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Shield AI

a16z portfolio company

Senior Synthetic Reality Developer

Location
Madrid
Work arrangement
On-site
Job type
Full-time

About the role

Posted Oct 16, 2026

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 Senior Synthetic Reality Developer to 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.
  • 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.

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At a glance

Location
Madrid
Workplace
On-site
Employment
Full-time
Team
AI Hive
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The company

Shield AI

Shield AI

Shield AI's mission is to protect service members and innocent civilians with artificially intelligent systems. Our initial focus is on the last several miles of the battlefield where we lack capability to collect intelligence. This area is beyond the view of high altitude sensors, too dangerous for people, and too complex for robots to navigate. Consequently, service members are asked to make life altering decisions with limited information. Mistakes are made that cost lives and incur massive collateral damage. Such mistakes cause the United States to lose support of local populations and make conflict unwinnable. This problem is widely recognized throughout the DoD, including the most senior leadership. To address this problem, we are building swarms of small intelligent robots to collect the critical missing information. The systems will scour indoor and outdoor spaces in search of threats and innocent people. They will be deployed by people, trucks, ships, aircraft, and other robots. These robots will become more numerous in combat areas than soldiers. Synthesized information will be presented to service members who will be empowered to make decisions leading to intended outcomes without collateral damage. Conflict becomes less brutal.

Series G1,000–5,000 employeesAmerican Dynamism

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