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.

Job Description

As an Engineering Manager (Networking & OS) on V-BAT, you will lead a team designing, implementing, and optimizing the network infrastructure for our Unmanned Aerial System (UAS), which is deployed in some of the most challenging environments worldwide. V-BAT is designed to operate in contested, GNSS-denied airspace, and our network must maintain highly reliable, secure, and efficient communication between all air and ground devices.

This is a hands-on leadership role: you will spend approximately 50% of your time managing and developing the team and 50% making direct technical contributions. You will pair strong engineering judgment with clear communication and cross-functional collaboration to translate mission needs into reliable, production-ready networking and OS capabilities.

What you'll do

Lead and develop a team of high-performing networking & OS engineers, owning planning, prioritization, execution, coaching, and performance management; provide clear upward status updates on progress, risks, dependencies, and delivery commitments

Work backward from operator capabilities to deliver bandwidth-optimized, low-latency communication over lossy or constrained radio and satellite links, leveraging traffic management, device isolation, and multi-link failover

Develop resilient Layer 2 / Layer 3 network topologies and embedded Linux networking capabilities, including custom routing, TUN/TAP interfaces, user-space tunnels, and socket-level applications

Partner closely with software engineers, hardware engineers, field operators, and program stakeholders to align priorities, resolve technical tradeoffs, and validate end-to-end performance in hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) labs and flight test environments

Establish and uphold engineering standards for code quality, testing, reliability, and delivery; communicate technical decisions clearly and balance near-term execution with long-term architecture and team development

Required qualifications

8+ years developing network or operating-system software for complex, safety-critical or mission-critical systems

3+ years leading software engineering teams, including planning, execution, coaching, and performance management

BS or MS in Computer Science, Aerospace Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Robotics, or related field

Strong communication and collaboration skills, explaining complex technical concepts and building alignment across disciplines

Demonstrated ability to navigate competing priorities and resolve technical tradeoffs with cross-functional stakeholders

Strong proficiency developing production-grade software in C, C++, or Python within Linux environments

Track record of shipping software that interacts directly with the Linux OS networking stack

Deep understanding of Linux networking and Layer 2 / Layer 3 fundamentals, including routing and VLANs

Experience with netlink, iptables/nftables, TUN/TAP interfaces, network namespaces, socket programming, and VPN/tunneling mechanisms

Proven ability to lead reliable software delivery through development, integration, and deployment

Hands-on experience troubleshooting network degradation in lossy, high-latency, or bandwidth-constrained environments

Proficiency using network diagnostic tools such as tcpdump, Wireshark, iproute2, and iperf

Ability to obtain security clearance

Preferred qualifications

Experience developing embedded Linux networking applications using build systems like Yocto or OS-level customization tools

Experience working with RF and other hardware engineers to design network protocols and topologies which are tailored for a novel radio network design