---
title: 'Drone System Reliability Technician and Pilot at Harmattan AI'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/drone-system-reliability-technician-and-pilot-harmattan-ai-orly-yterfe2abwnm'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-11-09'
---

# Drone System Reliability Technician and Pilot at Harmattan AI

- **Company:** [Harmattan AI](https://feeny.ai/companies/harmattan-ai)
- **Location:** Orly, France
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-11-05
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-11-09
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/harmattan-ai/3e17dcce-1eb4-477e-b92b-e1bf1c8f63b9

## Job description

## About Us

Harmattan AI is a next-generation defense prime building autonomous and scalable defense systems. Following the close of a $200M Series B, valuing the company at $1.4 billion, we are expanding our teams and capabilities to deliver mission-critical systems to allied forces. Our work is guided by clear values: building technologies with real-world impact, pursuing excellence in everything we do, setting ambitious goals, and taking on the hardest technical challenges. We operate in a demanding environment where rigor, ownership, and execution are expected.

## About the Role

As a Drone System Validation Technician and Pilot, you will be at the front line of our quality, safety, and reliability efforts. Your primary mission is to ensure that our defense-grade products meet rigorous operational standards before they are cleared for active duty. Working within a dedicated flight testing team, you will manage, prepare, and operate fleets of newly assembled drones or related product during intensive field validation campaigns. By logging massive operating hours, you will actively hunt for rare, hard-to-replicate system bugs and edge-case anomalies. We are looking for operators who combine rigorous testing discipline with the hands-on piloting expertise required to accurately assess and validate nominal drone behavior in flight. Your technical feedback will directly enable our engineering teams to secure and polish our next-generation defense systems.

## Responsibilities

- Intensive Flight Testing: Conduct high-volume flight testing of newly assembled interceptors to log hours, validate systems, and actively hunt for rare, intermittent flight anomalies.
- Aviation Performance Assessment: Manually operate, stress-test, and critically evaluate the flight dynamics of various platforms (multirotors, fixed-wing, flying wings, and RC planes) to ensure they handle exactly as designed.
- Field Deployment: Lead and execute demanding on-site flight missions, sometimes lasting several weeks, under diverse weather and environmental conditions.
- Mission Safety & Logs: Rigorously follow test checklists, maintain safety protocols during high-throughput flight operations, and accurately report flight observations to the engineering, production and industrialisation teams.

Candidate Requirements

- Good RC/UAV Piloting Skills: You have extensive hands-on experience piloting RC planes, flying wings, or multirotor UAVs. Manual piloting dexterity and a deep instinct for flight mechanics are the absolute priorities for this role.
- Rigor & Endurance: Strong discipline to run repetitive, structured test cycles with consistent attention to detail and unwavering focus on safety.
- Adaptable Mindset: You thrive in fast-paced, lean startup environments where initiative, quick decision-making, and teamwork are valued over rigid hierarchy.
- Field-Ready & Mobile: You possess a valid driver’s license (Permis B) and are ready to drive team vehicles, transport flight gear/drones. You are looking for a highly active, hands-on role where you will be out in the field on a daily basis, all year round.
- Technical background: Any technical degree or professional experience in electronics, RC modeling, mechanics, or aeronautics is a great plus, but passionate self-taught pilots are highly encouraged to apply.
- Basic Technical English: Capable of understanding technical guidelines and writing flight reports in English.

Nice-to-have

- Certifications & FPV: Official drone pilot certifications, instructor ratings, or solid FPV (First Person View) racing/freestyle experience.
- Military or Field Background: Past experience in specialized military units or demanding field-oriented professions.
- Basic data/technical literacy: a basic grasp of autopilot systems, telemetry or flight-log reading, to help bridge the field and R&D. This is what turns an operator into a genuine validator, and is worth probing even if not required.

We look forward to hearing how you can help shape the future of autonomous defense systems at Harmattan AI.

## About Harmattan AI

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Harmattan AI builds autonomous defense systems—including strike and surveillance drones—using AI-driven autonomy and real-time intelligence for allied forces.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Series B, unicorn status)
- **Headquarters**: Paris, France
- **Founded**: 2024
- **Founders**: Mouad M’Ghari (CEO & Co‑founder)

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Defense & autonomous systems
- **Target customers**: B2G – NATO member states, ministries of defence (UK, France, and others)
- **Mission**: Deliver scalable, sovereign AI capabilities to allied forces by building mission‑ready autonomous systems that respond in real time, adapt under pressure, and deliver an edge in contested environments. [harmattan.ai](https://harmattan.ai/)

## Products & Services
- **Platform Autonomy**: AI‑driven autonomy layer for drones, enabling real‑time decision‑making and adaptation.
- **Mission Orchestration**: Software for coordinating multiple autonomous assets (e.g., collaborative air combat).
- **Precision Strike**: Attritable strike drones with embedded AI for target engagement.
- **VSHORAD (Very Short‑Range Air Defence)**: Counter‑drone interception systems.
- **Persistent ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance)**: Autonomous surveillance platforms for continuous battlefield awareness.
- **Electronic Warfare Platforms**: Systems for electronic attack and protection. [harmattan.ai](https://harmattan.ai/)

