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. Follow Shield AI on LinkedIn, X, Instagram, and YouTube.

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Job Description

Shield AI is seeking a Senior Staff Systems Security Engineer specializing in Program Protection, Anti-Tamper (AT), and Critical Program Information (CPI) to support the development of next-generation autonomous military aircraft and associated mission systems.

This role will lead the identification and protection of critical technologies through CPI assessments, threat and vulnerability analysis, protection architecture development, and anti-tamper engineering. The engineer will leverage established DoD program protection guidance and engineering frameworks to translate protection objectives into actionable system requirements, evaluate design alternatives, and drive protection measures through implementation and verification.

Working within Systems Engineering & Integrated Test (SEIT), this individual will collaborate with systems engineering, platform engineering, hardware, software, cybersecurity, and Government stakeholders to integrate program protection throughout system development, integration, testing, and fielding.

What You'll Do

Program Protection & CPI: Lead CPI identification, criticality assessments, and technical protection strategies utilizing the DoD CPI Horizontal Protection Guide (HPG), including evaluation of organic and inherited CPI and horizontal protection considerations.

Anti-Tamper Engineering: Lead anti-tamper engineering activities in accordance with the DoD Anti-Tamper Engineering Framework (ATEF), including threat and exploitation analysis, protection requirements, architecture development, design trade studies, and implementation planning.

Systems Engineering: Define and decompose program protection and anti-tamper requirements into system, subsystem, hardware, and software requirements while maintaining traceability through design implementation and verification.

Architecture & Integration: Collaborate with systems and platform engineering teams to integrate protection measures across aircraft, mission systems, embedded computing, ground control systems, and supporting equipment.

Technical Planning: Lead technical development of CPI assessments, Program Protection Implementation Plans (PPIP), Anti-Tamper Plans, protection trade studies, and associated engineering documentation.

Risk & Trade Analysis: Evaluate protection alternatives based on technical effectiveness, implementation feasibility, cost, system performance, integration complexity, and residual risk.

Verification & Validation: Develop protection verification criteria and support laboratory evaluations, integration testing, and assessments to demonstrate the effectiveness of implemented protection measures.

Technical Leadership: Provide subject-matter expertise during SRR, PDR, CDR, and other engineering milestones. Coordinate with Government program protection authorities, suppliers, and internal engineering teams to resolve technical risks and mature protection designs.

Required Qualifications

Bachelor's degree in Systems Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Cybersecurity, or a related technical field.

10+ years of relevant engineering experience in aerospace, defense, embedded systems, systems security engineering, or mission-critical technologies.

Demonstrated experience in program protection, anti-tamper engineering, critical technology protection, or related systems security engineering disciplines.

Experience developing system security architectures, technical requirements, engineering design artifacts, and protection implementation approaches.