Mission Operator - UAV

TL;DR

Mission Operator - UAV (UAS/drone operations): Leading drone mission operations for autonomous defense systems, with an accent on flight-test execution, fleet readiness, and customer-facing demonstrations. Focus on coordinating operator teams, validating software and model releases in flight, managing airspace and safety, and translating flight results into actionable engineering feedback.

Location: Onsite in Paso Robles, California, United States; must be a U.S. Person due to access to export-controlled information or facilities.

Salary: $85,000–$155,000 USD base salary, plus bonus and equity.

Company

hirify.global develops Fury, a robotic foundation model for defense that enables human operators to command autonomous fleets of intelligent machines.

What you will do

• Lead and schedule the drone operator team and establish an effective day-to-day operating rhythm.
• Partner with the Flight Test Engineer to prioritize testing, execute flight-test plans, and turn results into product-development actions.
• Run development test requests and validate software, model, and orchestrator releases across the Ax4, Archer, and Neros fleets.
• Plan and conduct customer- and investor-facing demonstrations, live-fly events, vendor days, and training sessions.
• Track fleet readiness and maintenance while coordinating airspace deconfliction and flight safety.
• Provide structured daily feedback on flight behavior, hardware issues, and software bugs to engineering.

Requirements

• Hands-on experience piloting, planning missions for, maintaining, or overseeing UAS and drone operations.
• At least 3 years of experience operating, maintaining, or testing unmanned aerial systems or similar platforms.
• Demonstrated team leadership beyond individual flying or engineering work.
• Ability to work closely with engineers on bug triage, build validation, and actionable technical feedback.
• Experience conducting live demonstrations or training for military or customer stakeholders.
• Must be a U.S. Person; may be expected to obtain and maintain a U.S. Top Secret security clearance.

Culture & Benefits

• Work on autonomous defense systems deployed on real platforms for U.S. and allied forces.
• Collaborate with specialists in autonomy, AI, and national security.
• Meaningful equity and competitive bonus opportunities.
• Premium medical, dental, and vision plans with no paycheck contribution.
• Competitive paid time off, company holidays, daily catered lunch, a stocked kitchen, EV charging, and unlimited AI tokens.
• Relocation assistance may be available depending on role eligibility.