---
title: 'Flight Ops Technician at Shield AI'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/flight-ops-technician-shield-ai-lviv-br8nen01am10'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-10-31'
---

# Flight Ops Technician at Shield AI

- **Company:** Shield AI
- **Location:** Lviv, Ukraine
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-10-19
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-31
- **Apply:** https://jobs.lever.co/shieldai/19f587da-4be7-4223-afae-a0050d3d29b8

## 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:

- Build, modify, assemble, maintain, and repair prototype unmanned aircraft and related test systems.
- Install and integrate avionics, sensors, compute hardware, radios, antennas, payloads, wiring, and other experimental hardware.
- Fabricate prototype and replacement components using 3D printing, hand and power tools, and other rapid-prototyping methods.
- Build, modify, and troubleshoot wiring harnesses, connectors, electrical assemblies, and aircraft electrical systems.
- Build, wire, configure, maintain, and troubleshoot HIL rigs, test fixtures, and related engineering test infrastructure.
- Integrate flight computers, avionics, sensors, actuators, communications equipment, and other aircraft hardware into HIL and bench-test environments.
- Diagnose mechanical, electrical, avionics, communications, networking, and system-level issues across aircraft and test equipment.
- Support SIL, HIL, VIL, bench, ground, and live-flight testing, including aircraft functional checks and troubleshooting.
- Perform aircraft inspections, maintenance, repairs, configuration changes, and pre- and post-flight activities.
- Help establish and maintain a local prototyping and flight-operations lab, including tools, test equipment, fabrication equipment, spares, batteries, and support equipment.
- Support flight operations, including aircraft setup, launch and recovery, test-site setup and teardown, and preparation of equipment for field deployments.
- Maintain aircraft, test-system, maintenance, configuration, inventory, and other technical documentation.
- Work closely with hardware, software, autonomy, and flight-test engineers to rapidly diagnose problems, implement modifications, and improve test capabilities.
- Transport personnel and equipment to test sites and travel within Ukraine to support testing, demonstrations, and operations.
- Mentor less-experienced technicians and maintain high standards for workmanship, configuration control, organization, and safety.

Required Qualifications:

- 5+ years of hands-on experience in UAS, aviation, aerospace, robotics, electronics, manufacturing, test support, or a related technical field.
- Strong mechanical and electrical aptitude with experience building, modifying, maintaining, or repairing complex electromechanical systems.
- Experience integrating hardware into aircraft, robotics, prototypes, test systems, or comparable platforms.
- Hands-on electrical experience, including wiring, connectors, soldering, crimping, cable fabrication, and electrical troubleshooting.
- Experience building, maintaining, or troubleshooting HIL rigs, test stands, test fixtures, or similar hardware/software integration environments.
- Ability to read and work from mechanical drawings, wiring diagrams, schematics, and engineering documentation
- Experience with rapid prototyping, fabrication, and iterative hardware development.
- Ability to systematically troubleshoot mechanical, electrical, communications, and system-level problems.
- Experience using common mechanical and electrical tools and test equipment.
- Experience supporting engineering, ground, flight, or field testing.
- Strong attention to detail, workmanship, safety, and configuration control.
- Ability to work independently and solve technical problems in fast-moving workshop, laboratory, flight-line, and field environments.
- Valid driver's license and ability to transport equipment and personnel to operational sites.
- Ability to travel within Ukraine as required.

Required Qualifications:

- 5+ years of hands-on experience in UAS, aviation, aerospace, robotics, electronics, manufacturing, test support, or a related technical field.
- Strong mechanical and electrical aptitude with experience building, modifying, maintaining, or repairing complex electromechanical systems.
- Experience integrating hardware into aircraft, robotics, prototypes, test systems, or comparable platforms.
- Hands-on electrical experience, including wiring, connectors, soldering, crimping, cable fabrication, and electrical troubleshooting.
- Experience building, maintaining, or troubleshooting HIL rigs, test stands, test fixtures, or similar hardware/software integration environments.
- Ability to read and work from mechanical drawings, wiring diagrams, schematics, and engineering documentation.
- Experience with rapid prototyping, fabrication, and iterative hardware development.
- Ability to systematically troubleshoot mechanical, electrical, communications, and system-level problems.
- Experience using common mechanical and electrical tools and test equipment.
- Experience supporting engineering, ground, flight, or field testing.
- Strong attention to detail, workmanship, safety, and configuration control.
- Ability to work independently and solve technical problems in fast-moving workshop, laboratory, flight-line, and field environments.
- Valid driver's license and ability to transport equipment and personnel to operational sites.
- Ability to travel within Ukraine as required.

Preferred Qualifications:

- Experience maintaining or integrating fixed-wing and multirotor UAS.
- Experience with autonomous or experimental aircraft and Group 1 or Group 2 UAS.
- Experience building or maintaining HIL environments for aircraft, robotics, or autonomous systems.
- Experience with 3D printing, CAD, and prototype part fabrication.
- Experience integrating avionics, flight computers, sensors, actuators, radios, antennas, or payload systems.
- Experience with PX4, ArduPilot, or similar flight-control systems.
- Familiarity with Ground Control Stations, telemetry, RF systems, datalinks, and networking.
- Familiarity with Linux, command-line tools, scripting, or basic software troubleshooting.
- Experience using oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, power supplies, or similar electrical test equipment.
- Experience establishing or maintaining an engineering lab, prototype shop, HIL lab, or flight-operations facility.
- Background in defense, aerospace, robotics, aircraft maintenance, manufacturing, or flight test.
- Experience working in austere or rapidly changing field environments.
- Ukrainian and English language proficiency.

Our international teammates receive a comprehensive total rewards package aligned to your country office location. For full details on compensation and benefits, please consult your talent acquisition partner.

## 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. [Lever – Shield AI Jobs](https://jobs.lever.co/shieldai)

## Other roles at Shield AI

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- [Senior Military Recruiter](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-military-recruiter-shield-ai-seattle-re74pjjj5wg0) — Seattle, WA
- [Senior Applications Engineer, Maritime Autonomy (R6378)](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-applications-engineer-maritime-autonomy-r6378-shield-ai-united-states-115dat2sacmr) — United States
- [Team Lead, Software Test & Quality Assurance](https://feeny.ai/job/team-lead-software-test-quality-assurance-shield-ai-melbourne-2zd0nnr6m49e) — Melbourne, Australia
- [HMS Simulation Framework Lead (R6397)](https://feeny.ai/job/hms-simulation-framework-lead-r6397-shield-ai-washington-99dd7z3pwyj8) — Washington, DC
- [Senior Recruiter, University and Alternative Channels](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-recruiter-university-and-alternative-channels-shield-ai-seattle-18hwy8k6s838) — Seattle, WA
- [Summer 2027 - Product Support Engineering Intern 6470 - 6442](https://feeny.ai/job/summer-2027-product-support-engineering-intern-6470-6442-shield-ai-dallas-4trfjdw8wt6c) — Dallas, TX
- [Senior Software Engineer, Frontend Platform (R5790)](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-software-engineer-frontend-platform-r5790-shield-ai-san-diego-8jt7za84gxq7) — San Diego, CA
- [Senior Field Services Engineer (R6380)](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-field-services-engineer-r6380-shield-ai-san-diego-55yqyfdywwf1) — San Diego, CA
- [Senior Director, Partner Programs (R6239)](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-director-partner-programs-r6239-shield-ai-washington-38d20d3qwfvz) — Washington, DC