---
title: Staff Engineer Test Automation at Shield AI
description: Shield AI is hiring for the Staff Engineer Test Automation role in San Diego,
  CA. Pays $150K–$230K per year. See the full description and apply.
type: job
url: https://www.foundrole.com/jobs/staff-engineer-test-automation-at-shield-ai-01a0df8b-42d3-7deb-ba24-5f8f0fb83b0a
date: 2026-09-27T17:05:48Z
og_description: Join Shield AI as Staff Engineer Test Automation in San Diego, CA. Pays $150K–$230K
  per year. Full-time, on-site role.
og_image: https://www.foundrole.com/og/vnuhga.png
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  - label: Home
    url: https://www.foundrole.com/
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    url: https://www.foundrole.com/jobs
---

| | |
|---|---|
| **Company** | Shield AI |
| **Location** | San Diego, CA |
| **Salary** | $150K/yr - $230K/yr |
| **Type** | Full Time, Part Time, Temporary |
| **Posted** | Sep 26, 2026 |
## Description

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 [www.shield.ai](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 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 [www.shield.ai](https://shield.ai/ "https://shield.ai/"). Follow Shield AI on [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/shield-ai "https://www.linkedin.com/company/shield-ai"), [X](https://x.com/shieldaitech "https://x.com/shieldaitech"), [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/shield_ai "https://www.instagram.com/shield_ai"), and [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/@Shield_AI "https://www.youtube.com/@Shield_AI").

The Hivemind Software Engineering Integration and Test team is seeking a Staff Automated Test Engineer to provide technical leadership for automated verification across our next-generation autonomy platform. You will define and evolve test architecture, validation infrastructure, MLOps quality systems, and CI/CD pipelines that enable the Hivemind software ecosystem to create, test, and deploy resilient autonomy capabilities for unmanned aircraft and robotic platforms operating in complex, contested, and GPS-denied environments.

You will work across production flight code, machine learning models, simulation and synthetic environments, mission planning and orchestration systems, operator-facing Ground Control Station applications, telemetry and data pipelines, cloud-native developer infrastructure, and hardware-in-the-loop systems.

In this hands-on Staff role, you will lead complex, cross-functional initiatives, establish automation and verification standards, identify systemic quality risks, and develop scalable test infrastructure. The ideal candidate combines deep Python automation and distributed-systems testing experience with technical leadership and experience validating machine learning systems throughout the data, training, evaluation, deployment, and monitoring lifecycle.

#LI-DS5

#LD

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.

 

###

 

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.
## Skills

- Technical Leadership
- Software Deployment
- Python
- Automation
- Machine Learning
- Test Infrastructure
- Distributed Systems

## How to Apply

[Apply for this position](https://www.foundrole.com/jobs/staff-engineer-test-automation-at-shield-ai-01a0df8b-42d3-7deb-ba24-5f8f0fb83b0a?utm_source=ai_markdown)

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