Senior Staff Lab Manager (R5090)

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&nbsp;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&nbsp;<a href="https://shield.ai/" rel="noopener noreferrer">www.shield.ai</a>. Follow Shield AI on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/shield-ai" rel="noopener noreferrer">LinkedIn</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/shieldaitech" rel="noopener noreferrer">X</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.instagram.com/shield_ai" rel="noopener noreferrer">Instagram</a>, and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/@Shield_AI" rel="noopener noreferrer">YouTube</a>.&nbsp;<br><h3>Job Description:</h3>

<p>We are seeking an experienced <strong>Senior Staff Lab Manager</strong> to lead the design, development, operation, and long-term strategy of our engineering laboratories. This is a highly technical leadership role responsible for creating world-class lab environments that enable hardware and software engineering teams to rapidly develop, integrate, test, and validate complex systems.</p>

<p>The ideal candidate combines deep technical expertise with strong operational leadership, driving lab architecture, infrastructure modernization, asset management, and engineering support while leading a team of engineers and technicians.</p>

What you'll do:

<p><strong>Lab Strategy &amp; Infrastructure</strong></p>

<li>Own the overall vision, architecture, and roadmap for engineering laboratory infrastructure.</li>

<li>Design, build, and commission new laboratory spaces to support evolving engineering programs.</li>

<li>Define standards for laboratory layout, power distribution, networking, cooling, safety, security, and scalability.</li>

<li>Develop long-term modernization plans to ensure laboratory capabilities remain aligned with engineering needs.</li>

<li>Evaluate and implement new technologies, tools, and automation to improve laboratory efficiency and reliability.</li>

<p><strong>Lab Operations</strong></p>

<li>Own day-to-day laboratory operations across multiple engineering disciplines.</li>

<li>Develop scheduling processes that maximize lab utilization while minimizing conflicts and downtime.</li>

<li>Plan and coordinate preventative maintenance, calibration, repairs, and equipment lifecycle management.</li>

<li>Manage laboratory uptime, availability, and operational readiness.</li>

<li>Establish operational metrics, KPIs, and reporting for lab performance.</li>

<p><strong>Engineering Systems &amp; Integration</strong></p>

<li>Support complex hardware-in-the-loop (HIL), software-in-the-loop (SIL), integration, and validation environments.</li>

<li>Develop laboratory standards for networking, compute infrastructure, storage, instrumentation, and data acquisition.</li>

<li>Partner with engineering teams to architect robust development and test environments.</li>

<li>Ensure laboratories support rapid system integration and reproducible testing.</li>

<p><strong>Leadership</strong></p>

<li>Lead and develop a multidisciplinary team of lab engineers, infrastructure engineers, and technicians.</li>

<li>Recruit, mentor, and grow high-performing technical staff.</li>

<li>Prioritize work across multiple concurrent engineering programs.</li>

<li>Establish standard operating procedures, documentation, and best practices.</li>

<li>Foster a culture of safety, ownership, continuous improvement, and technical excellence.</li>

<p><strong>Collaboration</strong></p>

<li>Work closely with Hardware, Electrical, Mechanical, Software, Systems, Manufacturing, and Test Engineering organizations.</li>

<li>Partner with IT, Facilities, Security, and EH&amp;S teams to deliver reliable and secure laboratory environments.</li>

<li>Manage vendor relationships for laboratory equipment, infrastructure, and service providers.</li>

Required qualifications:

<li>Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Systems Engineering, Computer Science, or a related technical discipline.</li>

<li>10+ years of experience supporting complex engineering laboratories or technical infrastructure.</li>

<li>5+ years of technical leadership or people management experience.</li>

<li>Demonstrated experience designing and building engineering labs from concept through deployment.</li>

<li>Strong understanding of laboratory infrastructure, including:

<ul>

<li>Power distribution</li>

<li>Network architecture</li>

<li>Server and storage systems</li>

<li>Instrumentation</li>

<li>Environmental controls</li>

<li>Safety systems</li>

<li>Experience managing equipment lifecycle, maintenance, calibration, upgrades, and modernization.</li>

<li>Experience supporting multidisciplinary engineering organizations.</li>

<li>Laboratory infrastructure design and architecture</li>

<li>System-level engineering and integration</li>

<li>Networking (Ethernet, VLANs, managed switches, routing)</li>

<li>Hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) and Software-in-the-loop (SIL) systems</li>

<li>Asset management and inventory systems</li>

<li>US Citizenship required due to security clearance requirements.<br>Active Secret clearance.</li>

</ul></li>

Preferred qualifications:

<li>Experience supporting robotics, aerospace, defense, automotive, or autonomous systems development.</li>

<li>Experience with secure laboratory environments and classified or regulated development environments.</li>

<li>Knowledge of systems engineering processes and system architecture.</li>

<li>Experience implementing laboratory automation and infrastructure-as-code practices.</li>

<li>Familiarity with cloud-connected engineering workflows and hybrid infrastructure.</li>

<li>Programming and scripting experience:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

<ul>

<li>Python, MATLAB, C/C++, etc.</li>

<li>Active Top Secret clearance or eligible to achieve</li>

</ul></li>

#LI-AD6

#LE

Full-time regular employee offer package:

Pay within range listed + Bonus + Benefits + Equity

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Temporary employee offer package:

Pay within range listed above + temporary benefits package (applicable after 60 days of employment)

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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.

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Shield AI is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. We are committed to&nbsp;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.