---
title: 'Flight Control Operator at WindBorne Systems'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/flight-control-operator-windborne-systems-remote-s7b04n2h1nw3'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-14'
---

# Flight Control Operator at WindBorne Systems

- **Company:** WindBorne Systems
- **Location:** Remote
- **Employment:** part-time
- **Work type:** remote
- **Posted:** 2026-09-11
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-14
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/windborne-systems/9d5c16cc-5703-46db-85dd-1bf36589f611

## Job description

Are you someone who:

- Enjoys building deep expertise in complex systems
- Thrives without a reliable script to follow
- Is interested in building real-world-applicable intuitions for wind patterns and forecasts

Then you might be a good fit for WindBorne’s Flight Control Operator role! WindBorne Systems operates the world's largest constellation of autonomous weather balloons. We achieve full atmospheric coverage by launching balloons spread across time and space, but sometimes need to navigate them to specific locations—like into the eye of a typhoon. Balloons navigate by changing their altitude: drop ballast to ascend, or vent gas to descend. Different altitudes have different wind speeds and directions, so if you understand the wind field, you can route a balloon anywhere in the world. In practice, flight control is a mix of meteorology, physics, and operational judgment. The role: You'll become an expert at flying our balloons. We're not looking for someone to just follow procedures, we want you to get better at this than we currently are. Balloons fail often – sometimes from hardware issues, sometimes from weather, sometimes from our own mistakes. We launch a lot of them and we're constantly learning. You'll be developing new techniques and adapting as our hardware and software evolve. This isn't like driving a car, with predictable inputs and outputs. Commands take time to execute, forecasts have uncertainty, and every balloon behaves a bit differently depending on its current state and hardware. You'll develop specialized knowledge that lets you make good calls quickly – when to avoid vs head through rough weather, how to correct for forecast uncertainties, and how to reach locations that push the bounds of what our hardware is capable of. What we're looking for:

- Ability to learn independently in an environment where procedures are constantly evolving
- Comfort prioritizing and making judgment calls in high-pressure, uncertain environments
- Excellent communication skills (oral and written), as well as the ability to collaborate effectively with engineering teams
- Willingness to work long or unusual hours to get the balloons where they need to go

There’s no one set background that makes a great FC. Our current FCs have a wide range of past lives, from bike mechanics and wilderness guides to kpop academy learning managers. Above all, we’re looking for people who will genuinely love the day-to-day of learning to master flight control. If you think that’s you, we want to hear from you! Hours This is a part-time, fully remote position at approximately 20 hours per week, with an hourly rate of $24-$28 USD/hr. Hours are regularly scheduled rather than on-call — we'll work with you to find a consistent schedule that fits both your availability and our coverage needs. Weekend availability is strongly preferred. Reliable internet is required. This role is a good fit for U.S. citizens living abroad or anyone looking for steady part-time work with non-traditional hours. Please include your general availability (days/times and timezone) when you apply. Eligibility Due to the nature of our work supporting U.S. defense operations, this position requires U.S. citizenship. A security clearance is not required.

## About WindBorne Systems

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: WindBorne Systems designs, builds, and operates the world’s largest constellation of autonomous, long‑duration weather balloons to capture unique in‑situ atmospheric data and deliver AI‑powered weather forecasts.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Series A – total funding $26M)
- **Headquarters**: Redwood City (Redwood Shores), California, United States
- **Founded**: 2019
- **Founders**: John Dean (CEO), Andrey Sushko (CPO), Kai Marshland (CTO)

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Aviation & Aerospace / Weather Intelligence
- **Target customers**: B2B, B2G – governments, utilities, airlines, renewable energy operators, and commercial enterprises with weather‑sensitive operations
- **Mission**: Build a planetary nervous system that covers 100% of the Earth, providing humanity with unprecedented environmental data and predictions to mitigate the impacts of weather uncertainty and climate change [windbornesystems.com/mission](https://windbornesystems.com/mission)

## Products & Services
- **Atlas Balloon Constellation**: A global fleet of long‑duration smart weather balloons that autonomously control altitude and provide ~50 vertical profiles per balloon, reaching remote oceans and polar regions [windbornesystems.com](https://www.windbornesystems.com/)
- **WeatherMesh**: A proprietary deep‑learning forecast model that fuses Atlas balloon data with other sources to produce forecasts that surpass the accuracy of both physics‑based and other AI models [windbornesystems.com](https://www.windbornesystems.com/)
- **Data‑as‑a‑Service (DaaS)**: Access to real‑time and historical atmospheric profiles from the balloon constellation, sold to governments and commercial partners
- **SaaS (API)**: AI‑based weather forecasts delivered via API, enabling customers to build actionable insights and automations

