UAV Integration & Testing Engineer

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Details

Preferred starting date: ASAP

Weekly availability: full-time (5 days/week)

Location: Aerospace Innovation Hub, Delft, the Netherlands

About the company

Fiducial is a young but fast-growing deep-tech start-up with big ambitions at the frontier of autonomy, perception, and defence. Our core expertise lies in 3D vision and graphics technologies which we deploy in a dual-use context for inspection and defence. This role will focus mainly on the defence context where we are developing software for advanced on-board UAV situational awareness in military applications. Our solutions are aimed to operate with low-cost and widely available sensors and compute. From there, we plan to develop a line-up of interconnected solutions to safeguard European safety.

Our team consists of engineers that are passionate about the technology and solutions they develop. The only time most of us are not thinking about the technology is when we are asleep, and sometimes even then. Our team members have a background in different fields such as Aerospace Engineering, Computational Science and Engineering, Robotics and Computer Graphics. Our office is located in the Aerospace Innovation Hub, a start-up hub located on the TU Delft campus in the faculty of Aerospace Engineering.

We work closely with top-tier partners, ranging from government agencies and prime contractors to academic research institutes and other start-ups. Our projects span from large tender orders in collaboration with partners to low TRL research with government agencies. Whether through formal R&D programs or rapid prototyping tracks, we operate at the intersection of innovation and deployment.

Your role

As a UAV Integration and Testing Engineer, you will play a pivotal role in deploying our autonomy solutions across a range of UAV platforms, from agile FPV drones to large fixed-wing aircraft. You will be the crucial link between our autonomy algorithms and the drone systems they control, working hands-on to ensure seamless integration and performance in real-world environments. Your responsibilities will include:

• Acting as a key member of the engineering team responsible for deploying autonomy solutions across diverse UAV platforms.
• Developing robust interfaces between autonomy algorithms and drone flight controllers.
• Integrating and testing full-stack autonomy solutions on partner platforms, often in close collaboration with partner engineering teams.
• Providing structured feedback to the autonomy development team, based on observations from field tests and operational flights.
• Traveling to partner sites, including international locations, to work on-site and ensure the solutions function reliably in demanding real-world conditions ("in the dirt").

What we expect from you

• Extensive experience of both Python a C++.
• Experience working with drone flight controllers such as Ardupilot, PX4, or Betaflight.
• Deep understanding of Docker, including experience with CUDA and Docker integrations.
• Familiar with NVIDIA Jetson architecture and deployment workflows.
• Proficient in working in a fully terminal-based Linux environment without reliance on GUIs, shell scripting for automation and deployment tasks, Linux file system and command-line tools, and debugging system-level issues using the Linux terminal.
• Solid understanding of UAV components and hardware, including battery management and practical electronics, with hands-on experience. Ideally you have built, flown, and debugged a drone yourself.
• A willingness to pick up and learn new concepts quickly and to self-acquire missing background knowledge.
• A high degree of autonomy, determination and grit in making cool tech work.
• Being comfortable travelling often and for extended durations.
• Full time availability (40 hours).
• A valid driver's license.

While having the perfect background is nice, if you are able to present evidence of outstanding engineering and execution capability we are interested in talking regardless. If you are the right fit, we believe in your ability to pick up the required background knowledge on the fly.

What we offer

• Money of course.
• 25 vacation days per year.
• Reimbursed travel expenses and company laptop.
• Traveling abroad to work with our partners.
• (Really) flexible working hours and option to work from home 2 days per week (when not abroad).
• Working in an international, world-class team of engineers and entrepreneurs solving real-life problems with amazing technology.
• Large freedom in how you work and implement solutions, project ownership is incredibly important to us.
• The opportunity to take technical risks, to implement stuff the 'right' way and to iterate quickly with tight feedback loops. We are innovating, learning is to be expected.
• Responsibility over the things you implement, you are the expert on what you build.

The application procedure

• If after reading the above you are convinced you are the right person for the job, send us some information about yourself; this can be a resume, website or other source, as long as we get a clear impression of your background and skills.
• We'll get back to you ASAP. If we feel you could be a fit for the position, we'll invite you for an informal introduction so we can get to know you, and equally important, you can get to know us.
• If we think you could be a fit, we'll dive deeper during a technical interview.
• If at this point we feel you are the person we are looking for, we'll discuss the specifics.
• Welcome to the team!