Firestorm Labs
Deputy Chief Engineer, UAS Development
$170K–$200K
San Diego, United States · On-site · Full-time · Posted Sep 3, 2026
- Experience
- 12+ years in aerospace development, including at least 3 years in a Project Engineer or equivalent technical program execution role; 15+ years preferred, or 5+ years in UAS or autonomous platforms preferred.
- Education
- Bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or related field; Master's preferred.
- Visa sponsorship
- Requires U.S. citizenship and ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Government security clearance. Export-control eligibility also requires U.S. citizenship, lawful permanent residency, protected-individual status, or other eligibility to obtain required authorizations.
About the job
Leads technical development and productionization of UAS programs while establishing repeatable engineering processes and best practices across the team.
What you'll do
- Coordinate UAS development across the product lifecycle, multidisciplinary teams, program reviews, requirements, architecture, and interfaces.
- Oversee systems engineering, subsystem integration, verification and validation, testing, airworthiness, and technical risk communication.
- Build scalable engineering processes, digital engineering practices, configuration management, and review standards; engage stakeholders and report program status.
What they ask for
- Bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related field.
- U.S. citizenship and ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Government security clearance.
- 12+ years in aerospace development, including at least 3 years in a Project Engineer or equivalent technical program execution role.
- Aircraft architecture, airframe development, or aircraft software development experience; demonstrated engineering-process improvement; systems engineering and technical program execution proficiency.
Nice to have
- Master's degree; 15+ years in aerospace development or 5+ years in UAS or autonomous platforms.
- Experience with flight controls, communications, payload integration, mentoring, aircraft or RC building, autonomy/AI/ML, edge computing, or DoD, NASA, or commercial UAS programs.
Pay
$170,000 – $200,000 USD (base salary)
Tools
SolidWorks, MATLAB/Simulink, Part 107, COA
AI focus
Preferred familiarity with autonomy, AI/ML integration, or edge computing for UAS.
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