Senior Engineer, VBAT Verification and Validation (Dallas, TX)
Shield AI
Dallas, TX, USA
USD 95k-180k / year + Equity
Posted on Mar 13, 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.
As a Software Systems Test Engineer, you will be pivotal in driving integration testing of our full aircraft software system, integrating our autonomy, flight controller, and GCS software to qualify an intelligent, robust aircraft system. This role demands an engineer capable of overseeing system-level verification and validation, designing complex test scenarios, and ensuring that subsystem testing meets rigorous standards before proceeding to full system integration. You will marshal our aircraft software through full system verification & validation. Your work will directly impact the reliability and performance of our aircraft, preparing them for operational excellence in the field.
WHAT YOU'LL DO:
- Generate detailed mission test scenarios that mimic real-world conditions to validate the performance of autonomy and flight control software. Define test cases to verify and validate embedded or GNC software at a system level, automating them to run continuously
- Participate in design reviews for new features and design detailed test plans based on their requirements Quickly prototype solutions using software & hardware to unblock testing, harden your prototype into scalable products for continuous release testing
- Conduct and manage system verification and validation events, culminating in verified flight readiness.
- Write test analyzers in Python to report and benchmark performance and qualification metrics of the system
- Produce test coverage and release-readiness reports by aggregating test cases, results, and quality requirements
- Recommend improvements to our simulation models and fault injection so that we can keep pushing the capabilities of our test suite before proceeding to flight
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:
- 5+ years of experience in testing complex integrated software systems, preferably for robotics or vehicles by designing comprehensive test cases
- Demonstrated expertise & experience in test automation, minimally writing software to automate testing
- Experience producing high-quality technical documentation, including test plans, quality-assurance reports, and operational procedures
- Strong experience with the software product development lifecycle. Familiarity with common version control (git) and build/packaging systems (CMake, Poetry, etc)
- Great understanding of system architecture, requirement derivation, and test planning across the V-model
- B.S., M.S, PhD degree in Systems Engineering, Software Engineering, Computer Science or a related field. Relevant work experience can substitute a college degree.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
- 7+ years of experience in testing complex integrated software systems, preferably for robotics or vehicles by designing comprehensive test cases
- Experience building automated test solutions for aircraft of autonomous vehicles
- Experience in automated testing, bare-metal firmware development, or simulation tooling
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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.
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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.
95000 - 180000 USD a year