--- title: 'Staff Engineer, Fuel Systems (R5900) at Shield AI' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/staff-engineer-fuel-systems-r5900-shield-ai-dallas-t4x64haxmk0c' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-10-17' --- # Staff Engineer, Fuel Systems (R5900) at Shield AI - **Company:** Shield AI - **Location:** Dallas, TX - **Compensation:** $146k–$219k - **Employment:** full-time - **Work type:** onsite - **Posted:** 2026-09-15 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-17 - **Apply:** https://jobs.lever.co/shieldai/f09a394b-28f7-4721-9c87-0a101285ed65 ## 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 We are seeking a highly motivated Staff Fuel System Engineer to support the design, development, integration, and fielding of a next-generation autonomous aircraft system. This position requires a balance of technical rigor, rapid decision-making, and hands-on engineering to efficiently transition concepts into operational capability. The ideal candidate is comfortable solving complex problems, taking ownership, working within an accelerated aircraft development environment, and is motivated by getting meaningful capability into the hands of operators quickly. You will serve as the Responsible Engineer (RE) for the aircraft fuel system, owning technical execution from requirements and architecture through design, procurement, integration, build, test, flight, and operational support. This role requires strong thermofluid fundamentals, engineering judgment, and the ability to understand fuel system behavior across demanding aircraft operating conditions while serving as the focal point between propulsion, vehicle teams, suppliers, and flight operations. ## What You'll Do - Serve as the Responsible Engineer for the aircraft fuel system, owning requirements, architecture, interfaces, hardware, and technical decisions from concept through operational deployment. - Design, size, and integrate fuel tanks, pumps, valves, plumbing, venting and pressurization systems, filtration, level sensing, and associated fuel system hardware. - Analyze fuel system performance across the aircraft operating envelope, including pressure and flow requirements, transient engine demand, elevated-G maneuvering, tank depletion, slosh, vapor pressure, cavitation, vapor ingestion, and thermal effects. - Lead technical design reviews, supplier engagements, and hardware procurement while ensuring the fuel system meets performance, mass, thermal, reliability, safety, and mission requirements. - Plan and execute component, subsystem, and vehicle-level testing, including instrumentation, procedures, data acquisition, performance validation, and flight readiness. - Analyze ground and flight data to validate system performance, quantify margin, identify anomalies, and drive hardware or operational improvements. - Lead failure investigations and root cause efforts using analysis, inspection, testing, and data to develop effective corrective actions. - Work hands-on with design engineers, technicians, propulsion, controls, airframe, manufacturing, supply chain, test, and flight teams to build, integrate, troubleshoot, and iterate flight hardware. Required Qualifications - Bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related engineering discipline. - 7+ years of experience in aerospace fuel systems, fluid systems, propulsion, or related aircraft system development, with demonstrated ownership of complex aerospace hardware. - Strong understanding of thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, heat transfer, and compressible and incompressible flow. - Strong understanding of aerospace fuel system design, including pressure losses, pump performance, venting, vapor pressure, cavitation, transient flow behavior, and thermal effects. - Hands-on experience with fluid system hardware integration, instrumentation, testing, flight support, and technical failure investigations. - Strong proficiency in Python or similar tools for engineering analysis, data reduction, and model correlation. - Demonstrated ability to independently drive ambiguous technical problems to measurable results in a fast-paced development environment. - U.S. Citizenship and active security clearance. ## Preferred Qualifications - Experience developing fuel systems for high-performance aircraft, tactical aircraft, UAVs, or similar aerospace platforms. - Experience designing fuel systems for elevated-G maneuvering, aggressive vehicle dynamics, or challenging fuel delivery conditions. - Experience with fuel tanks, pumps, valves, regulators, level sensing, venting, pressurization, and fuel system control hardware. - Familiarity with GFSSP, REFPROP, CFD, ANSYS, FEA, or similar thermal-fluid analysis tools. - Experience working with aerospace suppliers through component selection, procurement, development, qualification, and integration. - Background in rocket propulsion or propellant systems with experience transferable to aerospace fuel system design, analysis, integration, or test. - M.S. or Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related engineering discipline. ## #LI-SP #LD 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) ## Other roles at Shield AI - [Engineer I, Mechanical (R6302)](https://feeny.ai/job/engineer-i-mechanical-r6302-shield-ai-seattle-75gdhfp3k8nt) — Seattle, WA - [Engineer I, Mechanical Hardware Test](https://feeny.ai/job/engineer-i-mechanical-hardware-test-shield-ai-seattle-009txzdn75eb) — Seattle, WA - [Senior Staff Engineer, Structural Analysis - Ranger (R6300)](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-staff-engineer-structural-analysis-ranger-r6300-shield-ai-seattle-p24f55m9654f) — Seattle, WA - [Staff Engineer, Fuel Systems - Ranger (R6299)](https://feeny.ai/job/staff-engineer-fuel-systems-ranger-r6299-shield-ai-seattle-66cbvba47hb6) — Seattle, WA - [Staff Engineer, Aircraft Configuration Design - Ranger (R6298)](https://feeny.ai/job/staff-engineer-aircraft-configuration-design-ranger-r6298-shield-ai-seattle-942h4whh3a76) — Seattle, WA - [Engineer II, Automated Test (R6288)](https://feeny.ai/job/engineer-ii-automated-test-r6288-shield-ai-san-mateo-9zrnhj6har1p) — San Mateo, CA - [Capture Manager - XBAT - USAF (R6205)](https://feeny.ai/job/capture-manager-xbat-usaf-r6205-shield-ai-remote-wk7cq4qwzr70) - [Manager, Infrastructure (R6154)](https://feeny.ai/job/manager-infrastructure-r6154-shield-ai-san-mateo-ak1zaxmkmbbf) — San Mateo, CA - [Senior Director, Deal Strategy Execution (R6259)](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-director-deal-strategy-execution-r6259-shield-ai-washington-jjc8weakxqa7) — Washington, DC - [Staff Engineer, Modelling and Simulation (R6248)](https://feeny.ai/job/staff-engineer-modelling-and-simulation-r6248-shield-ai-san-diego-xe9yvn3mf71x) — San Diego, CA