--- title: 'Engineer II, Automated Test (R6288) at Shield AI' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/engineer-ii-automated-test-r6288-shield-ai-san-mateo-9zrnhj6har1p' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-10-17' --- # Engineer II, Automated Test (R6288) at Shield AI - **Company:** Shield AI - **Location:** San Mateo, CA - **Compensation:** $110k–$160k - **Employment:** full-time - **Work type:** onsite - **Posted:** 2026-10-17 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-17 - **Apply:** https://jobs.lever.co/shieldai/3e90ea11-9f23-45e3-b42e-e9b0bd4bdf36 ## Job description 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. What you'll do: - Design, develop, and maintain automated test frameworks for Autonomy and UI applications. - Develop scalable automated test infrastructure for functional, integration, regression, system, and end-to-end testing across distributed software and hardware environments. - Create and maintain CI/CD pipelines in GitLab using YAML configurations and shell scripting to support automated build, test, and deployment workflows. - Build workflow automation tools and utilities in Python to improve test execution efficiency, reporting, environment setup, and developer productivity. - Develop and maintain UI and API test automation using Go and TypeScript for modern web-based operator interfaces and mission control applications. - Integrate automated testing into continuous integration environments to support rapid software delivery and high reliability standards. - Collaborate closely with software, autonomy, simulation, and systems engineering teams to define verification strategies and improve software quality throughout the development lifecycle. - Develop automated validation solutions for safety-critical and mission-critical aerospace software systems. - Create test harnesses, simulators, stubs, and mocks to support automated verification in both simulated and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) environments. - Analyze test results, troubleshoot failures, and work with development teams to isolate root causes and improve system reliability. - Improve test coverage, execution speed, maintainability, and observability of automated test systems. - Contribute to software quality standards, coding best practices, and automation architecture decisions. - Maintain clear technical documentation for test frameworks, automation workflows, CI/CD infrastructure, and validation procedures. - Support release qualification activities and ensure traceability between requirements, tests, and verification results where applicable. - Represent the Integration and Test Role in design reviews and advocate for a culture of engineering excellence and continuous improvement. - Develop AI-assisted engineering workflows and analytics tools using modern coding agents such as Claude Code, Codex, and related LLM-based development platforms to improve test generation, failure triage, debugging, and developer productivity. - Design intelligent automation pipelines that leverage AI-assisted code generation, log analysis, test analysis, and workflow orchestration to accelerate software verification and validation processes. - Evaluate and integrate emerging AI-driven software engineering tools into automated test and CI/CD ecosystems while maintaining reliability, traceability, and engineering quality standards. Required qualificatons: - 2+ years of experience building scalable, maintainable automation frameworks and/or developer tooling in Python. - 2+ years of experience working with package management, dependency management, and build systems using tools such as conan, pip, setuptools, poetry, and nix or similar. - 2+ years of experience building tooling for automated log collection, analytics, reporting, and failure triage. - Strong understanding of asynchronous and concurrent programming in Python for scalable automation and parallel test execution. - Experience developing and maintaining CI/CD pipelines using GitLab CI, YAML, and shell scripting. - Experience with automated testing of distributed systems, backend services, APIs, and web-based UIs. - Familiarity with modern test frameworks, automated validation strategies, and software quality methodologies. - Experience working in Linux-based development environments. - Strong debugging and problem-solving skills in complex software systems. - Excellent collaboration and communication skills in cross-functional engineering environments. Preferred qualifications: - Experience integrating Python with native C/C++ libraries and applications using bindings, wrappers, subprocess interfaces, or interoperability tooling. - Proficiency with Go and/or TypeScript for automation tooling or UI test development. - Experience with C++ development or testing. - Aerospace, robotics, autonomy, or safety-critical software experience. - Familiarity with simulation, hardware-in-the-loop (HIL), or embedded system testing. 