Job Description
Are you a passionate and innovative aerospace engineering leader looking to develop next-generation autonomous aircraft? As theAir Vehicle Lead for our new Air Force Ranger program,you will serve as the senior technical leader responsible for the design, development, integration, and maturation of the air vehicle. You will own the technical integrity of the aircraft and lead the multidisciplinary engineering effort required to take the vehicle from requirements and architecture through detailed design, build, ground test, flight test, and production. You will work acrossaerodynamics, flight sciences, structures, mechanical systems, propulsion, avionics, electrical systems, flight controls, manufacturing, and testto ensure the aircraft performs as an integrated system. Serve as the technical leader for the aircraft, with responsibility for overall vehicle architecture, technical performance, integration, and design integrity throughout the development lifecycle. Lead Multidisciplinary Engineering:Provide technical direction across aerodynamics and flight sciences, structures, mechanical systems, propulsion, avionics, electrical systems, flight controls, and other air vehicle disciplines. Drive System-Level Trades:Lead first-principles engineering trades across performance, weight, range, payload, cost, reliability, manufacturability, schedule, and technical risk. Drive the aircraft from requirements and conceptual design through preliminary and critical design, hardware release, build, integration, ground test, and flight test. Stay Hands-On:Remain deeply engaged in the engineering work. Participate directly in design reviews, technical problem solving, root-cause investigations, test activities, and critical design decisions. Establish appropriate engineering rigor while balancing analysis, test, schedule, and speed.



Build-Test-Learn:Create a rapid development environment that uses prototypes, ground testing, flight testing, and real-world data to retire risk and continuously improve the aircraft. Ensure interfaces between structures, propulsion, avionics, flight controls, payloads, software, and other systems are understood, controlled, and successfully integrated. Design for Production:Partner closely with Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Quality, and Operations to ensure the aircraft can transition from development into repeatable production. Drive designs that balance performance with producibility, cost, reliability, and maintainability. Set the Engineering Standard:Establish a culture of technical ownership, first-principles thinking, urgency, disciplined engineering judgment, and accountability. Bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related engineering discipline. Master's degree or higher preferred. Demonstrated experience leading the development of anair vehicle or major aircraft system through multiple phases of the development lifecycle, ideally including design, build, integration, ground test, flight test, and production. Broad technical understanding of aircraft development with demonstrated ability to make informed trades across multiple disciplines such asaerodynamics, structures, propulsion, flight controls, avionics, mechanical systems, and vehicle integration. Proven ability to operate as ahands-on technical leader, diving deeply into engineering problems while simultaneously maintaining system-level perspective. Strong understanding of aircraft design principles, system integration, verification and validation, and the relationship between engineering decisions and aircraft-level performance. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.

📌 Chief Engineer, Air Vehicle Lead (Madrid)
🏢 shieldai
📍 Madrid