Job at a glance
Title: Senior UAS Operator Company: Heven AeroTech Location: Winchester, VA FLSA: Non-exempt Reports To: Head of US Flight Operations About Our Company: At Heven AeroTech (Heven), we don’t just believe in the power of people—we build our success on it. As a recognized leader in hydrogen-powered drones, we’ve earned recognition for creating a workplace where innovation thrives, collaboration is second nature, and every employee feels valued.
Our culture is anchored in trust and a shared commitment to excellence. We believe great teams are built on individuals who are humble, hungry, and smart—those who put team success first, take initiative to continuously improve, and demonstrate strong interpersonal awareness. At Heven, your voice matters, your ideas are heard, and your contributions make a tangible impact as you grow through hands-on experience and collaboration across the team.
Role Summary: The Senior Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) Operator applies their hard-earned field experience to lead a team of UAS Operators in flight operations including post-production flights, technical demonstrations, field support, and training end users on hydrogen powered Hybrid VTOL and Multirotor Unmanned Aerial Systems. This position requires automobile travel of ~2 hours each way to flight test ranges, mileage is reimbursed if a company vehicle is not available, some ground tests can be performed locally.
CONUS and occasional OCONUS travel may be required for demo, training, and field support. The Senior UAS Operator will be responsible for the overall state of health and readiness of UAS systems including the Ground Control Systems, Ground Support Equipment and Air Vehicles. This requires a working understanding of all major UAS components. The UAS Operator will own the maintenance of logbooks and other system configuration records for the systems in their custody.
The Senior UAS Operator is expected to bring a pragmatic, real-world perspective and will be relied upon as a member of the Flight Operations Department throughout the development of the system. They will be expected to provide “user perspective” feedback and improvement suggestions. This may include assisting with fine-tuning of training / instructional documentation. They may also assist with issue reproduction, data collection, configuration verification, and controlled test execution. This requires familiarity with Air Vehicles, Ground Control Systems and associated software, Ground Support Equipment, payloads, radios, and other test support systems.
Previous experience as a commercial or military UAS instructor, developmental test team member, Field Service Representative, or equivalent technical professional is preferred. Candidates with a background in manual flight control are strongly preferred. Applicants who have served in an Emergency Pilot (EP) role or who have logged significant hours flying fixed-wing RC aircraft are encouraged to highlight this experience in their application.
Essential Responsibilities: Lead operation of Air Vehicles, Ground Control Systems, Ground Support Equipment, payloads, radios, and associated equipment during post-production, demonstration, and training flights. Lead execution of approved flight plans, ground test procedures, checklists, and flight profiles for Group 2+ UAS. Assist in the recruitment, onboarding, and training of new operators. Support engineering reporting by providing operator notes, flight logs, configuration records, and factual observations.
Support installation, checkout, and troubleshooting of approved payload, radio, harness, and electromechanical integrations under engineering direction. Support the development of sustainment-ready military UAS by providing product feedback to the engineering team to inform design objectives and improvements. Develop and implement customer use cases of the Air Vehicle. Qualifications & Experience: Required: Minimum of 8 years militar