Staff Engineer, System Reliability (R5533)

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 [](https://shield.ai/). Follow Shield AI on [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/shield-ai), [X](https://x.com/shieldaitech), [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/shield_ai), and [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/@Shield_AI). ### Job Description: Shield AI is looking for a Reliability Modeling Engineer to own the reliability model and failure-prediction strategy for the V-BAT unmanned aircraft system. In this role you will build the quantitative backbone that predicts how the system fails, why it fails, and how to design those failures out — translating field data, industry sources, and test results into models that directly inform design, production, and sustainment decisions. You will be the reliability subject-matter expert who partners across Design, Manufacturing, Quality, and Fleet Support to drive measurable improvements in system reliability. ### What you'll do: - Build and maintain the V-BAT system reliability model, predicting system-level failure rate using failure-rate data from the field and industry sources. - Create and maintain the V-BAT system fault tree, identifying single points of failure and quantifying their contribution to overall system reliability. - Inform design decisions that eliminate single points of failure and improve the reliability of the system, providing Design-for-Reliability (DfR) guidance in design reviews. - Partner with Design, Fleet Support, Quality, and Manufacturing Engineers on root cause investigations for field failures, and drive corrective and preventive actions to closure. - Drive reliability test campaigns in production and sustainment to verify the system is meeting its reliability requirements and predictions, feeding results back into the model. - Drive production reliability screening campaigns to reduce infant-mortality failures, such as HASS (Highly Accelerated Stress Screening) and ESS (Environmental Stress Screening). - Establish and track reliability metrics — MTBF, failure-rate trends, and reliability growth — and communicate reliability status and risk posture to program leadership. ### Required qualifications: - B.S. in Engineering, Mathematics, or Statistics discipline. - 5+ years of experience in reliability or surety engineering in a high-consequence industry (defense, aerospace, automotive, or medical device). - Expertise in Fault Tree Analysis (FTA), Failure Modes, Effects, and Criticality Analysis (FMECA), and Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) calculations. - Demonstrated ability to build reliability models from field and test data and translate them into actionable design and production decisions. ### Preferred qualifications: - Experience with Reliability, Availability, and Maintainability (RAM) modeling and Weibull analysis. - Experience with reliability analysis software such as Relyence (or equivalent tools such as ReliaSoft/Weibull++, Windchill Risk & Reliability). - Familiarity with government standards for developing reliability and maintainability models, such as MIL-HDBK-217, 217Plus, and MIL-STD-756. - Experience implementing FRACAS (Failure Reporting, Analysis, and Corrective Action System) and supporting Failure Review Boards. - CRE (ASQ Certified Reliability Engineer) certification. - Experience with unmanned aircraft, aerospace, or other mission-critical hardware systems.