---
title: 'Senior Generative AI Application Engineer, Learning & Development (R5856) at Shield AI'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/senior-generative-ai-application-engineer-learning-development-r5856-shield-ai-2dfjenwejxwd'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-10-17'
---

# Senior Generative AI Application Engineer, Learning & Development (R5856) at Shield AI

- **Company:** Shield AI
- **Location:** San Diego, CA
- **Compensation:** $160k–$250k
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-09-15
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-17
- **Apply:** https://jobs.lever.co/shieldai/ac228821-b2f8-4155-a119-b05e16ebaefe

## 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.

Job Description: The Senior AI Engineer, Hivemind Learning & Development is a hands-on individual contributor who will build the AI-powered products, content systems, and measurement capabilities that help engineers learn Hivemind faster and apply it successfully. Embedded within the Hivemind Learning & Development team, this role combines production AI engineering, developer experience, and technical education. You will own an AI training coach that provides grounded, context-aware guidance; create tooling that turns learning objectives and product changes into high-quality workshops; and partner with autonomy experts to produce deeply technical curricula, labs, and assessments. The role works closely with Applications Engineering, Hivemind engineering and Customer Success. Success is defined by trusted learning products that ship, shorter time to technical proficiency, faster and more consistent workshop development, content that stays current with Hivemind releases, and clear evidence that training improves customer capability and product adoption.

What you'll do:

- Develop an AI-powered training coach that helps people learn Hivemind concepts, products, and development workflows.
- Create highly technical Hivemind training materials and hands-on workshops for engineers and other technical learners.
- Build prompt-based tooling that generates workshops and supporting learning content from defined objectives, audiences, and source materials.
- Create LLM-based tooling that automates the ongoing upgrade and improvement of Hivemind training and educational materials.
- Build AI tools and systems that enable, streamline, and automate Hivemind Learning & Development workflows.

Required qualifications:

- Progressive experience building production software, AI-enabled products, developer tools, technical learning platforms, or comparable systems.
- Hands-on experience integrating large language models, generative AI APIs, retrieval-augmented generation, agents, prompt workflows, or AI-assisted automation into production or enterprise environments.
- Strong software engineering fundamentals, including API design, testing, observability, documentation, secure coding, maintainable architecture, and operational ownership.
- Professional proficiency in Python and the ability to read, debug, and create credible examples in modern C++.
- Experience translating complex software or systems concepts into clear technical documentation, hands-on labs, workshops, developer education, or enablement material.
- Ability to learn a sophisticated technical product quickly, work directly with subject-matter experts, and convert ambiguous needs into practical, testable learning solutions.
- Experience evaluating AI system quality using automated tests, structured human review, telemetry, or task-based performance measures.
- Clear written and verbal communication skills, sound technical judgment, and a collaborative style suited to engineers, instructors, customers, and cross-functional partners.

Preferred qualifications:

- Experience with autonomy, robotics, aerospace, defense, simulation, distributed systems, or safety-critical software.
- Experience with developer education, instructional design, learning science, intelligent tutoring systems, or assessment design for highly technical audiences.
- Familiarity with AI evaluation and observability, prompt and agent testing, vector databases, enterprise search, model gateways, and deployment in restricted or disconnected environments.
- Experience designing and facilitating hands-on technical workshops for customer engineers, including troubleshooting live technical environments.
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Robotics, Data Science, Learning Technology, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.

Why this role matters: Hivemind gives engineers a comprehensive platform to develop, test, and deploy AI pilots. The value of that platform depends on how quickly technical teams can build sound mental models, complete real workflows, and apply the software with confidence. This engineer will create the learning systems that make expert knowledge available at the moment of need, reduce the delay between product change and customer readiness, and help the Learning & Development team scale quality without losing technical rigor.

## #LI-KC3

#LC

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

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