Principal Engineer, Aerospace - Flight Sciences (R4448)
Shield AI
Dallas, TX, USA
USD 200k-310k / year + Equity
Posted on Jan 31, 2026
Founded in 2015, Shield AI is a venture-backed deep-tech company with the mission of protecting service members and civilians with intelligent systems. Its products include the V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft, Hivemind Enterprise, and the Hivemind Vision product lines. With offices and facilities across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and the 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:
As a Flight Sciences Engineer, you will work across disciplines to enable aircraft design, build, test, and flight. The Flight Sciences team encompasses aerodynamics, aircraft performance, aero-propulsion, stability and control, aerodynamic modeling, wind tunnel testing, and flight testing and is responsible for designing and testing high-performance unmanned aircraft.
What you'll do:
- Own best practices and technical processes in your area of expertise within Flight Sciences (flight dynamics, CFD, test, etc)
- Support aircraft design from conceptual phase through flight
- Collaborate with cross-functional teams, including structural engineers, propulsion engineers, flight test engineers, and control systems engineers, to ensure integrated, optimized, and safe aircraft performance
- Analyze flight test data to validate and refine models and designs
- Stay updated with the latest advancements in aerodynamics and apply best practices to our systems
- Mentor and provide technical leadership to junior engineers and contribute to the continuous improvement of our engineering processes
Required qualifications:
- Typically requires a minimum of 15 years of related experience with a Bachelor’s degree; or 14 years and a Master’s degree; or a PhD with 12 years experience; or equivalent experience.
- Extensive experience in at least one sub-discipline of the Flight Sciences team
- Experience partnering with a multidisciplinary engineering team
- Experience working closely with USG and/or foreign customers
- Proven track record of successfully shipping products, showcasing the ability to navigate through development cycles, overcome obstacles, and deliver high-quality solutions to meet project deadlines and exceed expectations in a fast-paced environment
- You have a demonstrated record of working hard, being a trustworthy teammate, holding yourself and others to high standards, and being kind to others
Preferred qualifications:
- Experience in flight dynamics / stability & control
- Experience in wind tunnel testing (force & moment, inlet operability, loads, jet effects, store separation, etc)
- Experience in flight test preparation, execution, and data analysis
#LI-SM1
#LF
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.
200000 - 310000 USD a year