Integration & Flight Test Engineer - Missiles

About SerenX

SerenX is building the next generation of portable, autonomous defensive missile systems to protect America and our allies. We're making advanced air defense smaller, more affordable, and accessible to the people who need it.

We're an institutionally funded defense technology company performing work on U.S. Department of Defense contracts. Our founding team includes Y Combinator alumni, former Special Operations leaders, and experienced aerospace engineers.

We believe in small engineering teams with real ownership. We design, build, test, fly, break things, learn, and build again.

The Role

We're hiring an Integration & Flight Test Engineer to join our founding engineering team and take ownership of the critical point where hardware, software, avionics, and real-world flight come together.

You'll prepare, instrument, integrate, and test our SX family of missiles, working directly with the engineers designing the systems.

This is not a desk-only verification role. You'll move between the integration bench, the R&D lab, and the test range—configuring vehicles, troubleshooting hardware, executing flight tests, analyzing telemetry, and helping turn every test into a better design.

We're looking for someone who enjoys being outdoors with real hardware as much as working through engineering problems at a computer.

Location: Melbourne, FL — On-site

Employment: Full-time

Compensation: $90,000–$135,000 + equity

Reports to: Founder & CTO

Travel: Regular field testing; optional domestic and international customer travel.

What You'll Own

• Plan, coordinate, and execute ground tests, subsystem tests, hover and flight tests, and developmental demonstrations.
• Integrate complete flight vehicles, including mechanical assemblies, avionics, sensors, flight computers, companion computers, power systems, radios, and software.
• Develop test plans, procedures, checklists, test cards, success criteria, and technical reports.
• Configure and instrument test articles with onboard telemetry, cameras, sensors, data acquisition equipment, and ground instrumentation.
• Perform system checkout, including electrical, mechanical, sensor, actuator, communications, telemetry, and software verification.
• Coordinate field-test operations, equipment, personnel, safety procedures, test readiness, and vehicle turnaround.
• Troubleshoot complex electromechanical systems using oscilloscopes, multimeters, telemetry, diagnostic software, flight logs, and practical engineering judgment.
• Analyze flight data, compare measured performance against engineering predictions, and identify anomalies or unexpected behavior.
• Work directly with mechanical, electrical, software, and controls engineers to investigate failures and validate corrective actions.
• Design and improve test fixtures, diagnostic tools, automated checkout procedures, and reusable test infrastructure.
• Maintain accurate test configurations, records, and traceability between vehicle hardware, firmware, test conditions, and results.
• Support environmental testing, system verification, and qualification activities as hardware matures toward production.

What We're Looking For

• 3+ years of experience in aerospace testing, systems integration, flight testing, experimental aircraft, UAS, robotics, launch operations, or similarly complex hardware environments.
• Bachelor's degree in Aerospace, Mechanical, Electrical, Systems, or Computer Engineering, Physics, or a related discipline, or equivalent demonstrated technical experience.
• Hands-on experience integrating, operating, testing, and troubleshooting complex physical systems.
• Strong working knowledge of mechanical systems, electronics, sensors, embedded computers, communications, and integrated hardware.
• Experience developing test procedures, configuring test equipment, collecting engineering data, and documenting technical results.
• Familiarity with laboratory and field instrumentation, including oscilloscopes, multimeters, data loggers, power supplies, and diagnostic interfaces.
• Ability to analyze engineering data using Python, MATLAB, spreadsheets, plotting tools, or equivalent methods.
• Strong troubleshooting instincts, operational discipline, and the ability to make sound technical decisions under pressure.
• Willingness to work on-site in Melbourne, Florida, participate in outdoor field testing, and travel regularly to test locations.

Particularly Valuable Experience

• Flight testing or integration of UAVs, missiles, experimental aircraft, launch vehicles, spacecraft, autonomous vehicles, or robotics.
• ArduPilot, PX4, MAVLink, DroneCAN/CAN, flight controllers, NVIDIA Jetson, embedded Linux, telemetry radios, or autonomous vehicle avionics.
• Flight-test planning, instrumentation, range operations, safety reviews, test readiness, and technical reporting.
• Hardware-in-the-loop (HIL), software-in-the-loop (SIL), automated test equipment, Python scripting, and test-data analysis.
• Environmental testing, including vibration, shock, thermal, and EMI/EMC qualification.
• FAA pilot certification, Part 107 certification, military aviation, UAS operations, flight-line experience, or aerospace test-range experience.
• Active U.S. Government security clearance, particularly Secret, TS, or TS/SCI, preferred for applicable programs.

Who Thrives Here

You want to work on real aerospace hardware, not just read test reports.

You're comfortable holding a multimeter in one hand and a laptop full of telemetry in the other. You know when to stop a test, how to preserve evidence when something fails, and how to turn an unexpected result into an actionable engineering conclusion. You also know when to push, and allow a safe but interesting crash to happen to get good diagnostics data for the control team.

You take pride in making complex systems work reliably, and you want to be part of the team that designs, builds, tests, and improves the technology—not a separate organization brought in at the end.

At SerenX, you'll work alongside our founding engineers, take meaningful ownership of test operations, and help shape how our systems are developed and validated.

For those interested, opportunities may also exist to travel with our systems to customer sites and international field deployments, working directly with the people who rely on them, subject to program, security, and export-control requirements.

Integrate it in the lab. Prove it on the range. Understand every flight. Help field it in the real world.

How to Stand Out

Show us something you've personally tested.

Tell us about a complex system you integrated or operated, what you were trying to prove, how you instrumented it, what went wrong, and how you helped solve the problem.

We especially value candidates who have personally built, flown, repaired, or tested aerospace hardware, whether professionally or through ambitious independent projects.

What matters most is technical judgment, demonstrated ownership, and the ability to turn real-world test results into better engineering.

Export Control & Equal Opportunity

This position involves access to ITAR-controlled defense articles, technical data, software, and test hardware. Candidates must qualify as a U.S. person under 22 CFR 120.62.

SerenX is an equal opportunity employer. Employment decisions are based on qualifications, merit, and business needs, without unlawful discrimination based on any legally protected characteristic.

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