---
title: 'Intern - Device Build at Navi AI'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/intern-device-build-navi-ai-san-francisco-xscsg8yw7qf1'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-08'
---

# Intern - Device Build at Navi AI

- **Company:** Navi AI
- **Location:** San Francisco, CA
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-08-19
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-08
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/navi/8fb91a5f-9b08-466f-9106-a0a391777160

## Job description

Navi captures everything a pilot sees and hears and turns it into automated debrief intelligence — sortie-level awareness that has never existed before. None of it works without the hardware in the aircraft. That's what you'll build.

## ABOUT THE ROLE

This is a hands-on hardware internship. You'll build, test, and ship the devices that fly in real aircraft at university flight schools and military squadrons. Every unit you assemble ends up in a cockpit, capturing data a pilot and instructor will sit down and review that same day. Nothing here is a prototype exercise. Navi is already live at leading flight schools.

You'll work directly with our hardware and engineering teams, and you'll see the consequences of your work fast — if a unit fails, you'll hear about it, and you'll be part of fixing it.

## WHAT YOU'LL DO

- Assemble, wire, and bench-test Navi devices — audio capture, mounting hardware, cable harnesses, enclosures
- Diagnose failures on returned or field-reported units and feed what you learn back into the build
- Help improve the build itself — fixturing, assembly documentation, anything that makes the next hundred units faster and more reliable than the last hundred
- Track inventory, components, and BOMs so we never stall a deployment waiting on a part
- Assist in preparing shipments, and willing to learn and assist in other tasks too
- Work alongside engineers across hardware, firmware, and software to close the loop between what we build and what pilots actually experience

## ABOUT YOU

- Currently pursuing a degree in engineering, or equivalent hands-on experience — we care more about what you've built than where you're enrolled
- Comfortable with hand tools, wiring and basic electronics debugging
- Careful and consistent. Hardware that flies has to be built the same way every time, and you take that seriously
- You've built physical things — personal projects, robotics teams, Formula SAE, RC aircraft, drones, a workshop in your garage. Tell us about them
- Willing to do the unglamorous work. Some days are assembly and testing, and those units still have to be perfect
- Curious about why things fail and persistent enough to find out
- Comfortable in ambiguity — processes here are still being written, and you'll help write them

## NICE TO HAVE

- You know how to fly. A private pilot certificate, student pilot time, or any flight training is a real bonus. Pilots understand the cockpit environment these devices live in, and we'll lean on you for more than device build — flight testing, data collection, ride-alongs, and translating what actually happens in the aircraft back to the engineering team
- Familiarity with aviation systems, avionics, or general aviation aircraft
- CAD, 3D printing, or fabrication experience
- Basic scripting for test automation or data validation

## WHY THIS ROLE MATTERS

Pilots trust their lives to the systems in front of them. The device you build is the first link in that chain — if it doesn't capture clean data, nothing downstream works. Interns here own real units going to real customers, not side projects.

## WHAT YOU'LL GET

- Hardware that ships — your work flies in aircraft at flight schools, airlines, and the U.S. Air Force
- Direct access to the founding team and every part of the stack, from hardware to AI
- A path to a full-time role for interns who prove they can own the build

## HOW WE WORK

- Find a way. We don't wait for permission or perfect information. Ideas come from anywhere regardless of title. Figure it out, ship it, iterate.
- Creativity over control. First principles over process. We'd rather have a creative solution that's 80% right today than a perfect one next quarter.
- Update fast. Come in with a hypothesis, throw it away when the data says otherwise. Ego has no place here.
- Intensity with focus. We work hard because the mission demands it. Clarity on what matters is how we make that sustainable.

## About Navi AI

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Navi AI builds the first purpose-built generative AI platform for aviation, providing an AI co-pilot for pilot training that turns every aircraft into a data source to deliver automated, data-driven flight debriefs and safety intelligence.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Seed stage)
- **Headquarters**: San Francisco, California, USA (also has an office in Bengaluru, India)
- **Founded**: 2024
- **Founders**: Nikola Kostic (CEO) and Vivek Velivela (CTO)

## Core Business
- **Primary Industry**: Aviation Technology / Aerospace / Defense / Artificial Intelligence
- **Target Customers**: B2B — flight schools (Part 141), universities (aerospace programs), and military/defense organizations (U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School).
- **Mission/Purpose Statement**: To make aviation safety proactive — starting in training. Navi gives every pilot and squadron the intelligence edge they deserve.