## Market Standing
- **Valuation**: $1.4 billion (as of January 2026, after Series B). [tech.eu](https://tech.eu/2026/01/12/french-startup-harmattan-ai-hits-unicorn-status-as-it-strikes-deal-with-french-aerospace-group/)
- **Key Metric**: Total funding ~$240 million ($200 M Series B led by Dassault Aviation + over $40 M prior). [tech.eu](https://tech.eu/2026/01/12/french-startup-harmattan-ai-hits-unicorn-status-as-it-strikes-deal-with-french-aerospace-group/)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Dassault Aviation (lead investor & strategic partner), multiple NATO allies as customers.
- **Growth Signals**:
  - Achieved unicorn status within two years of founding.
  - Awarded several “programs of record” by UK and French Ministries of Defence. [tech.eu](https://tech.eu/2026/01/12/french-startup-harmattan-ai-hits-unicorn-status-as-it-strikes-deal-with-french-aerospace-group/)
  - Scaling industrial manufacturing of drone interception and electronic warfare platforms.
  - Headcount grew to 131 employees (Built In estimate). [builtin.com](https://builtin.com/company/harmattan-ai)

## Competitive Advantages
- **Two‑layer autonomy model**: Combines platform‑level AI with mission‑orchestration software for coordinated, scalable autonomous forces.
- **Sovereign AI**: Focus on delivering non‑dependent capabilities to allied nations, differentiating from US‑centric primes.
- **Attritable systems**: Cost‑effective, expendable drones that enable mass deployment without prohibitive losses.
- **Speed to relevance**: Claims rapid iteration and deployment cycles, with conflict‑ready production. [harmattan.ai](https://harmattan.ai/)

## Strategic Focus
- Expand product offering into new operational domains (e.g., collaborative air combat with Dassault Aviation).
- Scale industrial manufacturing of drone interception, electronic warfare, and ISR platforms.
- Deepen integration of embedded AI into next‑generation air combat systems (future combat air systems). [tech.eu](https://tech.eu/2026/01/12/french-startup-harmattan-ai-hits-unicorn-status-as-it-strikes-deal-with-french-aerospace-group/)

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: “Elite builders” who “thrive on complexity, move with urgency, and own their work end to end.” Emphasis on purpose, technical excellence, and real‑world impact. [harmattan.ai](https://harmattan.ai/careers/)
- **Values**: Tackle the hardest problems, build what matters, move at the speed of relevance, and aim to redefine frontiers. [harmattan.ai](https://harmattan.ai/careers/)
- **Work policy**: Hybrid model with a mix of remote and on‑site; many roles are in‑office at locations in Paris, Lausanne, London, Arlington (TX), Wissous, Poland, UAE, and Morocco. [builtin.com](https://builtin.com/company/harmattan-ai)
- **Engineering culture**: Hands‑on development of mission‑critical autonomous systems; strong R&D focus across AI, computer vision, RF hardware, propulsion, and mission planning.
- **Perks**: Not explicitly listed, but the company highlights the opportunity to protect front‑line personnel and shape the future of autonomous defence.

## Sources
1. [harmattan.ai](https://harmattan.ai/)
2. [harmattan.ai/careers](https://harmattan.ai/careers/)
3. [harmattan.ai/open-roles](https://harmattan.ai/open-roles)
4. [builtin.com](https://builtin.com/company/harmattan-ai)
5. [tech.eu](https://tech.eu/2026/01/12/french-startup-harmattan-ai-hits-unicorn-status-as-it-strikes-deal-with-french-aerospace-group/)

## Other roles at Harmattan AI

- [Field Service Lead](https://feeny.ai/job/field-service-lead-harmattan-ai-rabat-snasntwv4fa2) — Rabat, Morocco
- [Data Acquistion Module Lead](https://feeny.ai/job/data-acquistion-module-lead-harmattan-ai-paris-nd5w432k54cz) — Paris, France
- [FP&A Lead](https://feeny.ai/job/fp-a-lead-harmattan-ai-paris-v7yabp6mvh8r) — Paris, France
- [Facilities Coordinator](https://feeny.ai/job/facilities-coordinator-harmattan-ai-paris-fb3t9gebj0dw) — Paris, France
- [Program Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/program-manager-harmattan-ai-rabat-f1bwm8xf657x) — Rabat, Morocco
- [Technicien de Maintenance Multi-technique](https://feeny.ai/job/technicien-de-maintenance-multi-technique-harmattan-ai-orly-jpre9kc3p590) — Orly, France
- [System Identification Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/system-identification-engineer-harmattan-ai-paris-a52y0646nxtw) — Paris, France
- [System Identification Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/system-identification-engineer-harmattan-ai-lausanne-611s0xxg1tqd) — Lausanne, Switzerland
- [Director of Engineering, UAS Development](https://feeny.ai/job/director-of-engineering-uas-development-harmattan-ai-rabat-4m2fvdpc712j) — Rabat, Morocco
- [Global Sourcing Manager Sensors & Optics](https://feeny.ai/job/global-sourcing-manager-sensors-optics-harmattan-ai-paris-m94v0vadep8m) — Paris, France