instrument hardware with thermocouples, accelerometers, strain gauges and humidity sensors, configure data acquisition and program chambers.
• Run multiple test campaigns at once, monitoring for and investigating failures, and report results with plots and visualizations.
• Develop lab procedures, best practices and automation of data acquisition, and manage procurement and maintenance of consumables.
• Keep the lab organized and safe, and work with external laboratories when needed.
• Educate stakeholders on test best practices and stay current with industry trends.

Required profile

• 2+ years of experience in environmental testing, including temperature cycling, vibration, HALT and HASS.
• Self-starter with strong problem-solving skills and attention to detail.
• Experience with interdisciplinary teams and technical project management.
• Preferred: 5+ years in reliability testing, prior experience managing an environmental test lab, and a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical, Electrical or Reliability Engineering.

Required skills

• Data acquisition equipment and instrumentation (thermocouples, accelerometers, humidity sensors, strain gauges).
• Knowledge of failure mechanisms such as solder fatigue, tin whiskers and corrosion.
• Familiarity with IPC, JEDEC, MIL and ASTM test standards.
• Preferred: Weibull statistics, HALT/HASS concepts, CAD tools such as ANSYS SpaceClaim, NX or SolidWorks, and Python (NumPy, Pandas, SciPy, Plotly, Matplotlib).