Staff Engineer, Modelling and Simulation (R6248)

Shield AI is hiring a Staff Engineer, Modelling and Simulation (R6248) in San Diego, United States. It pays $150k-$230k a year and Level rates it ; you can apply on Level.

Level's read on this job

On Level's scale, this role is Works on AI ●●●○: the daily work is on AI products, without building the model.
Level files it as a lead role.
Level lists 628 other open roles at Shield AI.
The role was posted in the last few days.

AI in this role

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:

The Hivemind Simulation team provides the simulation capabilities that power the AI Factory’s training and evaluation for the next generation autonomous AI pilots. The Simulation Platform team builds the simulation framework and foundational infrastructure that allows engineers to bring together simulators, scale experiments, and confidently evaluate autonomy before flight. The team’s work enables simulation applications to build on a shared, performant, and extensible foundation. Our guiding principle is simple: autonomy should not know it is in a simulation.

As a Staff Software Engineer on the Simulation Platform team, you will shape how autonomous pilots are tested by building and integrating simulators and developing Monte Carlo infrastructure. Drawing on experience building and running real-time aircraft simulations, you will enable teams to evaluate autonomy, guidance, navigation, and control (GNC), and runtime assurance (RTA) systems at scale. This individual contributor role includes driving technical direction and mentoring engineers.

How we rate this

Staff Engineer, Modelling and Simulation (R6248) at Shield AI rates 63 out of 100 for how much of the daily work is AI. That makes it Works on AI (AI Level 3 of 4). The level is about AI in the job, not seniority.

Classification

Works on AI. The daily work is on AI products, without building the model.

●●●● 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

Staff Engineer, Modelling and Simulation (R6248) is an open job at Shield AI.
Level rates this role AI Level 3 of 4: Works on AI.
The listed salary is $150k-$230k a year.
The role is based in San Diego, California.
The job was posted on October 17, 2026.
Seniority: lead.
Applications are handled by Shield AI. Apply on Shield AI

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