## Market Standing
- **Valuation / Market Cap**: Not publicly disclosed
- **Key Metric**: Total Funding – $26M across 6 rounds (including a $15M Series A, per news reports, and a $5M venture round led by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in December 2024) [linkedin.com/company/windborne](https://www.linkedin.com/company/windborne)
- **Notable Investors / Partners**: Pear VC, Khosla Ventures (seed), Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (venture round); partnerships with U.S. and international governments, private‑sector companies, and philanthropic organizations [windbornesystems.com](https://www.windbornesystems.com/)
- **Growth Signals**: 72 employees (+75.5% YoY); 38 active job postings (+1167% YoY); operations in 8 countries (US, Canada, Poland, Singapore, South Korea, Nigeria, Sweden, Kenya); hundreds of balloons launched per month with global scaling underway [linkedin.com/company/windborne](https://www.linkedin.com/company/windborne)

## Competitive Advantages
- **Proprietary data moat**: In‑situ atmospheric data from regions (oceans, poles) where other sensors are scarce – a key input for improving forecast accuracy.
- **Vertically integrated hardware & software**: In‑house design, manufacturing, and AI model development, all based in the USA.
- **First‑mover scale**: Only company operating a long‑duration, controlled‑altitude balloon constellation at this scale (Atlas).
- **Proven model performance**: WeatherMesh consistently outperforms traditional physics‑based and other AI forecast models, validated by government and commercial partners [windbornesystems.com](https://www.windbornesystems.com/)

## Strategic Focus
- Scale the Atlas constellation to permanently close atmospheric data gaps pole‑to‑pole.
- Expand federal and commercial sales (DaaS and SaaS), especially to utilities and the U.S. government.
- Advance WeatherMesh accuracy and develop new use cases in aviation routing, renewable energy grid optimization, and disaster response [windbornesystems.com/mission](https://www.windbornesystems.com/mission)

## Why Work Here
- **Planetary impact**: Every line of code and hardware design directly improves weather prediction, saves lives, and advances climate science.
- **Engineering culture**: “The Loonie Way” – high agency, obsessive problem‑solving, building from scratch, and iterating relentlessly. The team includes alumni from Project Loon, Stanford, and top aerospace/tech companies [windbornesystems.com/careers](https://windbornesystems.com/careers).
- **Hard problems**: Autonomous systems in extreme environments, real‑time data pipelines, and cutting‑edge AI.
- **Work environment**: Based in Redwood Shores, CA; technology is invented, designed, and manufactured in the US. Roles are likely on‑site (many engineering and operations positions specify location). Offices are collaborative and mission‑focused.
- **Growth**: 38 open roles across engineering, operations, business development, and more – a fast‑scaling startup with multi‑year runway [windbornesystems.com/open-roles](https://windbornesystems.com/open-roles).

## Sources
1. [windbornesystems.com](https://www.windbornesystems.com/)
2. [windbornesystems.com/careers](https://windbornesystems.com/careers)
3. [windbornesystems.com/mission](https://windbornesystems.com/mission)
4. [linkedin.com/company/windborne](https://www.linkedin.com/company/windborne)
5. [windbornesystems.com/open-roles](https://windbornesystems.com/open-roles)

## Other roles at WindBorne Systems

- [Launch Operator-Alabama](https://feeny.ai/job/launch-operator-alabama-windborne-systems-alabama-4gje76g48nar) — Alabama
- [Regional Field Manager (Central/South America)](https://feeny.ai/job/regional-field-manager-central-south-america-windborne-systems-central-south-hq6wwyygfhp5) — Central/south, United States
- [Senior Manufacturing Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-manufacturing-engineer-windborne-systems-redwood-city-5397fj657a1r) — Redwood City, CA
- [Launch Contractor - Uruguay](https://feeny.ai/job/launch-contractor-uruguay-windborne-systems-artigas-ppsys5pjm21j) — Artigas, Uruguay
- [Electrical Engineer Intern](https://feeny.ai/job/electrical-engineer-intern-windborne-systems-redwood-city-yxanrb2he2m7) — Redwood City, CA
- [Lead Software Engineer - Gov Platforms](https://feeny.ai/job/lead-software-engineer-gov-platforms-windborne-systems-redwood-city-kqax9vq276dy) — Redwood City, CA
- [Meteorological Scientist - Data Assimilation and NWP](https://feeny.ai/job/meteorological-scientist-data-assimilation-and-nwp-windborne-systems-redwood-a2hymqfcy4tc) — Redwood City, CA
- [GTM Lead](https://feeny.ai/job/gtm-lead-windborne-systems-redwood-city-2v2gtspff59v) — Redwood City, CA
- [Chief of Staff to the CEO](https://feeny.ai/job/chief-of-staff-to-the-ceo-windborne-systems-redwood-city-r8q66bc40411) — Redwood City, CA
- [Machine Learning Infrastructure Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/machine-learning-infrastructure-engineer-windborne-systems-redwood-city-chps5jyh06x9) — Redwood City, CA