--- title: 'IT Operations Specialist at Swarm Aero' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/it-operations-specialist-swarm-aero-oxnard-vvb6aj3zgkgf' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-10-16' --- # IT Operations Specialist at Swarm Aero - **Company:** Swarm Aero - **Location:** Oxnard, CA - **Compensation:** $100k–$125k - **Employment:** full-time - **Work type:** onsite - **Posted:** 2026-10-01 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-16 - **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/swarmaero/711ad0f1-59ad-4470-acbf-275a97b3915b ## 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. ## Role Overview Swarm Aero is looking for an IT Operations Specialist who wants to do more than close helpdesk tickets. You’ll own the day-to-day technology experience for our employees while building the skills to grow into a Systems Administrator as the company scales. You’ll work hands-on across Microsoft 365, Entra ID, endpoint management, identity, hardware, networking, security, and cloud infrastructure. This is a great role for someone who has built a strong foundation in IT support or operations and is ready for their next step. You’ll have the opportunity to work directly with experienced Systems Administrators and the Head of IT while progressively taking on more complex systems and infrastructure responsibilities. Professional experience administering Microsoft 365 in a business environment is required. You should already be comfortable working in the Microsoft 365 Admin Center, Entra ID, Exchange Online, Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive, licensing, users, groups, shared resources, and access troubleshooting. At Swarm Aero, IT is not just about keeping laptops running. We’re building a fast-moving aerospace company where technology, security, and infrastructure directly enable engineers and operators to build and deploy autonomous aircraft. You’ll have the opportunity to work in an environment where your decisions have real impact, take ownership early, and grow alongside a company that is scaling rapidly. If you’re the kind of IT professional who gets excited about figuring out why something broke, how to fix it, and how to make sure it never happens again, you’ll fit in well here. ## Responsibilities - Own and manage the day-to-day IT support queue, prioritizing and resolving employee issues. - Administer users, groups, licenses, shared mailboxes, distribution lists, shared calendars, and Microsoft 365 resources. - Perform day-to-day administration of Entra ID. - Support and troubleshoot Exchange Online, Teams, SharePoint, and OneDrive. - Manage user and group-based access to company resources. - Troubleshoot account access, MFA, authentication, permissions, licensing, and Microsoft 365 service issues. - Support employee onboarding and offboarding across the Microsoft 365 environment. - Provision, deploy, configure, and maintain employee laptops and other IT hardware. - Manage hardware and software lifecycle processes. - Troubleshoot issues that cross multiple systems rather than treating each application as an isolated product. - Document solutions, procedures, and repeatable processes. - Identify opportunities to automate repetitive IT tasks and improve the employee technology experience. - Work alongside the Systems Administration team to progressively take on more advanced responsibilities across: - Intune and endpoint management - Conditional Access - Enterprise applications - SSO and SCIM provisioning - Privileged access - Identity and access management - Networking - Cloud infrastructure - Security and compliance - Automation Required Qualifications - 2–4 years of professional experience in IT support, desktop support, IT operations, endpoint administration, or a similar role. - Hands-on professional experience administering Microsoft 365 in a business environment. - Comfortable administering: - Microsoft 365 Admin Center - Entra ID / Azure AD - Exchange Online - Teams - SharePoint - OneDrive - Microsoft 365 licensing - Shared mailboxes and shared resources - MFA and basic authentication troubleshooting - Strong Windows troubleshooting skills. - Experience provisioning, deploying, and supporting business laptops and employee hardware. - Some experience with Intune, another MDM platform, Active Directory, or endpoint-management tooling. - Ability to troubleshoot beyond the immediate user symptom and determine whether an issue involves the endpoint, identity, application, permissions, or network. - Basic understanding of DNS, DHCP, IP addressing, Wi-Fi, VPNs, and general networking. - Strong organizational skills and the ability to independently manage an active support queue. - Strong written and verbal communication skills. - Ability to create clear technical documentation and repeatable processes. - Willingness to handle both hands-on employee support and increasingly complex systems work. - A curious, ownership-oriented mindset and the ability to learn quickly in a fast-moving environment. ## Preferred Qualifications Experience with any of the following is a plus: - Microsoft Intune - Windows Autopilot - Jamf Pro - PowerShell - Application packaging and deployment - AWS / AWS GovCloud - GCC High - Juniper Mist - CMMC / NIST 800-171 - Linux - SAML / SSO / SCIM - GitLab - Infrastructure as Code - Engineering applications such as Siemens NX, Teamcenter, MATLAB, Cameo, or similar platforms Salary Range: $100,000 - $125,000, DOE 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)