Senior Principal Engineer, GNC & State Estimation (R6233)

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

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Job Description:

As a Senior Principal Engineer, you will establish and lead the technical direction of Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GNC) and State Estimation within Hivemind Enterprise (HME). You will build the team and capabilities that enable customers to develop, integrate, validate, and deploy reliable autonomy across aircraft platforms. 

You will bring at least 15 years of GNC domain experience, deep expertise in aircraft dynamics, flight controls, navigation, and state estimation, and a demonstrated record of delivering production autopilot or flight-control software. As a hands-on technical leader, you will develop algorithms, contribute production software, guide critical engineering decisions, and establish a fast, rigorous development cycle spanning simulation, hardware-in-the-loop testing, and flight testing. 

Working with stakeholders across Hivemind Enterprise, Hivemind Solutions, and Shield AI’s aircraft organizations, you will define HME’s GNC and State Estimation technical roadmap and translate it into reusable platform capabilities and customer deliverables. You will help drive our Runtime Assurance (RTA) solution and deliver the required capabilities that will help our customers develop the technical evidence needed to support airworthiness of their platforms. 

This role combines senior individual-contributor leadership with the opportunity to establish a new engineering team. You will attract and mentor exceptional engineers and build trusted relationships with GNC and State Estimation leaders throughout Shield AI. 

What you'll do:

Required qualifications:

Preferred qualifications:

#LI-DM2

#LG

Full-time regular employee offer package:

Pay within range listed + Bonus + Benefits + Equity

Temporary employee offer package:

Pay within range listed above + temporary benefits package (applicable after 60 days of employment)

Salary compensation is influenced by a wide array of factors including but not limited to skill set, level of experience, licenses and certifications, and specific work location. All offers are contingent on a cleared background and possible reference check. Military fellows and part-time employees are not eligible for benefits. Please speak to your talent acquisition representative for more information.

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Shield AI is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know.

Compensation: USD 260,000 – 390,000 per year salary