Staff Engineer, Reliability Test (R5532)

Shield AI is a venture-backed defense-tech company with the mission of protecting service members and civilians with intelligent systems. Its products include Hivemind autonomy software, V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft, and Aechelon simulation and synthetic reality technologies. With offices and facilities across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific, Shield AI’s technology actively supports operations worldwide. For more information, visit www.shield.ai. Follow Shield AI on LinkedIn, X, Instagram, and YouTube. 

As a Reliability Test Engineer at Shield AI, you'll prepare, execute, and manage environmental tests on electronic flight hardware across the VBAT and XBAT aircraft, ensuring it meets performance requirements through rigorous thermal, vibration, shock, humidity, and altitude testing. This is a highly hands-on role. Working with design and reliability stakeholders, you'll define test plans — stress profiles, sample sizes, and pass/fail criteria — then bring them to the bench: designing and modeling test fixtures in CAD, instrumenting hardware with thermocouples, accelerometers, strain gauges, and humidity sensors, configuring data acquisition, and programming and loading chambers. You'll frequently run several campaigns at once, owning the equipment scheduling needed to keep them moving without compromising data quality.

Once tests are running, you'll operate the equipment, monitor for and investigate failures, and reduce and document results in clear reports — including the plots and visualizations stakeholders rely on to make disposition and qualification decisions. You'll work with cutting-edge deep-tech hardware, collaborate across disciplines, and directly influence product quality and long-term reliability over the vehicles’ lifecycles.

What You'll Do

• Operate and continuously improve a world-class environmental test lab for electronics that includes HALT/HASS chambers, thermal-humidity chambers, vibration/shock equipment, and data acquisition equipment.

• Develop and implement lab procedures for use of environmental test equipment, test setup and tear down, data acquision, and test reporting.

• Perform reliability tests on electronic products, including thermal cycling, temperature-humidity soaks, HALT, HASS, vibration, and shock testing.

• Develop lab best-practices, including automation of data acquisition, defining test plans, documenting test results, and management of tests.

• Manage procurement and maintenance of lab consumables, including instrumentation, adhesives, fasteners, and fixtures.

• Oversee the maintenance, organization, and safety of all laboratory equipment and work areas.

• Work with external laboratories to perform environmental tests as necessary.

• Educate stakeholders on environmental test best-practices to improve test plans and design-for-test practices.

• Stay current with industry trends, advancements, and best practices in all aspects of environmental testing and equipment.

Required Qualifications

• 2+ years of experience with environmental testing, including temperature cycling, vibration, highly accelerated limit testing (HALT), and highly-accelerated stress screening (HASS).

• Candidate must be self-starting and come with a growth mindset, with excellent problem-solving skills and attention to detail.

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering or Reliability Engineering.

• Proficiency in CAD modelling software, including ANSYS SpaceClaim, NX, or Solidworks.

• Knowledgeable in data acquisition equipment and instrumentation, including thermocouples, accelerometers, humidity sensors, and strain gauges.

• Familiarity with electronics (PCBs, PCBAs, electronic components) and moving mechanical assemblies. Knowledgeable in failure mechanisms including solder fatigue, intermetallic growth, conductive anodic filaments, tin whiskers, electromigration, and corrosion.

• Team-player with clear and concise written and oral communication skills.

• Experience working with interdisciplinary teams to execute product design from concept to production.

• Experience with management of technical projects.

• Familiarity with relevant industry test standards, including IPC, JEDEC, MIL, and ASTM standards.

Preferred Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in a reliability testing role, including temperature cycling, vibration, highly accelerated limit testing (HALT), and highly-accelerated stress screening (HASS).

• Familiarity with reliability concepts, including Weibull statistics, accelerated life test design, highly-accelerated limit testing (HALT), and highly-accelerated stress screening (HASS).

• Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering or Reliability Engineering.

• Prior experience managing an environmental test lab.

·        Familiarity with PCB fabrication, SMT, and polymerics application manufacturing processes.

·        Proficiency in FEA modelling software, including ANSYS Mechanical, Siemens Simcenter, or Abaqus.

• Proficiency in Python, including NumPy, Pandas, SciPy, Plotly, and Matplotlib.

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Full-time regular employee offer package:

Pay within range listed + Bonus + Benefits + Equity

Temporary employee offer package:

Pay within range listed above + temporary benefits package (applicable after 60 days of employment)

Salary compensation is influenced by a wide array of factors including but not limited to skill set, level of experience, licenses and certifications, and specific work location. All offers are contingent on a cleared background and possible reference check. Military fellows and part-time employees are not eligible for benefits. Please speak to your talent acquisition representative for more information.

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Shield AI is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know.