Flight Operations Manager Jobs in California (NOW HIRING)

Company Description

Inspired Flights Purpose Statement says it all - Conserving resources, creating jobs, and saving lives by innovating the American drone manufacturing. Founded in San Luis Obispo, California our entirely U.S. based team designs, builds and supports highly capable and flexible drone platforms for both commercial and government customers.

Our purpose driven team exemplifies our Core Values. We are:

Collaborative: We harness the collective intelligence and energy of our team to surpass individual potentials and achieve shared goals.

Resilient: We approach obstacles with flexibility and creativity, supporting one another to stay focused, resourceful, and determined.

Diverse: We place a high value in people of all heritages, genders, sexual orientations, and points of view to spark innovation and solutions, enriching our work environment and outputs.

Continuously Improving: We are committed to ongoing learning and innovation by always seeking ways to enhance our processes, products, and personal expertise.

Underlying all of this is our deeply rooted belief that the cutting-edge aerial tools we create are advancing an industry that is good for people, good for our planet and good for the United States of America.

Location

This is an in-office position for hire at Inspired Flights HQ in San Luis Obispo, CA.

Job Description

Inspired Flight is seeking an experienced UAS Flight Test & Quality Control Pilot to lead flight-based validation, verification, and quality assurance of our unmanned aircraft systems. In this role, you will be responsible for executing structured flight test operations, identifying performance and reliability issues, and driving continuous product improvement through rigorous test and evaluation practices.

This position bridges flight operations, engineering, and quality, ensuring that all aircraft meet performance, safety, and reliability standards prior to customer delivery.

This role reports directly to the VP of Operations and will begin as an individual contributor, with a clear path toward mentoring and leading a growing Flight Test and Quality team as Inspired Flight scales its operations.

This is a strong opportunity for a highly motivated, detail-oriented professional who thrives in a fast-paced, hardware-focused startup environment and is looking to grow into a leadership role.

Typical responsibilities:

• Execute multirotor flight test missions to validate aircraft performance, stability, reliability, and system integration
• Develop and follow structured test plans, test cards, and flight profiles for validation and regression testing
• Identify, document, and communicate aircraft deficiencies, anomalies, and failure modes
• Partner with Engineering to troubleshoot issues and verify corrective actions through flight testing
• Support production acceptance testing (FAT/SAT) and ensure aircraft meet release criteria
• Establish and refine flight test and quality assurance processes, procedures, and documentation
• Collect and analyze flight logs, telemetry data, and system performance metrics
• Define and track key performance indicators (KPIs) for product quality and reliability
• Ensure compliance with FAA regulations, safety protocols, and internal flight operations standards
• Prepare and present test reports, findings, and recommendations to leadership and cross-functional teams

Youll excel in this role if you have:

• Have experience in Multirotor UAS, aviation, aerospace, or defense environments
• Are a highly skilled UAS pilot with strong flight safety discipline and situational awareness
• Have hands-on experience with flight testing, system validation, or hardware QA
• Are comfortable working with telemetry data, logs, and root cause analysis
• Demonstrate a strong sense of ownership over aircraft performance and mission success
• Are a critical thinker who can diagnose issues in complex electro-mechanical systems
• Thrive in ambiguous environments and can build processes from the ground up
• Have strong communication skills and can clearly document and explain technical findings
• Possess excellent time management and organizational skills

Education/Experience Requirements:

• Part 107 Remote Pilot Certificate (required; higher certifications a plus)
• Experience with PX4, ArduPilot, or similar flight control systems
• Background in flight test methodology (e.g., test cards, envelope expansion, regression testing)
• Familiarity with RF systems, GPS-denied environments, and payload integration
• Experience supporting production, manufacturing QA, or field validation

Salary & Benefits Offered

• $25 - $32 per hour
• 140 hours of Paid Time Off, plus Sick Time & Holidays
• World Class Health, Dental, Vision Insurance Plan
• 401k w/ 6% company match
• Quarterly Team Bonus Plan

Physical Demands: The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee may need to sit and stand for long periods; talk, hear, and use hands and fingers to operate a computer and telephone.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Inspired Flight is deeply committed to building a workplace where inclusion is not only valued, but prioritized. We pride ourselves on being an equal opportunity employer that seeks to create a welcoming and diverse environment. All applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity, or expression, family status, marital status, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, neurodiversity, age, or veteran status, or any other non-merit based or legally protected grounds.

The above job description is not intended to be an all-inclusive list of duties and standards of the position. Incumbents will follow any other instructions, and perform any other related duties, as assigned by their supervisor.