Manager, Visual Design - Synthetic Reality Development
- Level
- Lead
- Work type
- On-site · Madrid
Not stated in the posting: salary, visa.
Open. First seen 22 October 2026.
About the role
Shield AI's standard text
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.
We are looking for a hands on team leader / manager who will lead a team of four Synthetic Reality Developers. This role will join our visual database production team for professional simulation. The successful candidate will be responsible for accurately recreating real-world infrastructure, airports, and environments, as well as ground, maritime, and airborne vehicles, through 3D modeling and the creation of realistic textures.
This work contributes to the development of high- fidelity scenarios for professional training simulators. In addition to standard production tools, you will work with proprietary company software, processes, and workflows. The role therefore requires strong learning ability, attention to detail, commitment to quality, and adherence to established technical and visual standards.
We are looking for professionals with strong spatial awareness, a technical mindset, and the ability to accurately reproduce real-world environments and assets while meeting project requirements and delivery deadlines.
Required Qualifications
- Minimum of 4 years of professional experience in 3D modeling and texturing.
- Minimum of 2 years of experience as a team leader or manager in similar environment.
- Demonstrated proficiency in Autodesk Maya for 3D modeling, geometry creation, and optimization, including Features and Moving Models.
- Strong proficiency in developing and optimizing UV coordinates, ensuring efficient use of texture space and appropriate pixel density.
- Demonstrated proficiency in Adobe Photoshop for creating and editing high-quality, realistic textures.
- Excellent spatial awareness and ability to interpret complex proportions, scales, and geometric relationships.
- Ability to accurately reproduce real-world assets and environments using photographic references and technical documentation.
- Ability to work within established technical standards and production requirements, ensuring consistency across deliverables.
- Strong commitment to quality, continuous improvement, and on-time project delivery.
Preferred Qualifications
- Airport infrastructure, including lighting systems, signage, and pavement markings.
- Aviation.
- Cartography.
- Geographic Information Systems (GIS).
- Computer-Aided Design (CAD).
- Visual database development for simulation.
- Orthophotography, satellite imagery, and technical documentation.
- Simulation, synthetic environments, and digital twins.
Our international teammates receive a comprehensive total rewards package aligned to your country office location. For full details on compensation and benefits, please consult your talent acquisition partner.
What this role asks for
83% of this description is written for the role. The rest is Shield AI's standard text, folded away below.
Compared with Shield AI's other open jobs.
The team: Engineering HIRES STEADILY
This role is one of 36 open in Engineering. 26 were posted in the last 30 days and the oldest in July: a team that hires all year rather than one being built.
WHAT THE TEAM WORKS WITH, ACROSS ITS POSTINGS
Python (27 of 36), C++ (22 of 36), Linux (14 of 36), CI/CD (8 of 36), Golang (8 of 36), Kubernetes (6 of 36), PyTorch (6 of 36)
OTHER ROLES ON THIS TEAM
- Staff Engineer, Modelling and Simulation (R6248) posted Oct 17
- Principal Engineer, Edge Applications & Mission Systems (R6245) posted Oct 17
- Staff Engineer, Hivemind Reasoning (R6292) posted Oct 15
- Senior Manager, Engineering - Hivemind Reasoning (R6291) posted Oct 15
- Staff Software Engineer, Autonomy & Motion Planning posted Oct 10
- Senior Engineer, Full-Stack - Forge (R6244) posted Oct 10
- Senior Principal Engineer, GNC & State Estimation (R6233) posted Oct 9
- Staff Engineer, Full-Stack – Forge (R6232) posted Oct 9
- Senior Engineer, Full-Stack, Frontend Focus - Forge Applications (R6231) posted Oct 9
- Staff Autonomy Integration Engineer posted Oct 9
- Staff Engineer, Autonomy Behaviors posted Oct 9
- Senior Engineering Manager posted Oct 9
- Systems Test Engineer posted Oct 9
- Staff Software Engineer, Software Integration & Test posted Oct 9
- Staff Safety-Critical Software Engineer (R5788) posted Oct 8
- Senior Software Engineer, Autonomy Integration (R6035) posted Oct 3
- Perception Engineer - Multimodal & Embodied AI (R6022) posted Oct 3
- Senior C++ Engineer – Foundations (R6023) posted Oct 3
- Senior Staff Engineer, Autonomy Integration Lead (R6159) posted Oct 3
- Senior Engineer, Full-Stack - Forge Platform, Tools (R5790) posted Sep 26
- Senior Safety-Critical Software Engineer (R5788) posted Sep 26
- Staff Engineer, Aircraft Trajectory Modeling (R5787) posted Sep 26
- Staff Deep Learning Engineer, State Estimation (R5785) posted Sep 26
- Staff Engineer, State Estimation (R5783) posted Sep 26
- Staff Engineer, Platform (R6019) posted Sep 22
- Autonomy Engineer- Behavior and Motion Planning (R6007) posted Sep 16
- Autonomy & Perception Software Engineer (R5911) posted Sep 9
- Senior Staff Engineer, ML Ops (R4941) posted Aug 31
- Staff Engineer, Data Platform (R5659) posted Aug 26
- Discrete Planning Engineer (R5440) posted Jul 24
- Staff Engineer, Core Platform Integration (R5411) posted Jul 23
- Senior Staff Engineer, Software Autonomy (R5125) posted Jun 4
- Senior Staff Engineer, ML Ops (R4941) posted May 14
- Senior Software Engineer, Autonomy Applications Engineering posted Sep 30
- Staff Software Engineer, Autonomy Applications Engineering posted Jul 8
From the team and dates on Shield AI's own job board.
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