Senior Staff Verification and Validation Engineer (R4835)

Dallas, Texas / San Diego, California

V-BAT Division – V-BAT Engineering - Software /

Full Time Employee /

On-site

Founded in 2015, 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 and V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft. 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 Software Systems Test Engineer, you will be pivotal in driving integration testing of our full aircraft software system, integrating our autonomy, flight controller, and GCS software to qualify an intelligent, robust aircraft system. This role demands an engineer capable of overseeing system-level verification and validation, designing complex test scenarios, and ensuring that subsystem testing meets rigorous standards before proceeding to full system integration. You will marshal our aircraft software through full system verification & validation. Your work will directly impact the reliability and performance of our aircraft, preparing them for operational excellence in the field.

What You'll Do:

Generate detailed mission test scenarios that mimic real-world conditions to validate the performance of autonomy and flight control software.
Participate in design reviews for new features and design detailed test plans based on their requirements
Conduct and manage system verification and validation events, culminating in verified flight readiness.
Write test analyzers in Python to report and benchmark performance and qualification metrics of the system
Produce test coverage and release-readiness reports by aggregating test cases, results, and quality requirements
Recommend improvements to our simulation models and fault injection so that we can keep pushing the capabilities of our test suite before proceeding to flight

Required Qualifications:

10+ years of work experience in testing complex integrated software systems
Demonstrated expertise & experience in test automation, minimally writing software to automate testing, preferably leveraging simulation for automated integration testing
Strong experience with the software product development lifecycle, ideally for autonomy or vehicle systems
Great understanding of system architecture, requirement derivation, and test planning across the V-model
Experience with automating test cases in an existing test framework
Experience producing high-quality technical documentation, including test plans, quality-assurance reports, and operational procedures
Proven track record of successfully shipping products, showcasing the ability to navigate through development cycles, overcome obstacles, and deliver high-quality solutions to meet project deadlines and exceed expectations in a fast-paced environment
B.S., M.S, or PhD degree in Systems Engineering, Software Engineering, Computer Science or a related field

Preferred Qualifications:

Experience with autonomous or robotic systems
Experience with simulation software and hardware emulation
Background in a fast-paced, R&D or startup environment
Proficiency in build test automation
Proficiency in Python or C++

$170,000 - $240,000 a year

#LI-SM1

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.

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.

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses and identifying potential inconsistencies or verification signals in application materials based on available information. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.

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