Shield AI jobs, counted on its own Lever board on 22 October 2026, number 659 postings, 533 of them in the United States. Of those 533, 252 mention a security approval and 264 carry no clearance or citizenship line at all. Most are senior engineering roles; 99 sit in finance, IT, people, legal, facilities or sales.
Listen to this article, about 20 minutes. A synthetic voice reads the article and announces each section title as it begins; tables are read row by row and the questions at the end are left out.
Recorded 22 October 2026 from the article as published that day. Press a chapter to jump there; the highlighted line is what is playing. A play button sits beside every section heading, and once you scroll past this player a bar at the bottom of the screen keeps the controls in reach. Tap or click any sentence to hear the reading start from there.
On this page: all 659 postings on Shield AI’s own board counted on 22 October 2026 by function, the 533 US postings sorted by their clearance and citizenship wording, pay only as printed on twelve named listings, and what eight people on four forum threads report about the hours.
Think you already know this? Five questions, one minute.
Every answer is on this page. Answer from what you know now; the page fills in the rest.
-
1. How many postings did Shield AI’s own Lever board hold on the morning of 22 October 2026?
659 postings, read in full from Shield AI’s public Lever feed that morning. The 101 came from Autobound’s tracker on 13 October, and 9,800 is the company’s projection of jobs supported in two states by the early 2030s, suppliers included. Read the section
-
2. What share of the 533 US postings carried no clearance or citizenship line at all?
264 of 533 postings said nothing about a clearance or citizenship. 252 mentioned a clearance, and the State Department’s clearance FAQ says a clearance requires US citizenship and cannot be applied for by an individual, so the ability to obtain wording is a citizenship test in practice. Read the section
-
3. How many of the 533 US postings printed a pay range on 22 October 2026?
528 printed a range, 500 annual and 27 hourly, on the Lever board that day. Every posting adds that pay within the range depends on experience, licences and location, so a range is a listing, not a promise. Read the section
-
4. How many of the 99 non engineering US postings carried a clearance line?
One, in finance. The other 98 postings in finance, IT, people, legal, facilities, sales and the executive office carried no clearance line on the board on 22 October 2026, though 37 US postings overall cite ITAR, whose US person definition sits at 22 CFR part 120. Read the section
-
5. Which of these did none of the eight forum accounts describe?
Accounts in an August 2026 thread described 50 hour expectations in engineering and ranked the offices by intensity, and none of the eight accounts read described the hours as flexible downward, which is what the careers page benefit list implies. Read the section
How many Shield AI jobs are open, and why do the trackers disagree?
Search for Shield AI jobs and the first page hands you four different totals, none of them from Shield AI. Autobound printed about 101 open roles as of 13 October 2026; three other trackers on the same results page printed 119, 382 and 527 on dates between 29 September and 8 October. Underdog’s careers guide, dated 12 January 2026, lists three roles as current. The company’s own board at jobs.lever.co/shieldai is public and machine readable, so on the morning of 22 October 2026 we read all of it: 659 postings. The trackers scrape on different days with different rules, and the board has quirks of its own.
- 28 requisition numbers appear in two or more cities, so 551 numbered postings share 522 unique requisitions, and 108 postings carry no number at all.
- Aechelon, the simulation business Shield AI acquired, hires through a separate Greenhouse board linked from the same careers page. Its roles are not in the 659.
- 230 postings were created in the 30 days before the count and 85 are older than six months, including an Air Vehicle Operator listing first created in March 2022 and still open.
- 568 postings are on site, 69 hybrid and 22 remote. Seattle leads with 164, then Dallas 127, Washington DC 85, San Diego 81 and San Mateo 30. Sixteen are in India, in New Delhi and Bangalore, all senior and none with pay printed.
| Function, from the board’s own division names | Postings, all countries | Postings in the US |
|---|---|---|
| Hivemind autonomy software (Hivemind Solutions, Hivemind Enterprise, AI Hive, Office of the CTO) | 211 | 142 |
| X-BAT aircraft engineering | 139 | 139 |
| Aircraft operations and field work | 80 | 78 |
| Sales and business development | 63 | 23 |
| V-BAT aircraft engineering | 45 | 45 |
| Finance and accounting | 26 | 24 |
| RaptorX engineering | 25 | 25 |
| IT and enterprise operations | 24 | 18 |
| Strategy and executive office | 13 | 12 |
| People and recruiting | 13 | 8 |
| Legal, facilities, interns and new graduates | 20 | 19 |
| Total | 659 | 533 |
Counted from Shield AI’s Lever feed on 22 October 2026, grouping the board’s sixteen division labels into eleven rows. Three quarters of the board is engineering for three aircraft lines and the Hivemind software, which is the first thing to know if you arrived from a search about AI work rather than aerospace. The same exercise found 98 roles on Google DeepMind’s board and made sales the largest function on Anthropic’s board. Shield AI builds aircraft, and its board reads like it.
