Senior UAS Flight Test & Operations Engineer

About this role

COMPANY DESCRIPTION

Flagship Pioneering is a platform innovation company that invents and builds companies that change the world. We bring together the greatest scientific minds with entrepreneurial company builders and assemble the capital to allow them to take courageous leaps. Those big leaps in human health, sustainability and beyond exponentially accelerate scientific progress in areas ranging from disease detection and treatment and nature-positive agriculture to novel applications of AI that are driving the creation of new technologies.

What sets Flagship apart is our ability to advance science and technology by uniting innovation, company creation, and capital investment under one roof in a way that is largely without precedent. Our scientific founders, entrepreneurial leaders, and professional capital managers are each aligned around an institutionalized process that enables us to innovate and transform for the benefit of people and planet.

Many of the companies Flagship has founded have addressed humanity’s most urgent challenges: vaccinating billions of people against COVID-19, curing intractable diseases, improving human health, preempting illness, and feeding the world by improving the resiliency and sustainability of agriculture.

Flagship has been recognized twice on FORTUNE’s “Change the World” list, an annual ranking of companies that have made a positive social and environmental impact through activities that are part of their core business strategies and has been twice named to Fast Company’s annual list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies.

THE ROLE

We are seeking a UAS Flight Operations Engineer II to join our growing hardware team. This is a field-oriented role for someone who thrives in the operational reality of long-range UAV missions — planning and executing BVLOS flights, managing regulatory compliance, and ensuring safe, mission-ready operations in demanding environments. You will lead the operational framework for our fixed-wing UAV platform: from waiver strategy and airspace coordination to real-time mission monitoring and post-flight analysis. You will work alongside a small, highly technical team, bridging the gap between engineering development and field execution as we scale from early prototype flights to hardened, field-proven operations in complex international environments.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Lead BVLOS operations planning and flight test execution, including waiver compliance, pre-flight risk assessment, and real-time mission monitoring;

• Lead flight testing of a custom fixed-wing airframe, from first flight and envelope expansion through iterative design validation with the engineering team;

• Own the FAA Part 107 waiver strategy, COA applications, and international UAS regulatory compliance across operating environments;

• Develop and maintain standardized operating procedures, pre-flight checklists, and emergency response protocols for field campaigns;

• Serve as primary pilot-in-command and/or flight test director for fixed-wing UAV missions, including manual RC proficiency during test and contingency operations;

• Analyze flight logs (MAVExplorer, Flight Review) to diagnose anomalies and drive iterative improvements to mission reliability and safety margins;

• Coordinate with meteorological resources and integrate atmospheric sensing data to support mission go/no-go decision-making;

• Collaborate with science and field teams to validate mission profiles, sensor data quality, and operational success criteria;

• Manage ground control station operations, C2 link monitoring, and spectrum compliance during live missions;

• Document flight operations, incident reports, and lessons learned to build a scalable operational knowledge base for the drone program.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE & QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in aerospace engineering, aviation, atmospheric science, or a closely related field; equivalent operational experience will be considered.

• BA/BS + 5 years of experience or MS + 3 years of experience with at least 2 years, of hands-on UAV flight operations experience with fixed-wing platforms in real-mission or production contexts

• FAA Part 107 Remote Pilot Certificate required; demonstrated experience with BVLOS waivers, COA applications, or international UAS regulatory frameworks is strongly preferred;

• Experience operating ArduPilot-based autopilot systems, including mission scripting, failsafe configuration, and GCS software (Mission Planner, QGroundControl);

• Practical fixed-wing airframe flight experience, including manual RC aircraft proficiency and understanding of in-flight anomaly recognition;

• Familiarity with RF link monitoring, C2 spectrum compliance, and antenna management for long-range UAV operations;

• Experience with atmospheric sensing, meteorology, or operational weather forecasting is a strong plus;

• Experience supporting field campaigns or flight tests in remote or international environments is highly valued;

• Strong documentation habits: flight logs, incident reports, SOPs, and post-mission summaries suitable for regulatory review and program scaling;

• Genuine passion for operating novel aerial platforms in service of real-world scientific or environmental missions, with comfort working at the intersection of field operations, engineering, and regulatory compliance.

LOCATION: Boulder, CO

ABOUT FLAGSHIP PIONEERING:

Flagship Pioneering invents and builds platform companies, each with the potential for multiple products that transform human health, sustainability and beyond. Since its launch in 2000, Flagship has originated more than 100 companies. Many of these companies have addressed humanity’s most urgent challenges: vaccinating billions of people against COVID-19, curing intractable diseases, improving human health, preempting illness, and feeding the world by improving the resiliency and sustainability of agriculture.

Flagship has been recognized twice

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