Drone Operator and Engineer

About the role

Sentradel is a defense startup building autonomous, low‑cost kinetic turret systems to defeat small FPV drones and low‑flying threats. The Drone Operator and Engineer will build, program, and fly target drones for live‑fire tests and customer demonstrations, managing the fleet from airframes to firmware.

Key responsibilities

• Build, wire, solder, and repair the target drone fleet.
• Flash and configure flight controllers, tune aircraft for repeatable test profiles.
• Modify ArduPilot source to implement custom behaviors such as speed caps, failsafes, and autonomous attack profiles.
• Plan and execute autonomous missions that provide consistent engagements for the turret.
• Serve as pilot in command during range tests and customer demos across the US.

Required profile

• Extensive experience with ArduPilot, Mission Planner, parameter tuning, and custom firmware development.
• Ability to read, modify, compile, and flash the ArduPilot codebase.
• FAA Part 107 Remote Pilot Certificate.
• Hands‑on experience building drones from bare frames, including soldering, wiring, ESCs, motors, power, and RF systems.
• Proven expert‑level stick time in both manual and autonomous flight modes.

Required skills

• ArduPilot firmware development
• Mission Planner
• FAA Part 107 certification
• Drone hardware assembly (soldering, wiring, ESCs, motors)
• Python or C++ (optional but mentioned)