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. ## About Shield AI ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: Shield AI builds AI pilots and autonomous systems for military aircraft to protect service members and civilians. - **Entity Type**: Private (Series G, venture-backed) - **Headquarters**: San Diego, California, United States - **Founded**: 2015 - **Founders**: Brandon Tseng, Ryan Tseng, Andrew Reiter ## Core Business - Primary industry/industries: Defense technology, artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, aerospace - Target customers: U.S. Department of Defense, allied nations’ military forces (B2G / Government) - Mission or purpose statement: “Protect service members and civilians with intelligent systems.” ## Products & Services - **Hivemind**: A combat‑tested, modular autonomy stack for aircraft – self‑driving technology for drones, jets, and helicopters. Includes path‑planning, mapping, state‑estimation, computer vision, and reinforcement learning. Type: Software (AI/autonomy). - **V‑BAT**: A vertical take‑off and landing (VTOL) unmanned aerial system (UAS) designed for persistent ISR and strike missions. Type: Hardware (drone). - **X‑BAT**: An advanced unmanned aircraft system with extended endurance and payload capacity, built for multi‑domain operations. Type: Hardware (drone). - **Hivemind Vision Systems**: Computer‑vision and sensor‑fusion capabilities integrated into Hivemind for GPS‑denied environments. Type: Software + sensors. - **Hivemind Enterprise**: A deployable version of Hivemind for third‑party platforms and commercial applications. Type: Software. ## Market Standing - **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly disclosed (private company). Total funding raised: $3.6B (as of Series G in March 2026). - **Key Metric**: Annual Revenue ~$21.7M (estimated, private) | Total Funding $3.6B (including $2B Series G led by JP Morgan Chase and Advent International, March 2026). - **Notable Investors/Partners**: JP Morgan Chase, Advent International, Blackstone, Riot Ventures, SnowPoint Ventures, Disruptive (55+ investors total). Strategic partners include U.S. DoD and allied defense forces. - **Growth Signals**: Headcount grew 68.3% YoY to 1,283 employees; 338 active job postings (+57.2% YoY); operates in 5 countries (U.S., Australia, UAE, Norway, Ukraine); recent acquisitions of Sentient Vision Systems (2024), Heron Systems, MARTIN UAV. ## Competitive Advantages - **Combat‑proven autonomy**: Hivemind has been tested in live military operations, providing a first‑mover advantage in contested, GPS‑denied environments. - **Full‑stack integration**: Combines software (AI pilot), hardware (V‑BAT, X‑BAT), and sensor systems, creating a tightly integrated product ecosystem. - **Cross‑functional engineering culture**: Engineers work across AI, robotics, aerospace, and defense – not siloed – enabling rapid iteration and field deployment. - **Top talent pipeline**: Employees drawn from Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Amazon, Anduril, and other leading defense/tech firms. ## Strategic Focus - **Scale AI pilots across all domains**: Extend Hivemind from aircraft to ships, satellites, and ground vehicles (“every military asset”). - **International expansion**: Growing presence in Australia, Europe, and Middle East via mission autonomy centers and partnerships. - **Deepen autonomy stack**: Continued investment in reinforcement learning, simulation, and computer vision to maintain leadership in contested‑environment autonomy. ## Why Work Here - **Mission‑driven work**: Directly contribute to protecting service members and civilians with cutting‑edge AI and robotics. - **Cross‑functional teams**: Engineers collaborate across disciplines (AI, hardware, software, systems) on real‑world defense challenges. - **Benefits**: Excellent medical coverage, mental health EAP, paid parental leave, pet insurance, flexible work hours, gym discounts (SD) / on‑site gym (DC), free parking, competitive compensation, 401k with match, stock benefits. - **Work policy**: Flexible work hours; some offices (e.g., San Diego HQ, Arlington, DC) have on‑site facilities. Remote/hybrid options available depending on role. - **Growth trajectory**: Rapidly scaling (68% headcount growth) with hundreds of open roles across engineering, operations, and program management. ## Sources 1. [shield.ai/about](https://shield.ai/about/) 2. [shield.ai/careers](https://shield.ai/careers/) 3. [LinkedIn – Shield AI](https://www.linkedin.com/company/shield-ai) 4. [CBInsights – Shield AI](https://www.cbinsights.com/company/shield-ai) 5. 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