About the role

We are Jasper and Alessandro, the founders of Impact Drones (YC S26). We are hiring an autonomy engineer to make our interceptor drones fly the intercept on their own: from a radar track, to the onboard camera, to a hit or a net catch. Jasper (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 180M+ USD in signed LOIs.

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 our interceptors: HUNTER, a kinetic quadcopter in combat in Ukraine against Shahed-class drones; WEAVER, which catches drones intact in a net; and SABLE, our turbojet interceptor.

What you will own

• Autonomous flight on HUNTER, WEAVER and SABLE: navigation, guidance and control.
• Onboard target detection and tracking with EO and thermal cameras.
• Simulation, bench and flight tests that prove each change.

Your first 3 months

• Month one: your first guidance or control change flies on WEAVER at the range.
• Month two: your onboard tracker locks a target drone in flight and hands it to guidance.
• Month three: your guidance flies an autonomous intercept from a radar cue, ending in a WEAVER net catch.

What you bring

• Guidance, navigation or control code you wrote that flew on a real vehicle.
• Strong C++ on embedded or real-time systems.
• Solid GNC and state estimation fundamentals.
• You debug from flight logs, not only from simulation.

Bonus points

• You fly FPV, and have worked in PX4, ArduPilot or Betaflight source.
• Computer vision on embedded hardware.
• Interceptor, missile or counter-UAS experience.

Compensation

• Base salary: $110,000 to $160,000 per year.
• Equity: 0.25% to 0.45%, 4-year vesting with a 1-year cliff.

Where we work
On-site in San Francisco, CA, side by side with Jasper, with regular flight testing at outdoor ranges.

How to apply
Apply here on Work at a Startup and answer the one question on the form: the best guidance, control or autonomy result you flew, in one or two lines, plus a link if you can share it. 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 or eligible for any required export authorization.

Impact Drones is an equal opportunity employer. We consider qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records in line with the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance.

About the interview

We run every step ourselves. No recruiters, no take-home homework, no whiteboard puzzles.

• Intro: a 20-minute call with Jasper, or a coffee in San Francisco. What you have flown, what you want to build next, and what we are building.
• Technical deep dive: about an hour on guidance, control or autonomy code you wrote that ran on a real vehicle. Bring what you can share: personal or open-source code, public videos, or just walk us through it. Never bring an employer's proprietary or export-controlled material. We want to hear what broke, why it broke and how you fixed it.
• Working session: a few hours with us on our drones or on an autonomy problem like the ones we work on. You see how we work, we see how you work.
• References: at the end, once we both want to move forward, two or three people you have built or flown hardware with.
• Decision: we decide within two weeks of the first call, and we tell you either way.

About IMPACT Drones

Impact Drones (YC S26) sells Air Defense as a Service to civilian critical infrastructure: data centers, refineries, airports and power grids.

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.

One container on site senses, decides and launches our interceptors: HUNTER, a kinetic quadcopter in combat in Ukraine against Shahed-class drones; WEAVER, which catches drones intact in a net; and SABLE, our turbojet interceptor. First LOIs signed with defense and data-center customers.

We work on-site in San Francisco, with regular field testing at outdoor ranges.