---
title: 'Avionics Engineer at Swarm Aero'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/avionics-engineer-swarm-aero-oxnard-skj4y2qyrw27'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-10-16'
---

# Avionics Engineer at Swarm Aero

- **Company:** Swarm Aero
- **Location:** Oxnard, CA
- **Compensation:** $130k–$200k
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-10-12
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-16
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/swarmaero/8332e01f-d733-4678-a7cd-b96853df78a9

## Job description

Swarm Aero is redefining air power, building the largest swarming UAV and the most versatile swarming aircraft network in the world. The company is moving quickly to launch the first aircraft designed specifically for swarming, as well as the Command & Control software to mobilize swarms of thousands of heterogeneous autonomous assets and empower human operators to achieve superhuman results. The team has created and exited multiple startups, negotiated defense deals worth billions of dollars, and designed and built 30+ novel aircraft, with aerospace experience from Scaled Composites, Airbus, Archer Aviation, Blue Origin, and Boom Supersonic.

## About the Role

We’re looking for an avionics engineer who is equally comfortable with a multimeter and a CAD model. You’ll own the electrical and electronic systems that make the aircraft fly: sensors, flight computers, radios, power, and the harnesses that tie it all together. You’ll work day to day with our embedded software team, but your focus is the hardware: integrating it, testing it, breaking it on the bench, and getting it ready for the aircraft.

This role is a fit for someone early in their career who has crossed the line between mechanical and electrical engineering, whether that’s an ME who kept ending up in the wiring or an EE who kept ending up in the airframe. If you’ve built and flown something, you’ll feel at home here.

## What You’ll Do

- Design, integrate, and test avionics subsystems including flight computers, GPS/INS, air data, datalinks, radios, and payload interfaces
- Develop wiring harness designs, connector pinouts, and power distribution architecture, and get them built and installed
- Build and run bench test setups and hardware-in-the-loop rigs alongside the embedded software team
- Support ground testing, integration testing, and flight test campaigns, from preflight checkouts to post-flight data review
- Troubleshoot hardware issues across electrical, mechanical, and software boundaries
- Package avionics into the airframe with attention to weight, thermal, vibration, and maintainability
- Help define and execute qualification testing for environmental, power quality, and EMI/EMC requirements
- Write the documentation that lets the next person build, test, and fix it

## What You’ll Bring

- BS in Mechanical, Electrical, Aerospace, or Computer Engineering
- 1 to 4 years of hands-on experience with aircraft, UAVs, or comparable hardware systems (including significant student project or competition work)
- Working knowledge of both electrical and mechanical design: reading schematics, harness design, and 3D CAD
- Comfort in the lab with oscilloscopes, power supplies, logic analyzers, and soldering/crimping tools
- Experience with common avionics and embedded interfaces such as CAN, RS-232/422/485, Ethernet, SPI, and I2C
- A builder’s mindset: you prototype quickly, test honestly, and iterate
- Ability to work on-site in Oxnard and support testing at off-site locations as needed
- U.S. citizenship required due to the nature of our work

## Nice to Have

- Experience on a flight test program, whether at a company, a lab, or a university team (AIAA DBF, SUAS, rocketry, Formula SAE electronics)
- Familiarity with MIL-STD-1553, ARINC 429, MIL-STD-704, MIL-STD-461, or DO-160
- Harness or PCB design tools such as Altium, Capital, E3.series, or SolidWorks Electrical
- Python or MATLAB for test automation and data analysis
- Experience with PX4, ArduPilot, or other autopilot integration
- Active security clearance or eligibility to obtain one

ITAR requirement To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Swarm Aero is an equal opportunity employer. We value diverse backgrounds and experiences and make employment decisions without regard to race, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, or disability.

## What We Offer

- Meaningful equity in a high-growth defense technology company
- Competitive base salary commensurate with experience
- Medical, dental, vision, and 401k
- PTO and paid sick leave
- Monthly wellness stipend
- Daily catered lunch (office)
- Paid parental leave
- Direct impact on a critical national security mission
- A world-class team of engineers and operators solving genuinely hard problems

## About Swarm Aero

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Swarm Aero builds large, swarming uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) for defense, logistics, disaster response, and sensing missions, controlled by a proprietary mission-level autonomy platform.
- **Entity Type**: Private startup (Series A, $35M raised in March 2026)
- **Headquarters**: Oxnard, California, USA (with a manufacturing facility in Fayetteville, Arkansas)
- **Founded**: 2022
- **Founders**: Danny Goodman (CEO), Oliver Palmer (COO), Peter Kalogiannis (Co-Founder & Chief Engineer, departed April 2026)

## Core Business
- **Primary industries**: Defense & aerospace, UAV swarm systems, advanced manufacturing
- **Target customers**: Government/military (B2G) – specifically U.S. Department of Defense and allied forces; also logistics, disaster response, and environmental monitoring agencies
- **Mission statement**: “Building the largest UAV swarm on the planet.” (LinkedIn tagline)

## Products & Services
- **Swarm-Scale Command & Control (C2) Platform**: Browser-based, platform-agnostic UI that enables small teams to coordinate thousands of uncrewed vehicles in communications-limited, contested environments.
- **Universal Swarm Node (UAV)**: A Group 5 drone designed from the ground up for swarming – not expendable (like a Switchblade) nor exquisite (like an F-35), but recoverable and mass-producible.
- **Mission-Level Autonomy Software**: Translates user intent into vehicle-level behaviors that update in real-time as the swarm detects changing conditions; includes collaborative autonomy for superhuman agility.
- **Manufacturing as a Feature**: High-rate composite manufacturing processes adapted from other industries to achieve unprecedented airframe throughput (targeting 1,000+ units per year).

