Senior Staff Engineer, Flight Control Actuation Systems - Ranger (R6327)

Shield AI is hiring a Senior Staff Engineer, Flight Control Actuation Systems - Ranger (R6327) in Seattle, United States. It pays $200k-$310k a year and Level rates it ; you can apply on Level.

Level's read on this job

Level rates this role Little AI ●○○○: aI is not part of the work.
Tools and skills the posting cites include Cad, flight control and actuation systems.
Level files it as a lead role.
Level lists 640 other open roles at Shield AI.
The role was posted in the last few days.

AI in this role

Seeking a Senior Staff Engineer to lead flight control actuation system design for a Group 5 UAV fighter aircraft.

cad

flight-controlactuation-systemshardware-designaerospace-engineering

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:

As a Senior Staff Engineer, you will take full technical ownership of flight control actuation system design for a Group 5 UAV fighter aircraft. You will work from first principles to define requirements, resolve actuator and integration trades, and drive qualified flight-control actuation hardware from design through production support. 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.

How we rate this

Senior Staff Engineer, Flight Control Actuation Systems - Ranger (R6327) at Shield AI rates 0 out of 100 for how much of the daily work is AI. That makes it Little AI (AI Level 1 of 4). The level is about AI in the job, not seniority.

Classification

Little AI. AI is not part of the work.

●●●● Builds AI80 to 100
●●●○ Works on AI60 to 79
●●○○ Uses AI40 to 59
●○○○ Little AI0 to 39

Levels come from how often the tools, models and workflows of the role are named in the posting itself. Open the description and count.

Key facts

Senior Staff Engineer, Flight Control Actuation Systems - Ranger (R6327) is an open job at Shield AI.
Level rates this role AI Level 1 of 4: Little AI.
The listed salary is $200k-$310k a year.
The role is based in Seattle, Washington.
The job was posted on October 18, 2026.
Seniority: lead.
Applications are handled by Shield AI. Apply on Shield AI

Prepare for this job

Built from this posting and from similar jobs on Level.

Skills and AI tools this role asks for

Flight ControlActuation SystemsHardware DesignAerospace EngineeringCad

Questions you could be asked

Tell me about a project where flight control was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where actuation systems was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where hardware design was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where aerospace engineering was part of your work. What did you do?
Walk me through how you've used Cad in your day-to-day work.

Adapt your resume

List these exact terms on your resume: Flight Control, Actuation Systems, Hardware Design, Aerospace Engineering, and Cad. An applicant tracking system matches the wording, not the idea.
Attach one line of real, concrete experience to at least one of them. A tool named with nothing behind it rarely survives a human read.

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