Networking & OS Engineering Manager (R6630)

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

• Experience architecting network solutions for robotics, autonomous vehicles, aerospace, or edge computing hardware

• Familiarity with network security, public key infrastructure (PKI), and cryptogr