Mission Operator - UAV

Scout AI•Paso Robles, CA

About The Position

Scout AI is hiring a UAV Mission Operator to lead the drone side of its Mission Operations team, Swarm Forge. Swarm Forge is an AI mission commander that directs smaller drones to search, identify, and strike with minimal human input. The operator will lead the drone operator team, own the flight test pipeline, and run live customer demonstrations, preparing systems for internal testing and external deployment. The role partners closely with the Flight Test Engineer, who owns technical test design and instrumentation. The Mission Operator owns execution, the team, and customer-facing work. Together, they determine what gets tested and in what order, and communicate results and feedback to engineering. The position requires hands-on UAS operations and at least three years of experience operating, maintaining, or testing UAS, drones, or similar platforms. The candidate must be a U.S. Person because of required access to U.S. export-controlled information or facilities, and may be expected to obtain and hold a U.S. Top Secret security clearance.

Requirements

Hands-on UAS/drone operations experience, such as piloting, mission planning, or direct oversight of drone operations.
At least 3 years of experience operating, maintaining, or testing UAS, drones, or similar platforms.
Demonstrated team leadership, beyond individual flying or engineering work.
Comfort working directly with engineers daily to triage bugs, validate builds, and provide actionable feedback.
Ability to co-own product development with a technical peer.
Experience running live demonstrations or training sessions for military or customer stakeholders.
Strong organizational skills, including the ability to establish schedules, readiness tracking, and team routines.
Working knowledge of drone safety procedures, airspace coordination, and incident reporting.
Must be a U.S. Person due to required access to U.S. export-controlled information or facilities.
Passion for the defense of the United States and its allies.

Nice To Haves

May be expected to obtain and hold a U.S. Top Secret security clearance.

Responsibilities

Lead and schedule the drone operator team day to day.
Partner with the Flight Test Engineer to drive air-platform product development by shaping test priorities, dividing execution, and translating results into engineering requests.
Own execution of Development Test Requests and flight test plans across the Ax4, Archer, and Neros fleet, working with engineering on results and next steps.
Validate new software, model, and orchestrator releases in flight and catch regressions before customer use or demonstrations.
Plan and run customer- and investor-facing drone demonstrations, including live-fly events and vendor days.
Own customer training and support, including training Army and customer personnel on Scout's drone systems.
Track fleet readiness and maintenance across the UAS fleet.
Coordinate airspace deconfliction and maintain safety during flight operations.
Provide structured daily feedback to engineering on flight behavior, hardware issues, and software bugs.