Firestorm Labs
Sr. Staff Project Engineer, UAS Development
$200K–$240K
San Diego, United States · On-site · Senior Staff · Full-time · Posted Oct 14, 2026
- Experience
- 12+ years in aerospace development, including at least 3 years in a Project Engineer or equivalent technical program execution role. Preferred: 15+ years in aerospace development and 5+ years in UAS or autonomous platforms.
- Education
- Bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or related field; Master's preferred.
- Visa sponsorship
- U.S. citizenship is required; candidates must be able to obtain and maintain a U.S. Government security clearance. Export-control eligibility is also required: U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, protected individual, or otherwise eligible to obtain required authorizations.
About the job
Leads UAS technical development from concept and prototype through first flight and productionization, while building repeatable engineering processes for program execution.
What you'll do
- Coordinate multidisciplinary teams, manage technical maturity, requirements, architecture, interfaces, and program reviews.
- Oversee subsystem integration, testing, verification and validation, technical reviews, and risk communication.
- Create scalable review, configuration-management, and interface-control practices; engage stakeholders and report program status.
What they ask for
- Bachelor's degree in Aerospace, Mechanical, 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/autonomous platforms.
- Experience mentoring engineers; pilot or aircraft-building experience; knowledge of autonomy, AI/ML, edge computing, defense or UAS regulatory programs.
Pay
USD 200,000 – 240,000 (base salary)
Tools
SolidWorks, MATLAB/Simulink, flight controls, communications, payload integration, FAA Part 107, COA
AI focus
Preferred familiarity with autonomy, AI/ML integration, or edge computing for UAS.
Model-written summary · the original posting is authoritative