Integration Engineer, Radar and Drone Software (Counter-UAS)

We are Jasper and Alessandro, the founders of Impact Drones (YC S26). Jasper, an aerospace engineer (MSc, TU Delft), has built drones for over a decade, including the Hannover Messe VTOL competition winner, and worked with special forces on the 2025 NATO Summit counter-drone plan; Alessandro (MSc, Columbia) built the pipeline behind our 176M USD in signed LOIs.

We are hiring an integration engineer in Los Angeles to connect radars and drones into one system. We do not build radars: we use the best ones, plus whatever a customer already runs, and own the software that turns a radar track into an interceptor launch.

In March 2026, Iranian drones struck three AWS data centers in the UAE and Bahrain. Fiber-optic FPV drones cannot be jammed. The only thing that stops them is a physical intercept. That is what we build.

About Impact Drones
We sell Air Defense as a Service to civilian critical infrastructure. One container on site senses, decides and launches. It combines a sensor mast, our engagement software and 8 open launch bays built to our Open Launch Standard. The bays take SABLE, our jet interceptor, and third-party interceptors too. Interceptors change. The bay stays.

What you will own

• Integrating third-party radars, RF detectors and EO/IR cameras.
• Fusing their tracks into one air picture.
• Connecting third-party interceptors in our launch bays (MAVLink and vendor interfaces) and customer C2 systems (SAPIENT, Cursor on Target).
• Test rigs and range tests that prove the chain from detection to launch.

Your first 3 months

• Month one: recorded tracks from a third-party radar replay, time-synced, into our software.
• Month two: radar and camera tracks merge into one air picture that cues a launch, no hand-typed coordinates.
• Month three: a logged, repeatable run on the range, from live radar track through the authority's two-step release to a launch command at our bay.

What you bring

• You integrated hardware you did not build (a sensor, vehicle or autopilot) and made it work in the field.
• Strong C++ or Python on Linux.
• Comfort with networking, time sync, coordinate frames, tracking and sensor fusion.

Bonus points

• Counter-UAS, radar or defense work, or ASTERIX, SAPIENT, ONVIF or Remote ID.
• You fly FPV or build drones.

Compensation

• Base salary: $100,000 to $150,000 per year.
• Equity: 0.2% to 0.4% in stock options, 4-year vesting with a 1-year cliff.

Where we work
On-site in Los Angeles, CA, plus about one week in four at outdoor ranges or customer sites.

How to apply
Apply here and answer the one question on the form: which sensor or vehicle you integrated that worked in the field, plus a link if you can. We read every application ourselves.

Jasper and Alessandro

This role may involve technical data subject to U.S. export controls (ITAR and EAR). Applicants must be U.S. persons (including U.S. citizens and nationals, lawful permanent residents, refugees and asylees) or eligible for any required export authorization.

Impact Drones is an equal opportunity employer. We will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records in accordance with the California Fair Chance Act and, where they apply, the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers and the City of Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance.