Field Operations Engineer

This role owns the hardware, provisioning, and field testing that translates Breaker's software into autonomous robots flying real missions. You will run field testing campaigns end-to-end, keep the company's hardware inventoried and flight-ready, and support demos and deployments in Australia and internationally. It is a hands-on, hardware-first role focused on drones and UAVs, not software development.

Responsibilities

• Plan and run field testing campaigns end-to-end: prepare the gear, execute the test plan, capture clean data, and run the post-test debrief
• Provision and configure drones and other hardware - load software releases, set and tune flight parameters, and get every platform flight-ready
• Own the hardware registry and inventory, keeping the Sydney workshop organised and deployment-ready (and supporting the Austin team as needed)
• Run simulation (software-in-the-loop) testing on a regular cadence, including new releases and CONOPs, to surface issues before they reach the field
• Triage issues coming out of the field, package clean and useful bug reports for the software team, and offload and analyse field data
• Support demos and field deployments in Australia and internationally with on-site hardware, comms, and configuration support
• Build and maintain SOPs, operator manuals, test tooling, and field documentation; support new hardware and platform integrations alongside the team

Requirements

• Hands-on experience with drones or other UAVs - you understand how they work (flight controllers, ESCs, props, radios) and have built, tuned, or seriously tinkered with at least one platform
• Familiarity with ArduPilot or a similar flight stack: setting parameters, tuning, and diagnosing problems
• Comfortable in Linux and on the command line, and with CAD and 3D printing for hardware fixes and fixtures
• Highly organised, with strong attention to detail - you track the things other people let slip
• Self-motivated and happy to follow (and improve) defined procedures, and you genuinely enjoy hardware and field work over chasing the next software project
• Willing to travel and participate in regular field testing (around one week a month)
• Australian citizenship

Nice to have

• A Remote Pilot Licence (RePL) and/or ReOC experience - if you don’t have a RePL, we’ll help you get one
• Standout university project experience in a competitive, company-like team (for example, solar car, autonomous systems, or robotics competition teams)
• A defence or military background - especially hands-on work with experimental hardware, UAS, drones, or military communications
• Field, deployment, or expedition experience in demanding environments
• Some software or scripting ability, including using AI coding tools, to build small tools and automations
• Experience improving or extending simulation environments, and prior startup or scale-up experience

Benefits

• You’ll be an owner, not a renter. We’re at the stage where foundational decisions are still being made and entire systems need to be built from scratch. Your work won’t be maintaining someone else’s legacy - you’ll be creating what comes next. The problems you solve and the systems you build will define how Breaker scales.
• You’ll work with people who’ve done this before. Our team has shipped production robotics systems, scaled infrastructure, and solved the kind of hard integration problems that only come up when software meets the physical world. You won’t be the only person in the room who’s debugged a flaky radio link, provisioned a fleet of drones, or rescued a field test when the hardware fought back.
• You’ll solve problems that don’t exist anywhere else. Most companies are building incremental improvements on established technology. We’re defining new categories - which means the work is harder, more ambiguous, and infinitely more interesting.
• You’ll work hard, together. We’re in the office every day, grinding on hard problems alongside great people. We’ve built a workspace where the best work happens - access to hardware, quick decisions, real collaboration. We’re flexible when life requires it, but we’re looking for people who want to show up, get stuck in, and build something significant with a team they respect.
• We’re going global. Backed by globally recognised investors, we’re growing teams across Sydney, Australia and Austin, Texas. If you want exposure to international expansion and the opportunity to help build across regions, that path exists here.
• You’ll own what you build. Generous equity packages mean when Breaker wins, you win.