The Field Operations Lead will grow and lead a team deploying autonomous orchestration systems in demonstrations, test campaigns, and field exercises. This player-coach role involves hands-on leadership from the field, directing setup/teardown, troubleshooting, and execution at multi-domain exercises, including overseas deployments. The lead will own the safety program, develop training and certification pipelines, and drive operational coordination with Mission Operations and Engineering Operations. The role focuses on scaling the team's collaborative culture while building lean operational systems and a cycle of improvement through after-action reports and lessons learned.

Responsibilities

Lead from the Field. Serve as a senior on-site NODA representative and customer point of contact at multi-domain field exercises and demonstrations, directing setup/teardown, troubleshooting, and execution (including at overseas locations).
Grow the Team. Help recruit, hire, and onboard Field Operations Specialists and own the onboarding curriculum that transfers both craft and strategic context.
Develop People and Teams. Build the training program — certification pipelines (e.g., FAA Part 107), cross-training, and knowledge transfer — and coach each team member along distinct career lanes, building depth and redundancy in critical skills as the team scales.
Own the Safety Program. Own flight-worthiness verification, integration timelines, and test review processes that maximize learning from deliberate R&D test attrition; ensure a safe, professional shop and field environment.
Integrate and Plan. Lead operational coordination with Mission Operations and Engineering Operations — setting tasking horizons, demo lead times, and clear points of contact — and plan and adapt complex, multi-site deployment logistics as conditions change.
Build/Run Lean Systems. Run lean operational systems — reporting rhythms, task tracking, inventory, and delegated purchasing — right-sized so the team spends its time building and flying.
Drive a Cycle of Improvement. Own deployment plans, checklists, logs, and after-action reports, and drive lessons learned and customer feedback into improved demo-readiness processes.

Requirements

U.S. Citizen (required); ability to obtain and maintain a security clearance; active Secret or higher strongly preferred.
5+ years of hands-on technical experience in field, lab, or operational environments, including 5+ years leading technical teams.
FAA Part 107 Remote Pilot Certificate
Demonstrated player-coach leadership: leading from the front, developing people individually, and earning trust through presence and listening rather than positional authority.
Experience scaling or building a small technical team, ideally in a startup, R&D, or test-and-evaluation environment.
Proven planner with experience organizing complex, rapidly changing operations or logistics efforts.
Self-aware and adaptable; effective under rapidly changing, complex, and ambiguous conditions.
Willing and able to deploy to forward locations overseas, including austere environments.
Comfortable working in both lab and outdoor field environments; ability to lift 60 lbs and work in dynamic field conditions.

Nice to have

Leadership experience, with a demonstrated servant-leadership style suited to a flat, high-trust technical team.
Experience with UAS/robotic platforms, payloads, RF/communications, and multi-domain test events.
Experience establishing safety programs, test SOPs, or demo-readiness processes for hardware in the field.
Familiarity with lightweight project and inventory tooling (e.g., Kanban boards, Confluence, asset tracking) and with right-sizing process to a small team's tempo.
Experience in defense applications of autonomous systems (e.g., DoD programs, test ranges, military exercises), including familiarity with military CONOPS and operations in contested or GPS/comms-denied environments.

Benefits

We offer comprehensive medical, dental, and visions plans
401(k) Retirement Savings Plan to invest in your long-term retirement goals + Company match
Equity grants for new hires
Unlimited PTO
11 Paid holidays
Extremely generous company holiday calendar, including a holiday hiatus in November, & December.
Generous Parental Leave
Military Leave for annual training or service requirements
FSA
DCFSA
HSA
Professional Development Opportunities
Access to One Medical
Mental Health Resources: We provide free mental health resources 24/7 including therapy and more. Additional work-life services, such as free legal and financial support, are available to you as well.