Drone Pilot-Reality Capture & Digital Delivery; Data Centers

Capabilities

Drafting and Design

Office Setup

Hybrid

Job

#44585

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At Jacobs, we're challenging today to reinvent tomorrow by solving the world's most critical problems for thriving cities, resilient environments, mission-critical outcomes, operational advancement, scientific discovery and cutting-edge manufacturing, turning abstract ideas into realities that transform the world for good.

Your impact

This job opportunity is available at ANY location in the United States. Ideally, selected candidates will be near a JACOBS U.S. based office, but we intend to hire the "best" candidates.

The Drone Pilot is responsible for planning, coordinating, and executing safe and accurate unmanned aircraft operations to support digital delivery, BIM/VDC, design, construction, commissioning, and facility documentation activities on large-scale data center and advanced manufacturing projects. This role captures reliable aerial imagery, video, mapping, LiDAR, photogrammetry, and other reality-capture data that enables teams to understand existing conditions, monitor progress, validate installed conditions, improve site logistics, and support digital twin and asset management initiatives.

The successful candidate will possess strong knowledge of commercial UAS operations, FAA Part 107 requirements, flight planning, construction-site safety, photogrammetry, surveying fundamentals, and the production of useful, well-organized digital deliverables. The role requires close collaboration with project leadership, VDC, construction, design, design, surveying, safety, security, and client teams.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

UAS Flight Operations

• Plan and conduct commercial drone flights in accordance with FAA regulations, company policies, project requirements, and site-specific safety procedures.
• Maintain required pilot credentials, aircraft registrations, operating records, pre-flight documentation, and flight logs.
• Perform pre-flight inspections and verify aircraft, batteries, sensors, firmware, remote-controller settings, and data-storage capacity.
• Operate drones safely in active construction, industrial, and data center environments while maintaining situational awareness and required separation distances.
• Coordinate flight windows, airspace restrictions, site access, security requirements, and operational constraints with project stakeholders.
• Use appropriate visual observers, spotters, and site communication protocols when required.
• Respond appropriately to changing weather, site conditions, equipment issues, and other operational risks.

Reality Capture & Data Acquisition

• Capture high-quality aerial imagery, video, 360-degree imagery, and other UAS data for design, construction, commissioning, and operational use cases.
• Develop repeatable flight plans and capture standards for progress documentation, quantity verification, site logistics, existing-condition documentation, and turnover verification.
• Collect nadir and oblique imagery suitable for photogrammetry, orthomosaics, 3D meshes, point clouds, digital elevation models, and topographic or volumetric analysis.
• Coordinate ground control points, checkpoints, survey control, and site reference information when required for accurate mapping and model production.
• Integrate drone data with terrestrial laser scanning, BIM models, GIS data, schedules, and digital twin platforms, and asset-information systems.
• Ensure captured data is complete, properly organized, and traceable to the project, location, date, flight, and applicable coordinate system, and meets project quality requirements for downstream processing and analysis.
• Process and quality-check drone imagery and reality-capture data using approved software and project workflows.
• Produce orthomosaic maps, 3D models, point clouds, digital surface models, progress exhibits, inspection images, and site documentation packages.
• Publish or transfer approved deliverables to Autodesk Construction Cloud (ACC), project document-management systems, GIS platforms, or other designated environments.
• Perform visual and technical quality checks for image clarity, coverage, overlap, alignment, control, coordinate systems, file naming, and metadata.
• Coordinate with VDC and design teams to compare captured conditions against BIM models, drawings, schedules, construction plans, and model coordination environments.
• Maintain organized…