Which Shield AI jobs require a security clearance or US citizenship?
This is the question the trackers skip, and it decides whether most readers can apply at all. We read the full text of all 533 US postings on 22 October 2026 and sorted each by the strongest clearance or citizenship line it contains. 252 mention a security clearance: 95 ask for one already held, though about a third of those say preferred, and 155 ask for the ability to obtain one. In practice that means US citizenship, because the State Department’s clearance FAQ answers yes to whether you must be a US citizen and adds that an applicant cannot start a clearance application on their own; the employer requests it after an offer. A further 17 carry citizenship or ITAR wording without a clearance line, and 264, almost exactly half, say nothing about either.
| Strongest line in the US posting, 22 October 2026 | Postings | Share of 533 | Typical wording, as printed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Names an active or currently held clearance | 95 | 18% | Active Secret or Top Secret clearance (or ability to obtain one); about 32 of the 95 say preferred |
| Asks for the ability to obtain a clearance | 155 | 29% | Ability to obtain a SECRET clearance; Ability to obtain a S//SAR level security clearance desired |
| Clearance mentioned in other words | 2 | under 1% | Secret clearance is required at time of hire |
| US citizenship or ITAR only, no clearance line | 17 | 3% | Citizenship or ability to comply with ITAR requirements |
| No clearance or citizenship line | 264 | 50% | Only the standard line that offers are contingent on a cleared background, meaning a background check |
Function changes the odds completely. 101 of the 139 US X-BAT engineering postings carry a clearance line, 71 of the 142 Hivemind software postings do, and RaptorX, the newest aircraft programme, is strictest at 22 of 25. The 24 finance and accounting postings carry one clearance line between them; the 18 IT postings, the 8 people and recruiting roles and the 5 internships carry none. ITAR is the quieter gate: 37 US postings cite it, and the regulations define a US person at 22 CFR part 120 as a citizen, a lawful permanent resident or a protected individual, wider than citizenship but still closed to anyone on a work visa.
This is not legal or immigration advice. Whether a posting’s clearance or ITAR line applies to you depends on the posting, the contract behind it and your own status, and only Shield AI’s recruiters and, for the clearance itself, the sponsoring agency can answer that. The counts above describe the wording of the postings on one day, not the law.
What do Shield AI jobs pay, as listed on the postings?
528 of the 533 US postings print a pay range, 500 annual and 27 hourly, a better record than any AI lab board this site has counted. The ranges are wide on purpose: every posting says pay within the range depends on skill set, experience, licences, certifications and work location. Nothing below is a prediction of what anyone is paid. It is what the listing printed on 22 October 2026, and rates change.
| Posting, as titled on the board | Location | Range as printed on 22 October 2026 | Clearance line |
|---|---|---|---|
| Associate Facilities Coordinator (R5671) | Dallas, Texas | $23 to $34 an hour | None |
| Production Technician | Dallas, Texas | $24 to $37 an hour | None |
| Summer 2027 Software Engineer Intern | San Diego, California | $37 to $97 an hour | None |
| V-BAT Air Vehicle Operator | Dallas, Texas | $56,000 to $168,000 a year | Ability to possess a Secret clearance as required by customers |
| Technical Writer (R5661) | Dallas, Texas | $60,000 to $105,000 a year | None |
| Associate Systems Administrator (R5698) | Wichita, Kansas | $70,000 to $105,000 a year | None |
| Engineer I, Software Integration (R6214) | Washington, DC | $79,000 to $110,000 a year | None |
| Presentation Designer (R5945) | Washington, DC | $82,000 to $120,000 a year | None |
| Senior Accountant (R5542) | San Diego, California | $88,000 to $120,000 a year | None |
| Senior Recruiter, G&A | San Diego, California | $95,000 to $170,000 a year | None |
| Senior Staff Software Engineer, Autonomy Capabilities (R4587) | San Mateo, California | $280,512 to $420,768 a year | Eligible to obtain and maintain an active Secret clearance |
| Senior Manager, Engineering, Hivemind Reasoning (R6291) | San Mateo, California | $290,000 to $430,000 a year | None |
Across the 500 annual ranges the lowest printed minimum is $56,000, the median minimum $150,000 and the highest printed maximum $430,000, all as listed on 22 October 2026. The postings say full time offers are pay within the range plus bonus, benefits and equity. The highest paying AI jobs page compares listed ranges across boards under the same as listed rule.
