UAS Payload and Sensor Engineer (Alexandria)

AirVani is a dual-use technology startup developing the Catenary Aerial System™ (CAS) , shared power infrastructure that enables electric drones and future aircraft to draw power or recharge while in flight.

AirVani is seeking a UAS Payload & Sensor Engineer to own the integration of mission payloads, sensors, onboard compute, and supporting electronics across our UAS platforms.

This is a hands-on systems-integration role at the intersection of aircraft, payloads, power, communications, and field operations. You will work closely with AirVani’s autonomy, electrical, mechanical, and customer teams to turn mission requirements into flight-ready systems.

The ideal candidate has experience taking sensors or payloads from bench integration through flight testing and understands the practical constraints of weight, power, communications, thermal management, data handling, and aircraft performance.

What You’ll Do

• Own integration of sensors, payloads, and onboard compute onto UAS platforms
• Define mechanical, electrical, power, communications, and data interfaces
• Integrate payloads with aircraft avionics, autonomy, and C2 systems
• Develop payload power and data architectures for CAS-enabled operations
• Lead bench testing, ground testing, and flight-test integration
• Troubleshoot hardware, firmware, communications, and integration issues
• Translate customer mission requirements into payload and aircraft requirements
• Evaluate commercial sensors and payloads for agriculture, infrastructure, security, logistics, and environmental sensing
• Develop repeatable integration standards that can scale across aircraft and payloads
• Coordinate with OEMs, sensor vendors, engineering partners, and field operators

What We’re Looking For

• 5+ years of experience in UAS integration, avionics, robotics, embedded systems, payload engineering, or related work
• Hands-on experience integrating sensors or payloads onto aircraft or robotic platforms
• Strong understanding of electrical power, communications, data acquisition, and system interfaces
• Experience with flight testing or fielding integrated robotic systems
• Ability to diagnose problems across mechanical, electrical, and software boundaries
• Systems-engineering mindset and comfort working directly with customers and operators
• Ability to operate effectively in an early-stage environment with significant ownership

Particularly Relevant Experience

• UAS payload or avionics integration
• Hyperspectral, multispectral, thermal, LiDAR, meteorological, air-quality, or other scientific sensors
• MAVLink, CAN, serial, Ethernet, ROS, or similar interfaces
• Embedded computing and edge-processing systems
• Payload power management and electrical integration
• Environmental or atmospheric sensing
• NOAA, NASA, DoD, university, or commercial scientific-UAS programs
• Aircraft certification, safety, or flight-test processes

CAS has the potential to change what electric aircraft can carry, how long they can operate, and how frequently they can perform missions. This role will directly shape how AirVani integrates sensors and mission systems across customer applications while helping establish the technical standards that enable CAS to scale across aircraft, payloads, and markets.