Senior Staff Engineer, Flight Control Actuation Systems - Ranger (R6327)

The role

You will own flight control actuation system design for a Group 5 UAV fighter aircraft. You will define requirements, resolve actuator and integration trades, and drive qualified actuation hardware from design through production support.

What you will do

• Define, allocate, and own the FCAS requirements and verification traceability matrix.
• Design and analyze control surface actuation systems, including sizing, dynamic response, bandwidth, redundancy, and failure modes.
• Drive the control law-actuator interface with Flight Controls and Vehicle Management Systems.
• Drive actuator power source architecture and load analysis with EPS and hydraulic systems leads.
• Resolve actuator heat generation and local thermal-load interfaces with thermal management.
• Drive coordination of control surface hinge moments and actuator reaction loads with structures.
• Define and execute FCAS qualification test plans per MIL-HDBK-516 and MIL-STD-810.
• Use test results to mature qualified flight-control actuation hardware.
• Lead FCAS design-maturity and qualification-status reviews at SRR, PDR, and CDR.

Required qualifications

• 8 to 15 years in flight control actuation system design on fixed-wing aircraft.
• B.S. or M.S. in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
• Proven track record sourcing COTS/custom aerospace components and driving suppliers to schedule.
• Experience assembling benchtop or vehicle-level test setups.
• Demonstrated ability to self-direct, prioritize technical tasks without oversight, and deliver functional hardware under tight timelines.
• Experience with actuator dynamic performance analysis, including bandwidth, response, stability margins, failure mode analysis, and redundancy analysis.
• Experience coordinating with flight controls and VMS engineers on actuator-control law integration.
• Familiarity with MIL-HDBK-516 and MIL-STD-810 as applied to flight control actuation.
• Experience supporting SRR, PDR, and CDR on a DoD or fighter-class aircraft program.

Nice to have

• Prior fighter or fighter-adjacent program experience, manned or unmanned.
• Unmanned or autonomous flight control experience, including redundancy philosophy differences from manned aircraft.
• Experience with EMA or EHA control surface actuators.
• Secret clearance eligible.

Benefits

• Bonus.
• Equity (full-time regular employees).
• Benefits package (full-time regular employees).
• Temporary benefits package, applicable after 60 days of employment (temporary employees).

Before you apply

• All offers are contingent on a cleared background and possible reference check.
• Military fellows and part-time employees are not eligible for benefits.
• Secret clearance eligibility is preferred.

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.