Senior Staff Engineer, Environmental Control Systems - Ranger (R6350)

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 (L5) Environmental Control System (ECS) Engineer, you will take full technical ownership of the Environmental Control System architecture, analysis, design, and integration for a dedicated special access program. Serving as the sole ECS subject matter expert on this program, you will work from first principles to execute trades, size systems, design hardware, manage external suppliers, support proposals and capture, and deliver flight-ready hardware in a rapid-iteration development environment. 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.

What you'll do: • Architecture and Trades: Lead ECS architecture definition and trade studies (e.g., vapor cycle vs. air cycle vs. passive/ram-air systems) to meet vehicle thermal, electrical, mass, and volume constraints.

• Aerothermal and Circuit Design: Design and analyze vehicle air inlets, scoops, ducting networks, and ram-air cooling circuits to ensure adequate flow across flight envelopes. • Thermal and Fluid System Sizing: Perform first-principles thermodynamic and heat transfer hand calculations, backed by 1D fluid-thermal network modeling. • Component Sourcing and Vendor Management: Author technical specifications and statements of work (SOW) for ECS hardware (heat exchangers, fans, valves, compressors, sensors), evaluate vendors, and drive supplier technical execution. • Test and Validation: Define qualification and verification test plans, design test rigs, support instrumentation/DAQ setup, and execute test campaigns to validate performance against requirements. • Flight Test and Troubleshooting: Process flight-test thermal and fluid data to identify discrepancies, resolve anomalies via root-cause investigation, and implement rapid design changes.

Required qualifications: • Experience: 7 to 12 years of direct experience in aerospace Environmental Control System and vehicle thermal/fluid system development.