Which Shield AI jobs are open to someone without an engineering degree?
Fewer than you would hope and more than zero. Strip out the divisions that design, build or fly aircraft and 99 US postings remain: 24 in finance and accounting, 23 in sales and business development, 18 in IT, 12 in strategy and the executive office, 8 in people and recruiting, 8 in legal and 6 in facilities. Then look at the level words. 205 US titles carry Staff, 165 Senior, 74 Manager and 23 Director, against 16 Engineer I, 24 Engineer II, 7 Associate, 15 Technician and 5 Intern. The adverts promising an AI career at a defence unicorn after a six week course have not read this board. The board wants people who already did the job somewhere else.
The roles a non engineer can read without wincing are the hourly ones, facilities coordinator, front desk coordinator in Bonham, Texas, production technician and the lab and test technician titles at $22 to $53 an hour as printed, then the technical writer, the Wichita systems administrator, the presentation designer, the accountants and the recruiters in the table above. All are on site, and 98 of the 99 carry no clearance line, so the gate is the ordinary one: a background check and, where ITAR is cited, US person status. None of the sixteen India postings fits this group. If you are weighing a board like this against the beginner and part time listings screened on this site, the two minute match quiz sorts by background and location and never asks about money, and the free public board needs no signup and listed 1,724 live roles on 21 October 2026, 227 of them marked beginner.
Before you apply to a Shield AI posting
Seven things the postings themselves tell you to check, in the order the article covers them. Nothing here predicts an outcome; it restates what the board printed on 22 October 2026.
A checklist of what the postings say, not advice on whether to apply. Shield AI’s recruiters answer eligibility questions; this page cannot.
What do people who work or interviewed at Shield AI report?
We read five threads with about 45 comments between them, posted between November 2025 and October 2026 on r/Aero_Def_Employees, r/aerospace, r/csMajors and r/FAANGrecruiting, and kept eight accounts that were dated, specific and from people who said they worked there, interviewed there or lived with someone who did. These are reports, not findings, and they are anonymous. Glassdoor’s Shield AI page showed 3.5 out of 5 from 193 reviews on 22 October 2026, inside what Glassdoor gives as the aerospace and defence average of 3.6.
- An engineer in an August 2026 thread started by a finance candidate said new hires get about six months to make an impact, that 50 hours a week is expected in many cases, and that time off is not hard to take. Their office ranking: Washington DC intense, San Diego laid back, Frisco in between.
- In the same thread, in October 2026, an engineer nearly two years in said hours depend on the team and programme, that business functions are usually not doing 60 hours, that Frisco is the most demanding site because the hardware is there, and that they had seen heavy manager churn.
- The author of a November 2025 thread left after about six months, citing long days and goals that kept moving, and later called their own claim about the product hyperbolic.
- A February 2026 reply from someone claiming more than five years there said their team had zero attrition through the great resignation, with teammates of seven, six, six, five, three and one years, and that interns regularly convert to full time.
- A flight test candidate wrote in June 2026 that they got no offer because the team needed people who had already been leads or managers, and called the process honest and quick. Another candidate that month never heard back after a recruiter screen.
- A commenter in April 2026 who said they work in the DC office called most online reviews off base or blown out of proportion for their division, and said management varies a lot between divisions and offices.
- The spouse of an engineer wrote in September 2026 that at least 60 hours a week was expected, with all nighters and meeting invites over a holiday weekend.
- In a September 2026 pay thread one employee described the equity grants as double trigger RSUs, four year vest, one year cliff, monthly after, and another called it a tough place because of the pace, fun if you buy in and not if you want 40 hours.
