Engineering Manager, Air Vehicle Mechanical Systems (R5391)
Shield AI · San Diego, CA
- Level
- Manager
- Team
- Reliability
- Experience asked
- 10+ years
- Industry
- Aerospace & defense
- Posted
- 30+ days ago
The role in 30 seconds
A management reliability role at Shield AI (aerospace & defense) in San Diego, CA. Lead and develop a team of high talent mechanical engineers, from new grad to Principal, focused on aircraft mechanisms and actuation systems (architecture, detailed design, analysis support, release, and sustaining).
- They ask for
- 10+ years
- Tools it names
- FMEA, GD&T
Read from the posting. The full description is below.
From the plant jobs report · week of October 19, 2026
Reliability Engineer roles in California: typical posted base $115k–$169k.
Median of the low and high ends of 69 live postings that list pay, out of 147 reliability engineer openings in California, read from manufacturers' own careers sites.
California plant jobs report →Pay by team and state →What moves pay →
How this role compares
Against 146 other live reliability postings in California.
- Base pay
- Not listed in this posting
- Experience asked
- More than usual (10+ vs 5+)
Typical $115k–$169k, from 68 postings that list pay.
Similar roles usually ask 5+ years.
Skills these teams ask for most
- Root cause 71%
- New product launch 41%
- ✓ FMEA 40%
- Automation 30%
- Validation (IQ/OQ/PQ) 28%
- Tooling 20%
✓ = this posting asks for it too. % = share of similar postings that mention it.
At a glance
Pulled from the posting text. If it's not listed here, the posting didn't say.
How to get in at this plant
Five moves over a week or two. The first one takes ten minutes.
- 1
Pick 2–3 people on the Reliability team at Shield AI
Engineers who joined in the last year or two reply the most. Use the team search on this page to find them.
- 2
Send a short, curious note
One real question about their work. No favors yet. Each person gets a different note, written for this role.
- 3
Turn a reply into a short call
Questions worth asking about this team:
- What does a normal week look like on your team?
- How did you land the job? What stood out in your interviews?
- 4
Apply with someone vouching for you
If the call went well, ask whether they’d pass your résumé to the hiring manager. Send your résumé link, apply that day, and let them know.
- 5
Bring proof to the interview
One page of before-and-after numbers from projects you led: scrap, OEE, cycle time, cost. Plant managers hire on results.
Full description from Shield AIAs posted on their careers site.ShowHide
What you'll do
- ◆Lead and develop a team of high talent mechanical engineers, from new grad to Principal, focused on aircraft mechanisms and actuation systems (architecture, detailed design, analysis support, release, and sustaining).
- ◆Support your team as a technical resource for end-to-end design of mechanisms including (as applicable):
- ◆Doors & latching
- ◆Uplocks / Downlocks
- ◆Landing gear mechanisms
- ◆Actuation integration for flight controls
- ◆Nozzle / propulsion actuation mechanisms
- ◆Actuation, Hydraulics
- ◆Set the quality bar for mechanisms engineering: what “good” looks like in sizing, tolerances, margins, drawings/MBD, materials/process selection, and verification evidence.
- ◆Enable extreme ownership by ensuring engineers have clear goals, interfaces, resources, and decision rights
- ◆Drive effective cross-functional collaboration (systems, structures/loads, aero, propulsion, GNC, avionics, manufacturing, quality, supply chain, test, flight test) by fostering excelling communication across interfaces.
- ◆Coach and develop engineers through technical mentorship, career development, feedback, hiring, onboarding, and performance management.
- ◆Manage team workload across multiple builds and test campaigns; communicate risk, staffing needs, and schedule impacts with transparency.
Required qualifications
- ✓B.S. in Mechanical Engineering (or equivalent).
- ✓10+ years experience with aerospace mechanisms and actuated system design, build, integration, test and flight.
- ✓2+ years leading teams or performing in a team leadership role.
- ✓Demonstrated ability to lead teams with high autonomy—setting direction, ensuring quality, and scaling output through people.
- ✓Strong engineering fundamentals: kinematics, statics/dynamics, fatigue/wear, tolerancing/GD&T, materials and finishes, lubrication/bearings, failure modes.
- ✓Experience shipping hardware through prototype build, test, iteration, and release, including supplier and manufacturing engagement.
Preferred qualifications
- ✓Experience with environmental and operational robustness (vibration/shock, thermal extremes, contamination, corrosion, sand/dust, etc.).
- ✓Experience supporting ground test and flight test campaigns and mechanism failure investigations.
- ✓Familiarity with reliability and safety methods (DFMEA/FTA, fault containment, safe-state thinking) in collaboration with systems safety.
- ✓Experience building supplier relationships for machined parts, actuation systems, mechanisms assemblies, understanding of special processes and inspection/acceptance strategies.
Show full description ↓Show less ↑
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.
Job Description
Shield AI is seeking an engineering manager of Mechanical Design to support the development of our next-generation autonomous UAV platform. In this high-ownership, high visibility role you will lead a team of engineers developing mechanical systems to support Shield AI’s next generation aircraft program(s).
You will work the director of engineering in a deputy capacity to support collaboration across engineering sites, align technical leaders, create mentorship opportunities for junior engineers, and assist in leveling engineering resources across vehicles and programs.
You will set the bar for excellence through technical demonstration, guidance, and mentorship.