## Market Standing
- **Valuation**: Not publicly disclosed
- **Total Funding**: $35M (Series A closed March 2026; prior $2M pre-seed in 2022 and $22M seed in 2023)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Two Sigma Ventures, Silent Ventures (co-leads Series A), Construct Capital, Alumni Ventures, Founders Fund
- **Growth Signals**:
  - Headcount: 50 employees as of mid-2026 (+94.6% YoY)
  - Opened a manufacturing facility in Fayetteville, Arkansas in early 2026
  - Plans to more than double headcount by end of 2026 (per Axios)
  - First flight of the Group 5 drone expected within two years

## Competitive Advantages
- **Team expertise**: Leadership collectively has 100+ years of uniformed U.S. military service, built 30+ novel aircraft, and contributed to the highest production rate composite aircraft and rocket engines ever.
- **Manufacturing moat**: Concurrent design of factory and aircraft enables rapid scaling from prototype to 1,000+ units; “two-thirds of the cost of building a new aircraft is generally headcount” – Swarm designs for low-cost, high-rate production.
- **Software-defined swarm**: Browser-based C2 and edge-compute sensor mesh bring cloud-like agility to contested environments, allowing small teams to control massive swarms.
- **Differentiation**: Neither expendable (like loitering munitions) nor exquisite (like stealth bombers) – a recoverable, affordable mass that overmatches adversaries through numbers.

## Strategic Focus
- **Scale manufacturing**: The new Arkansas facility is central to achieving high-rate composite production and reducing unit cost.
- **Headcount growth**: Aggressive hiring across engineering, manufacturing, and operations; 20 active job postings as of mid-2026.
- **First flight milestone**: Complete design, build, and test of the Group 5 drone within the next two years to enter operational service.
- **Multi-domain expansion**: Plans to deploy a combination of air, sea, and ground assets tailored to diverse missions (cargo, fire suppression, adaptive sensing, resilient communications).

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: “Move Fast and Make Things” – a startup ethos focused on rapid design-build-test cycles and real-world impact in defense tech.
- **Work environment**: Likely on-site given manufacturing and hardware focus; offices in Oxnard, CA (HQ) and Fayetteville, AR (factory).
- **Team**: Work alongside veterans of Scaled Composites, Anduril, Northrop Grumman, and leaders who have built five billion-dollar startups and software with 4.6B combined active users.
- **Perks**: Not publicly detailed, but typical for well-funded defense startups (competitive compensation, equity, mission-driven work). The company uses modern tools (Kubernetes, Docker, Python, MATLAB, etc.) and offers roles from engineering to program management.
- **Growth opportunity**: Early-stage company with strong funding and a clear path to scale – employees can have outsized impact on product and manufacturing processes.

## Sources
1. [Swarm Aero Website](https://www.swarm.aero/)
2. [Swarm Aero LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/swarm-aero)
3. [Craft.co Company Profile](https://craft.co/swarm-aero)
4. [Axios – Exclusive: Big-drone builder Swarm Aero raises $35 million](https://www.axios.com/2026/03/11/swarm-aero-seriesa-drone-factory)
5. [Swarm Aero Team Page](https://www.swarm.aero/team-2)

## Other roles at Swarm Aero

- [Systems Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/systems-engineer-swarm-aero-california-8be87vvhg1xa) — California
- [Software Engineer, Real-Time Generalist](https://feeny.ai/job/software-engineer-real-time-generalist-swarm-aero-san-francisco-5z37k7re8vjg) — San Francisco, CA
- [Quality Engineering Lead](https://feeny.ai/job/quality-engineering-lead-swarm-aero-fayetteville-pmv0w473zr2q) — Fayetteville
- [Staff Software Engineer, Real-Time Systems](https://feeny.ai/job/staff-software-engineer-real-time-systems-swarm-aero-remote-qaa3zbaht54y)
- [Software Engineer, Real-Time Systems (Early Career)](https://feeny.ai/job/software-engineer-real-time-systems-early-career-swarm-aero-remote-etf6jg6nqawp)
- [Software Engineer, Autonomy](https://feeny.ai/job/software-engineer-autonomy-swarm-aero-remote-8tmzhrrhz25b)
- [Senior Forward Deployed Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-forward-deployed-engineer-swarm-aero-remote-81nveh0d3ybx)
- [Non-Destructive Inspection Lead](https://feeny.ai/job/non-destructive-inspection-lead-swarm-aero-fayetteville-216wj8aww8nx) — Fayetteville
- [Forward Deployed Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/forward-deployed-engineer-swarm-aero-remote-0ezqspwz8w7w)
- [Staff Software Engineer, Autonomy](https://feeny.ai/job/staff-software-engineer-autonomy-swarm-aero-remote-n3adrczb5mkr)