Reliability and Maintainability Engineer (R5301)

The role

You will lead investigations into V-BAT field failures, repeat defects and complex technical issues. You will find root causes, drive corrective actions through to verified closure, and work with fleet support, product engineering, quality, manufacturing and operations.

What you will do

• Lead engineering investigations for V-BAT field failures, repeat defects, reliability and maintainability issues.
• Drive root cause and corrective action investigations from containment through verification and closure.
• Reproduce and analyze field issues using logs, returned hardware, test data and maintenance records.
• Determine whether issues come from design, manufacturing, supplier quality, configuration, software, operator use, environment, maintenance or documentation.
• Lead returned material analysis, teardown reviews, bench testing and failure replication.
• Identify reliability and maintainability trends from field failures and product health indicators.
• Recommend tests, inspections, design, process, maintenance or supplier quality actions to prevent recurrence.
• Provide technical input to product health reviews, reliability readouts and leadership updates.
• Support R&M processes such as FRACAS, RCCA and reliability growth tracking.
• Support X-BAT lessons learned from V-BAT field experience.

Required qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical, Aerospace, Electrical or Systems Engineering, Reliability Engineering or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 4+ years in reliability, maintainability, failure analysis, systems engineering, quality, aviation sustainment, product support, manufacturing engineering or complex hardware sustainment.
• Demonstrated experience conducting technical investigations of field failures and repeat defects.
• Experience driving RCCA from problem statement through containment, root cause, corrective action, verification and closure.
• Strong ability to analyze hardware, software behavior, logs, test data, returned material and maintenance records.
• Familiarity with 5 Whys, fault tree analysis, fishbone, 8D, FMEA/FMECA, FRACAS or similar methods.
• Ability to distinguish design, manufacturing, supplier, configuration, software, operator, environmental, maintenance and documentation contributors.
• Experience working across product engineering, fleet support, quality, manufacturing, supply chain and operations.
• Ability to turn findings into corrective actions, verification plans and risk assessments.
• Experience supporting customer-impacting technical issues in aviation, unmanned systems, robotics, defense, manufacturing or aerospace.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to work independently and drive cross-functional accountability without direct authority.

Nice to have

• Experience with unmanned aircraft systems, aviation sustainment, aerospace manufacturing, defense products, robotics or deployed hardware.
• Experience with FRACAS, reliability growth, fleet reliability tracking, MTBF/MTBUR, Weibull analysis, reliability block diagrams or product health dashboards.
• Experience analyzing aircraft logs, flight data, telemetry, maintenance data or returned hardware.
• Familiarity with RCCA, MRB, ECO/ECR, configuration management, service bulletins or retrofit planning.
• Experience investigating failures in avionics, propulsion, power, flight controls, structures or electromechanical assemblies.
• Experience with reliability data engineering or fleet health monitoring teams.
• Experience in a startup, high-growth, defense technology, aerospace, robotics or advanced manufacturing environment.
• Advanced degree in engineering or a related discipline.

Benefits

• Bonus for full-time regular employees.
• Benefits for full-time regular employees.
• Equity for full-time regular employees.
• Temporary benefits package for temporary employees after 60 days of employment.

Before you apply

• Offers are contingent on a cleared background check and possible reference check.
• Secret DoD security clearance is required as requested by customers.
• Military fellows and part-time employees are not eligible for benefits.

About the company

Shield AI is a venture-backed defense-tech company that builds intelligent systems to protect service members and civilians. Its products include Hivemind autonomy software, V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft, and Aechelon simulation technologies.