Drone Operator and Engineer

About Sentradel Over 90 percent of combat deaths in Ukraine are caused by small drones.

In Colombia, over 100 military and police officers have been killed by cartel operated drones.

Shahed drones hit civilian and military targets across the Middle East uncontested.

Unjammable fiber optic and AI controlled drones are making the threat cheaper, faster, and harder to stop.

This problem will only get worse.

Sentradel is a defense startup building autonomous, low cost kinetic turret systems designed to defeat Group 1 (small FPV drones) and low flying Group 2 drone threats.

We have shot down dozens of drones in live fire testing, have active Department of War agreements, commercial partnerships, and sales.

How we work Full time, in person at our Minden, Nevada office.

We also travel and test frequently at ranges across the US with partners and customers.

Job Overview Every live fire test we run needs a target in the air.

We are seeking a Drone Operator to build, program, and fly the drones our turret shoots down, and to run the flight side of demos in front of customers.

You own the fleet end to end: airframes, firmware, flight profiles, and the repairs between sorties.

• Build, wire, solder, and repair the target drone fleet
• Flash and configure flight controllers, tune aircraft for repeatable test profiles
• Modify ArduPilot source to get behavior stock firmware will not do, including speed caps, failsafes, and autonomous attack profiles
• Plan and fly autonomous missions that produce consistent, repeatable engagements for the turret
• Serve as pilot in command at range tests and customer demos across the US
• Own batteries, radios, ground stations, and spares so a test day never stops for a missing part
• Pull flight logs and turn them into usable test data for the engineering team Qualifications
• Extensive ArduPilot experience: Mission Planner, parameter tuning, custom builds, and reading a log to explain why the aircraft did what it did