We are looking for a Flight Test Engineer with 3+ years of experience operating and testing unmanned aerial systems to join our Mission Operations team and accelerate the development of Scout AI's autonomous aerial platforms. You'll be a hands-on operator and evaluator, spending most of your time in the field at test ranges executing structured flight tests that directly drive autonomy performance and mission readiness. This is a high-impact role where your work ensures that intelligent machines are safe, reliable, and ready for real-world deployment in defense environments. If you thrive in dynamic outdoor settings, love troubleshooting complex systems, and want to see your contributions fielded on real platforms—this is the role for you.
What will you be doing?
Design and execute structured flight test plans to evaluate autonomy performance, flight stability, navigation, and mission behaviors
Operate UAS safely in real-world environments—handling pre-flight inspections, in-flight monitoring, post-flight analysis, and airworthiness assessments
Collect, analyze, and document flight data; identify failures, edge cases, and performance gaps, then generate clear reports with actionable recommendations for engineering
Troubleshoot hardware, software, and system-level issues in the field, including payload and sensor integration (EO/IR, GPS, IMU)
Support customer demonstrations and flight evaluations, ensuring systems are professionally executed and deployment-ready
Scout AI is a frontier AI lab for U.S. defense. It was founded in 2024 by Colby Adcock and Collin Otis with a mission to deploy mission-ready AI agents across unmanned systems for the Department of War and its allies. Its Fury foundation model transforms uncrewed ground, air, sea, and space platforms and payloads into intelligent, collaborative teammates that multiply warfighter effectiveness.Scout AI is based in Paso Robles, CA and is backed by leading institutional investors including Booz Allen Ventures, Align Ventures, Draper Associates, and Perot Jain.
Salary
$85,000 - $165,000
Location
Paso Robles, United States
Experience
3+ years
Total raised
$115.0M
Last stage
Series A
Investors
Colby Adcock
CEO & Co-founder
Collin Otis
CTO & Co-founder
No applications, no recruiter spam. Just the intro.
A few questions to make sure this role is the right shape for you. Two minutes.
I write the intro, send it to the founder, and handle the back-and-forth.
If they’re a yes, I book the chat. You show up — that’s the whole job-hunt.