AeroPerch is building the ground infrastructure that autonomous drone fleets need to operate at scale. Today most drones fly short missions and return to where they started, because there is nowhere along the way to recharge or offload data. Our field-deployed nodes give drones a place to land, charge wirelessly, exchange data and keep flying, turning one-off flights into continuous operations. Our first customers are in energy and critical infrastructure, with agriculture, public safety and defense to follow.
About the team
We are a small, early team with backgrounds in defense, aerospace and technology. The hardware team owns the node end to end: the wireless charging system, power electronics, enclosure and field integration. We move quickly from simulation to bench to field, and every engineer works hands-on across disciplines.
About the job
We are looking for a Drone Integration and Controls Engineer to make drones land on, charge at and depart our nodes reliably on their own. You will work across many drone makers' platforms and autopilots, and you will own flight testing.
What you'll do
- Integrate drones from multiple manufacturers with our nodes, including receiver installation and communication with the autopilot
- Develop precision landing and alignment using vision, markers or other sensing
- Work with autopilot stacks (PX4, ArduPilot) and drone makers' SDKs to automate landing, charging and takeoff
- Plan and run flight tests, analyze logs and improve reliability
- Define the interfaces between drones, nodes and our software
- Support field pilots with customers
Required qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Aerospace, Electrical, Mechanical or Robotics Engineering, Computer Science or a related field
- 3+ years of experience with drones or robotics
- Hands-on experience with PX4, ArduPilot or a similar autopilot
- Controls and state estimation fundamentals
- Proficient in C++ or Python on embedded Linux or robotics platforms
- Flight testing experience
- FAA Part 107 certificate, or ability to obtain one within 90 days of hire
- U.S. Person status is required, as this position requires access to export-controlled information
Preferred qualifications
- Precision landing, visual servoing or computer vision
- ROS or ROS 2 and MAVLink
- BVLOS operations or FAA waivers
- Enterprise or defense drone platforms
- Drone docking or automated battery systems
AeroPerch is an equal opportunity employer. We consider all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status or any other protected status.