Staff Engineer, System Reliability (R5533)

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.

What you'll do:: Build and maintain the V-BAT system reliability model, predicting system-level failure rate using failure-rate data from the field and industry sources. Create and maintain the V-BAT system fault tree, identifying single points of failure and quantifying their contribution to overall system reliability. Inform design decisions that eliminate single points of failure and improve the reliability of the system, providing Design-for-Reliability (DfR) guidance in design reviews. Partner with Design, Fleet Support, Quality, and Manufacturing Engineers on root cause investigations for field failures, and drive corrective and preventive actions to closure. Drive reliability test campaigns in production and sustainment to verify the system is meeting its reliability requirements and predictions, feeding results back into the model. Drive production reliability screening campaigns to reduce infant-mortality failures, such as HASS (Highly Accelerated Stress Screening) and ESS (Environmental Stress Screening). Establish and track reliability metrics — MTBF, failure-rate trends, and reliability growth — and communicate reliability status and risk posture to program leadership. Required qualifications:: B.S. in Engineering, Mathematics, or Statistics discipline. 5+ years of experience in reliability or surety engineering in a high-consequence industry (defense, aerospace, automotive, or medical device). Expertise in Fault Tree Analysis (FTA), Failure Modes, Effects, and Criticality Analysis (FMECA), and Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) calculations. Demonstrated ability to build reliability models from field and test data and translate them into actionable design and production decisions. Preferred qualifications:: Experience with Reliability, Availability, and Maintainability (RAM) modeling and Weibull analysis. Experience with reliability analysis software such as Relyence (or equivalent tools such as ReliaSoft/Weibull++, Windchill Risk & Reliability). Familiar