The range runs from a team with no leavers in five years to a household seeing 60 hour weeks, and both can be true of a company with five US offices and divisions that one commenter said barely know what the other is doing. Where the accounts agree with the record: the postings say on site 568 times out of 659 and nobody claimed otherwise, and nobody disputed the printed pay. Where they diverge: the careers page lists flexible work hours among its benefits, and none of the eight accounts described the hours as flexible in the direction of fewer. One more item belongs here because the operator and field roles are the ones a non engineer might reach. Reuters reported on 5 June 2026, in an investigation syndicated by TimesLIVE, that by its count the V-BAT had crashed more than 50 times in 18 months and that a Romanian navy official’s hand was injured by a propeller during a training exercise on 12 May 2026. In the same report Shield AI attributed the May incident to a violation of established safety procedures rather than a product defect, put its customers’ operational mishaps at ten since early 2025, and disputed a whistleblower complaint the report described. Those are allegations and a company’s reply, not a court’s finding, and we could not verify them beyond the report.
What has Shield AI announced about new jobs in Kansas and Washington?
On 30 September 2026 Shield AI named Newton, Kansas and Des Moines, Washington as the flight test and production homes of its X-BAT aircraft, with Frisco, Texas staying the prototyping site. The release says building and testing the aircraft in the two states is projected to support about 9,800 American jobs by the early 2030s, with production planned from 2029. Read the next sentence before repeating the number: the counts include supplier staff and jobs supported by local spending, not 9,800 Shield AI employees. On 8 October 2026 the company said combined Shield AI and US government investment in X-BAT had reached $400 million. On the board today that looks like 139 X-BAT postings, 164 in Seattle and 9 in the Wichita metro area, including the systems administrator above and a maintenance technician at $41 to $61 an hour. A projection is not a listing. The listing is the thing you can apply to.
If a defence engineering board turned out not to be your board, that is information rather than a verdict. The no experience AI training page covers the platforms that do take beginners, and the match quiz takes two minutes, asks about background and location, and never about money.
Frequently asked questions
Does Shield AI hire outside the United States?
Yes. On 22 October 2026 its Lever board carried 126 postings outside the US: 30 in London, 30 in Melbourne, 16 in India across New Delhi and Bangalore, 14 in Ukraine, 9 in Taipei and smaller numbers in Japan, the UAE, Poland, Spain and elsewhere. Those postings do not carry US clearance lines, and none of the India ones printed a pay figure.
Can a green card holder apply for Shield AI jobs?
It depends on the posting. ITAR’s US person definition at 22 CFR part 120 includes lawful permanent residents, so the 17 postings that cite ITAR or citizenship without a clearance line may be open. The 252 that mention a security clearance generally are not, because the State Department’s FAQ says a clearance requires US citizenship, with narrow exceptions at an agency’s discretion.
How many Shield AI jobs are remote?
22 of 659 postings were marked remote on 22 October 2026 and 69 hybrid. The remote ones were mostly senior: capture managers, a director of IT project management, staff engineers in state estimation and application security, and business development leads based in European cities.
Does Shield AI post the salary on every job?
Almost. 528 of the 533 US postings printed a range on 22 October 2026, 500 annual and 27 hourly. The five without a figure were a data science internship and four recruiting and sourcing roles. Postings outside the US printed none.
Does Shield AI have entry level jobs?
A few. On 22 October 2026 the US board had 16 Engineer I titles, 7 Associate titles, 15 Technician titles, 5 internships for summer 2027 and one Software Development Engineer, New Graduate listing at $77,200 to $211,200 as printed. Against those sit 205 Staff and 165 Senior titles.
Is the Shield AI careers page the same as the Lever board?
The careers page at shield.ai/careers embeds the Lever board for Shield AI roles and links a separate Greenhouse board for Aechelon, the simulation business. The 659 count on this page is the Lever board only, read on 22 October 2026.
Why do job trackers show different numbers of Shield AI jobs?
They scrape on different days with different rules. Some count unique requisition numbers, some count every city a role is posted in, and some only index roles with certain tags. On 22 October 2026 the board itself held 659 postings sharing 522 unique requisition numbers, which already gives two honest answers to the same question.
Finished the page? The same five questions from the top, to see what stuck.
Platform statuses and listed pay change without notice. Pay figures are quoted only as listed by the poster on the date shown and are never a promise of earnings. This page was verified on the date shown and is rechecked on the weekly refresh.
