# Director, Engineering Excellence & Design Standards

**Company:** [Shield AI](https://hotfix.jobs/companies/shield-ai)
**Location:** Dallas, TX, San Diego, CA
**Role:** Engineering Management
**Salary:** $209k – $314k/yr
**Experience:** 10+ years
**Skills:** CAD, GD&T, Mil-Std-810, Do-160, Asme Y14.5, Ebom, Mbom, Configuration Management, Aerospace Design, Engineering Documentation
**Posted:** 2026-04-22

> Leads establishment of engineering design standards, best practices for aerospace design/analysis, CAD usage, documentation, and configuration management across hardware programs. Influences teams to ensure consistency, rigor, and scalability without hindering execution. Requires 10+ years in aerospace/hardware with broad technical expertise.

## Job Description

## Responsibilities
- Establish and own engineering design standards across programs, including XBAT and VBAT
- Define and standardize best practices for aerospace design, analysis workflows, and system-level engineering rigor
- Develop standards for CAD usage, drawing quality, standard notes, release processes, and engineering documentation
- Manufacturing & supply chain handoff including EBOM and MBOM creation along with driving part demand
- Build and mature an engineering excellence framework that scales with the company
- Partner with engineering leadership to align teams on consistent ways of working
- Ensure standards are practical, accessible, and consistently applied across teams
- Influence design decisions and engineering processes across disciplines without becoming a bottleneck
- Support both near-term program execution and long-term scalability of engineering processes
- Drive improvements in configuration management, documentation quality, and design consistency

## Requirements
- 10+ years of experience in aerospace or high-performance hardware design environments
- Deep experience working within organizations that maintain strong engineering standards and design rigor
- Broad technical background across multiple engineering domains (mechanical, aerospace, systems, etc.)
- Experience defining or applying design standards, documentation practices, and configuration management systems
- Familiarity with industry standards such as **MIL-STD-810**, **DO-160**, and **ASME Y14.5 (GD&T)**
- Demonstrated ability to influence senior engineers and drive alignment across teams
- Strong track record of improving engineering quality, consistency, and scalability
- Excellent communication skills with the ability to clearly articulate standards and expectations across technical audiences

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