Head of Aircraft Quality (R6146)

Shield AI is a venture-backed defense technology company with the mission of protecting service members and civilians with intelligent systems. Our products include Hivemind autonomy software, V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft, and Aechelon simulation and synthetic reality technologies.

We’re looking for a hands-on quality leader to take X-BAT from early prototype builds through production launch and into rate production.

You will build the aircraft quality organization and establish the quality capability for our new Seattle-area production facility, X-Forge 3. You’ll own product and process quality across prototype, pre-series and production builds, ensuring that lessons from development become effective controls as the program scales.

This role owns the Quality Management System, quality engineering, inspection, nonconformance management and audit readiness for the X-BAT manufacturing operation. You’ll partner with Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Production and Supply Chain to prevent defects, resolve recurring problems and deliver aircraft that meet technical, customer and applicable regulatory requirements.

We need a technically credible leader who can build practical, scalable systems, make sound decisions under schedule pressure and challenge senior stakeholders constructively while keeping execution moving.