UAV Technician

Description

Title: UAV Technician

Location: Kansas City, KS (onsite with wfh flexibility)

Guide Tech
, a subsidiary of Palladyne AI, builds high-performance avionics and autonomy software for aerospace, space, and defense systems. We support a wide array of vehicles, from small multi-rotors, heavy lift UAVs, unmanned fighter jets, launch vehicles, spacecraft, re-entry vehicles, missiles and counter-UAS interceptors.

Our BRAIN flight computer pairs an NVIDIA Jetson Orin autonomy module with a Zynq-7000 real-time module for flight-critical Guidance/Navigation/Control, sensors, and I/O. Interfaces include RS-422/485, USB 3.0, HDMI, GigE, PWM/DSHOT, RS422, SPI, I2C, CAN, MIPI, PCIe, and more, with a hardware safety watchdog and triple-redundant IMUs.

We outsource PCB fabrication and SMT assembly, and perform in-house inspection, bring-up, test, and final assembly of our board stack—so you’ll see designs through to working hardware. We also leverage hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) flight simulation with our FLEX software and simulation to accelerate integration & test.

Palladyne AI (NASDAQ: PYDN) is an AI software company on a mission to automate physically demanding work that has historically been “too complex to automate.” With more than thirty years of robotics R&D — including during our time under Raytheon — we’ve developed advanced AI and ML software that enables robots to observe, learn, reason, and act with human-like intelligence.

Hands-on UAV Technician responsible for mechanical assembly, harness fabrication, and integration of avionics and other systems for UAVs. This roll supports rapid iteration, ground and flight test, configuration-controlled builds in on mixed software/hardware development programs.

• Build and integrate UAV structures, propulsion systems, control surfaces, landing gear, and mounting hardware from drawings and CAD packages
• Support prototype builds, flight-test articles, and ground test rigs
• Fabricate, and install wiring harnesses for avionics, power distribution, sensors, and actuators
• Crimp, solder, and terminate connectors
• Route harnesses with proper strain relief, EMI/EMC best practices, abrasion protection, and serviceability in mind
• Read and interpret wiring diagrams, pinouts, ICDs, and electrical schematics
• Perform continuity checks, insulation resistance checks, and basic fault isolation
• Troubleshoot electro-mechanical integration issues (power, grounding, signal integrity, vibration-related faults)
• Assist engineers during hardware debugging, instrumentation setup, and pre-flight checkouts
• Support field operations and limited travel for test campaigns (as required)
• Build to controlled work instructions and engineering drawings
• Provide redlines and feedback to improve drawings, and assembly procedures
• Maintain as-built documentation, serial tracking, and configuration records
• Operate 3D printers
• Service 3D printers when issues arise

• Guide Tech’s product portfolio is rapidly growing. You’ll be able to have a big impact, take ownership of new components and systems that you’ve designed, and see them integrated on to the next generation of autonomous unmanned systems.

• We look at the future and say “why not”; we see possibilities where others see problems or routines. We show the way ahead and are committed to achieving ambitious goals.
• We practice straight talk and listen generously to each other with empathy. We value different opinions and points of views. We ensure that we connect outside as well as inside to learn from others and inspire each other.
• We hold ourselves accountable for delivering results. We make decisions & take responsibility so that we can act & support each other.
• As leaders we motivate & engage our teams to undertake beyond what they originally thought possible, by developing our teams & creating the conditions for people to grow and empower themselves through enabling & coaching.

We believe providing employees with competitive pay and a range of meaningful benefits is the start of creating a culture where people want to give the best they’ve got — not because they’re simply making…