Manager, Mechanical Engineering - Hardware Test (X-BAT) (R6093)

Shield, Seattle, Washington

The role

Shield AI is seeking a Manager, Mechanical Engineering to lead the mechanical hardware-test team supporting X-BAT. The team develops and sustains the test stands, fixtures, tooling, support equipment, and facility interfaces used to validate mission-critical aircraft hardware across development, integration, qualification, and production.

You will be accountable for the team's people, technical direction, operating model, and delivery across a portfolio of test-equipment projects. You will translate program and verification priorities into a clear roadmap, build the capacity needed to execute it, and establish the engineering standards that make test systems safe, repeatable, maintainable, and ready for sustained use.

All jobs

Manager, Mechanical Engineering - Hardware Test (X-BAT) (R6093)

Shield, Seattle, Washington

The role

What you will do

- Lead, coach, and grow a team of mechanical engineers responsible for X-BAT hardware-test equipment; set clear expectations and provide regular feedback, career development, performance management, hiring, and onboarding.
Own the mechanical hardware-test roadmap and delivery portfolio across development, subsystem integration, qualification, and production-test needs.
Convert program milestones and verification needs into executable plans with clear scope, priorities, staffing, schedule, dependencies, decision owners, and risk-reduction actions.
Manage team capacity and workload across concurrent test campaigns; identify resource gaps and communicate staffing, schedule, budget, and technical tradeoffs with transparency.
Set the quality bar for requirements, concepts, design reviews, analysis, GD&T, tolerance analysis, DFM/DFA, drawing and model release, configuration control, validation, acceptance, and sustaining documentation.
Ensure test stands and fixtures are safe, repeatable, maintainable, serviceable, and efficient for operators while meeting structural, thermal, durability, environmental, and facility-interface requirements.
Serve as the senior mechanical escalation point for test-equipment architecture, load paths, materials, mechanisms, mounting, cooling, plumbing, instrumentation accommodation, guarding, and other hazards or interfaces.
Establish and use meaningful operating metrics such as schedule predictability, design-review closure, first-pass checkout, equipment uptime, recurring failures, corrective-action closure, and reuse of proven designs.
Drive standardization and reuse across test assets, including common design practices, modular hardware, documentation, checkout methods, and maintenance strategies.
Partner with test, electrical, avionics, systems, manufacturing, quality, facilities, supply chain, technicians, and program leadership to resolve interfaces and deliver integrated test capability when it is needed.
Oversee fabrication, procurement, assembly, commissioning, and sustainment strategies with internal shops and external suppliers; make informed make-versus-buy and schedule-risk decisions.
Lead high-impact root-cause investigations and corrective actions involving test equipment or units under test, ensuring lessons learned improve future designs and team practices.
Build a culture of technical rigor, urgency, ownership, candid communication, and safe hands-on execution.

Manager, Mechanical Engineering - Hardware Test (X-BAT) (R6093)

The role

Manager, Mechanical Engineering - Hardware Test (X-BAT) (R6093)

The role

What you will do

What you need

Nice to have

Full-time regular employee offer package

Temporary employee offer package

About Shield

Similar jobs at other companies

Manager, Mechanical Engineering - Hardware Test (X-BAT) (R6093)

Lead Mechanical Engineer, Hardware Test (X-BAT)

Software Engineering Manager, Hardware Test (X-BAT) (R6020)

Staff Engineer, Electrical Integration & Test (R5204)

Staff Engineer, Software Test (R4784)

Electrical Engineer I, X-BAT (New Grad)

Interview questions

Shield