Staff Engineer, Modeling & Simulation (R4869)

San Diego, California / Boston, MA / Dallas, Texas

X-BAT Division – X-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.

Job Description:

The Aircraft Simulation team turns frontier autonomy into mission-ready aircraft. We own the commit-to-flight pipeline—deterministic aircraft and mission simulation, HITL/SITL integration, CI/CD, and tooling for automated flight qualification testing. Our goal is simple: make AI fly—safely, reliably, and fast.

As a Staff Modeling & Simulation Engineer, you will be dedicated to Shield AI’s next-generation aircraft program, contributing to our emergent modeling & simulation tooling. You’ll design, build, and scale novel aircraft subsystem models, develop infrastructure that enables robust automated testing for our next generation XBAT product line, and conduct system performance analysis.

What you'll do:

Develop models and infrastructure for the integrated simulation pipeline in C++.
Design deterministic, high-performance simulation tools capable of faster-than-real-time execution for development, testing, and release.
Implement test scenarios and write unit, system, and regression tests.
Collaborate across autonomy, embedded, GNC, and test engineering to ensure the simulation mirrors real aircraft behavior and mission scenarios.
Contribute to platform-agnostic simulation tooling to accelerate current and future aircraft design and development efforts.
Perform verification and validation (V&V) analysis activities on modeling tools.
Conduct system performance analysis and generate reports and visualizations.
Utilize best practices in C++, simulation architecture, and performance engineering.

Required qualifications:

BS or MS in Computer Science, Aerospace, Robotics, or related field.
7+ years of experience in simulation software development, with emphasis on modern C++ (C++17 or later) and performance optimization.
Strong understanding of rigid-body dynamics, kinematics, aerodynamics, and sensor mechanics.
Proven experience developing or integrating simulation systems for robotics, aerospace, and/or autonomous systems.
Ability to debug complex build and runtime environments (CMake, package management, logging, and profiling tools).
Experience with software testing tools (GTest, etc.)
Experience with simulation V&V.
Strong collaboration and communication skills across software, hardware, and systems disciplines.
Ability to obtain a S//SAR level security clearance desired.

Preferred qualifications:

Grasp of real-time and deterministic software design, including multi-threading, synchronization, and memory management.
Experience with DevOps-integrated simulation workflows, including CI/CD and automated hardware testing environments.
Working knowledge of Python for data analysis, test automation, or simulation orchestration.
Familiarity with aircraft and flight physics modeling.

$150,000 - $220,000 a year

#LI-SM1

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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.

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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