V-BAT Air Vehicle Operator

Founded in 2015, Shield AI is a venture-backed deep-tech company with the mission of protecting service members and civilians with intelligent systems. Its products include the V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft, Hivemind Enterprise, and the Hivemind Vision product lines. With offices and facilities across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and the 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. 
Introduction to the V-BAT Securing borders, hunting drugs, finding threats. Shield AI’s V-BAT is the future of tactical UAS today. Nothing else in the world like it, V-BAT is the next-generation UAS.  In head-to-head customer fly-offs, V-BAT wins. The U.S. and allied militaries are choosing V-BAT because it delivers, period.      The true differentiator between V-BAT and the rest is its patented ducted fan design. V-BAT’s duct increases thrust by 80%+ at equivalent engine power, enabling take-off and landing with a single power plant and achieving unmatched payload mass friction. It can fly for a half day or stop and hover for hours on end. Most importantly, thrust vectoring bestows V-BAT with unmatched control authority for rock-solid stability in high winds and challenging weather – whether taking off, landing, flying forward, or in a transition state.    V-BAT is designed explicitly for runway and equipment-independent launch and recovery in austere environments with no external support. The aircraft can be transported in the bed of a truck and assembled by two personnel in under 20 minutes, making it a true expeditionary system built for dynamic movement and fluid mission sets.     Job Description   V-Bat Air Vehicle Operators (Level 1-5) perform flight operations, testing, training, demonstrations, and maintenance in CONUS and OCONUS environments depending on customer requirements. Candidates must be willing to become proficient in a variety of V-Bat specific AVO skills based on the unique demands of the position for which they are applying.   

Six different teams and opportunities you could work for:

• Deployed Operations – AVOs support DoD and foreign customers in an operational capacity during maritime and land-based OCONUS deployments. 
 
• Instructor – AVOs develop and teach programs of instruction based on an institutional and operational knowledge of the V-Bat system and air vehicle operations. 
 
• Training/Standardization and Evaluation - AVOs assigned to Training, Standardization, and Evaluation are responsible for developing and delivering Programs of Instruction (POIs) for the V-BAT system to both internal and external customers. They serve as subject matter experts (SMEs), providing high-quality instruction and ensuring operators are trained to the highest standards of safety, proficiency, and mission effectiveness. In this role, AVOs establish, maintain, and enforce standardization across V-BAT flight operations, ensuring consistency in procedures, evaluations, and best practices. They also conduct evaluations and provide actionable feedback to uphold operational excellence and safe, effective flight operations.
 
• Demo/Business Development – AVOs perform flight demonstrations for potential customers in both CONUS and OCONUS locations. 
 
• Production Flight Testing – AVOs test newly produced V-Bat systems and rely on pilot and maintenance skills to ensure quality control and fleet readiness. 
 
• Engineering Research & Development – AVOs perform research and development flights and push the boundaries of innovation in the unmanned air vehicle space. 
 
• Support SME – The UAS Support SME will delight customers (internal and external) by providing advanced (L2) troubleshooting and support for issues encountered in the field. In addition to serving as link between our engineers and our customers, this role will assist in documenting and developing a robust knowledge base including troubleshooting guides, system FAQs, and training support materials. 
 
• Experimental Flight Testing/R&D – Operators will collaborate with engineering teams to execute integration, ground tests, and flight tests, ensuring seamless interactions between various components and systems of the V-Bat UAV platform. They will provide regular and insightful feedback to flight test engineers, flight control engineers, propulsion engineers, ground control station de