## Products & Services
- **Navi AI Platform**: An AI-driven platform that ingests cockpit audio, aircraft telemetry, and environmental data (weather, traffic, aircraft history) to generate moment-by-moment, automated flight debriefs. It provides 40–50 key insights per flight through text, visuals, and animations. The platform is grounded in the flight school’s syllabus, POH, PHAK, and FAA regulations.
- **AI Debrief Assistant**: A context-aware conversational AI that trainee pilots can query about their performance, referencing their own flight data, standard operating procedures, and FAA regulations.
- **Automated Maneuver Analysis**: Analyzes intent, behavior, and performance for every maneuver during a flight, aligning outputs to the specific lesson or maneuver being taught.
- **Full Sortie Replay**: Provides a phase-by-phase breakdown of every training flight from engine start to shutdown.
- **Institutional Analytics (FOQA+)**: Goes beyond traditional FOQA by combining flight data with instructor interactions, environmental data, and procedural context, giving flight academies real-time visibility into trainee progression, trend analysis, and early safety pattern detection.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation**: Not publicly available (seed-stage company).
- **Key Metric – Total Funding**: $6.7 million raised to date.
- **Notable Investors/Partners**:
    - **United Airlines Ventures** (strategic investor)
    - **BVVC** (lead investor)
    - **New Vista Capital**
    - **Raptor Group**
    - **I2BF**
    - **U.S. Department of War** ($1.27M SBIR Phase II grant)
    - **Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University** (strategic partner and equity stakeholder)
    - **Garmin** (technology partnership, integrated with their avionics ecosystem)
- **Growth Signals**:
    - Launched from stealth in March 2026 with $6.7M in funding.
    - First commercial deployment in September 2024 with Sling Pilot Academy; now logging 55,000+ flight hours annually at Sling.
    - Platform deployed or under evaluation at leading flight schools: Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, University of North Dakota, Purdue University, Utah State University, Delta State University, and the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School.
    - Plans to hire 15 additional employees in 2026 (currently 7 employees), aggressively scaling the team.
    - Has a $1.27M SBIR Phase II contract from the U.S. Department of War to adapt its platform for the T-38 fleet at Edwards AFB.

## Competitive Advantages
- **First-Mover in AI-Powered Debriefing**: No other company offers a purpose-built, commercially operational generative AI platform specifically for pilot training that automates post-flight analysis.
- **Domain-Specific LLM**: Trained on 100,000+ real flight hours, analyzing intent, behavior, and performance — not just generic AI.
- **Deep Institutional Partnerships**: Already embedded in the world's largest aerospace university (Embry-Riddle) and working with the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School, providing credibility and a strong go-to-market signal.
- **Strategic Backing**: Backed by United Airlines Ventures (a direct channel to commercial aviation) and the U.S. Department of War, giving it a dual commercial and defense pathway.
- **Real-World Traction**: 55,000+ flight hours annually processed at Sling Pilot Academy, proving the product works at scale in a live training environment.

## Strategic Focus
- **Near-term**: Dominate the U.S. pilot training market by equipping every training aircraft with the Navi platform.
- **Medium-term**: Expand into commercial aviation, applying the same real-time analysis and performance intelligence to airline operations.
- **Defense**: Adapt and scale the platform for military use (U.S. Air Force), starting with the Test Pilot School and the T-38 fleet.
- **Product**: Continue to deepen the integration with Garmin avionics and expand the platform's ability to ingest more data sources.

## Why Work Here
- **High-Impact Mission**: Work directly on making aviation safer, with a tangible product already in use by pilots and the military. The company culture emphasizes building for a critical national need ("Your country needs you").
- **Early-Stage, High-Growth**: With only 7 employees and a plan to hire 15 more, this is a true seed-stage startup where new hires will define the product, culture, and engineering practices from the ground up.
- **Engineering-Centric**: The open roles (Founding Software Engineer, ML/AI Founding Engineer, Founding Hardware Engineer, Deployment Engineer) indicate a deep focus on core product engineering and infrastructure.
- **On-Site / Hybrid**: San Francisco headquarters is primarily in-office; Bengaluru office also exists. The company favors on-site work for its core team.
- **Fast-Paced Culture**: The careers page signals an expectation of high agency: "if ten things a day sounds like a slow Tuesday - we need you."
- **Interesting Tech Stack**: Working with cockpit telemetry, audio, domain-specific LLMs, avionics integration (Garmin), and real-time data pipelines — a mix of hardware, software, and AI.
- **Founding Team Access**: Opportunity to work directly with the co-founders (Nikola Kostic, CEO; Vivek Velivela, CTO) and shape the company's technical direction.

## Sources
1. [flynavi.com](https://www.flynavi.com/)
2. [flynavi.com/careers](https://www.flynavi.com/careers)
3. [builtin.com](https://builtin.com/company/navi-ai)
4. [flynavi.com/newsroom](https://www.flynavi.com/newsroom)
5. [prnewswire.com](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/navi-ai-emerges-from-stealth-to-accelerate-pilot-training-with-ai-302724509.html)
6. [jobs.ashbyhq.com/navi](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/navi)

## Other roles at Navi AI

- [Part-time CFI](https://feeny.ai/job/part-time-cfi-navi-ai-san-francisco-rg9jj8vsp9qs) — San Francisco, CA
- [Infrastructure Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/infrastructure-engineer-navi-ai-san-francisco-jc3wsjez8qm6) — San Francisco, CA
- [Founding Go-to-Market Lead](https://feeny.ai/job/founding-go-to-market-lead-navi-ai-san-francisco-dfrx47rngsm4) — San Francisco, CA
- [Business Development Lead](https://feeny.ai/job/business-development-lead-navi-ai-san-francisco-0h8z796s0x6q) — San Francisco, CA
- [Founding Hardware Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/founding-hardware-engineer-navi-ai-san-francisco-w69bj0taaqav) — San Francisco, CA
- [Forward Deployed Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/forward-deployed-engineer-navi-ai-san-francisco-px34xzw2j97k) — San Francisco, CA
- [ML/AI Founding Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/ml-ai-founding-engineer-navi-ai-san-francisco-r77ng00bz1df) — San Francisco, CA
- [Founding Software Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/founding-software-engineer-navi-ai-san-francisco-akpvm8bmqk5e) — San Francisco, CA