Senior Staff Engineer, Structures and Vibration (6237)

Job Description:

Shield AI is seeking a Senior Staff Structural Analysis & Vibration Engineer to serve as the structural and vibration subject-matter expert (SME) for V-BAT. V-BAT is a Group 3 vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) unmanned aircraft system in production and deployed with customers worldwide. 

You will be the structural technical authority for V-BAT. You will own system loads, stress and dynamics analysis, vibration requirements and testing, and weight optimization. 

This is a high-impact, company-level role. You will develop and define system-level structural requirements, design criteria, analysis methods, and material allowables that will guide structural work across V-BAT. You will also mentor engineers in FEA and structural fundamentals. 

This role is ideal for engineers with 12–15+ years of experience who have served as the structural lead or technical authority on an aircraft program. 

What you'll do:

• Develop and maintain company structural standards, including design criteria, factors of safety and margin policy, analysis methods, material allowables, and joint design practices. 
• Own V-BAT system loads, and define structural requirements for subsystems, components, and suppliers. 
• Lead and perform static, stability, modal, dynamic, and fatigue analyses of V-BAT structures using hand calculations and FEA (Simcenter). 
• Lead composite structural analysis and define composite design requirements. 
• Serve as the bolted joint expert for the program. 
• Own vibration and shock environments. Assess existing profiles and use measured flight data to develop defensible test requirements. 
• Define and improve vibration test requirements and processes, from test planning through verification, validation, and model-to-test correlation. 
• Lead a program-wide weight optimization review of existing designs, and analyze new designs for weight efficiency and material selection. 
• Review structural analyses, test reports, and design review content, and present findings to engineering leadership and customers. 
• Mentor engineers in FEA and structural fundamentals, and build the team's structural analysis capability. 
• Provide structural guidance on design changes and production issues as needed

Required qualifications:

• B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related discipline. 
• 12+ years of structural analysis experience on aircraft, UAS, or comparable complex system, including serving as a structural lead or technical authority. 
• Experience creating structural design criteria, analysis methods, or engineering standards. 
• Expert knowledge of structural mechanics and hand calculations, including strength, stability, fatigue, and structural dynamics. 
• Expertise with FEA tools, preferably Siemens Simcenter (Nastran or Femap), or equivalents such as ANSYS or Abaqus. 
• Significant experience analyzing composite aircraft structures and defining composite design requirements. 
• Expert-level knowledge of bolted joint analysis and design. 
• Hands-on experience with vibration and shock testing, including test planning, instrumentation, and data review, plus working knowledge of MIL-STD-810. 
• Proven track record of mentoring engineers. 
• Strong written and verbal communication skills. 

Preferred qualifications:

• M.S. or Ph.D. in Mechanical or Aerospace Engineering. 
• Experience as the lead structural engineer on a Group 2–5 UAS, rotorcraft, or VTOL aircraft. 
• Experience deriving vibration environments from flight test data (PSD analysis, fatigue damage spectrum, test tailoring). 
• Experience with modal testing and FEA model correlation. 
• Experience leading structural weight reduction programs. 
• Experience developing composite allowables (e.g., CMH-17) and knowledge of composite manufacturing processes. 
• Familiarity with MIL-HDBK-516, RTCA DO-160, and aircraft structural certification. 
• Experience in startup or high-growth defense environments.