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Remote Drone Developer Jobs in California (NOW HIRING)

Terabase Energy, Inc

Operations Project Manager

Berkeley, CA · On-site +1

$90K - $120K/yr

We work alongside project developers, owners, and engineering & construction firms to support the ... Additional scope includes subcontractor management of drone service providers, performing quality ...

Parallel Domain

Product Manager

San Francisco, CA · Remote

Their team includes engineers from Waymo, Cruise, Apple, NVIDIA, and Google. They are fully remote ... By spending significant time with our customers, including automotive, drone, and robotics ...

Parallel Domain

Product Manager

San Francisco, CA · Remote

Their team includes engineers from Waymo, Cruise, Apple, NVIDIA, and Google. They are fully remote ... By spending significant time with our customers, including automotive, drone, and robotics ...

Parallel Domain

Product Manager

San Francisco, CA · On-site +1

Their team includes engineers from Waymo, Cruise, Apple, NVIDIA, and Google. They are fully remote ... By spending significant time with our customers, including automotive, drone, and robotics ...

Peraton

Senior DevSecOps Engineer

San Diego, CA · On-site +1

$179K/yr

This hybrid support role (75% remote, 25% onsite at a government facility) in the San Diego area is ... drone swarm information gain, and a wide range of other mission areas. What you'll do: * Design and ...

Peraton

Senior DevSecOps Engineer

San Diego, CA · On-site +1

$112K - $179K/yr

This hybrid support role (75% remote, 25% onsite at a government facility) in the San Diego area is ... drone swarm information gain, and a wide range of other mission areas. What you'll do: * Design and ...

Peraton

Senior DevSecOps Engineer

San Diego, CA · On-site +1

$112K - $179K/yr

This hybrid support role (75% remote, 25% onsite at a government facility) in the San Diego area is ... drone swarm information gain, and a wide range of other mission areas. What you'll do: * Design and ...

All JobsDrone Developer JobsRemote Drone Developer JobsRemote Drone Developer Jobs in California

Remote Drone Developer information

What is a remote drone developer?

Remote Drone Developers are professionals who design, build, and maintain software or systems that control drones (unmanned aerial vehicles) from a remote location. They typically work on programming flight controls, developing autonomous navigation algorithms, integrating sensors, and ensuring safe remote operations. These developers often collaborate with hardware engineers to test and deploy drones for applications such as aerial photography, surveying, agriculture, or delivery. Working remotely, they leverage cloud-based tools and simulation environments to collaborate with teams and manage drone fleets efficiently.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive as a remote drone developer?

To thrive as a Remote Drone Developer, you need strong programming skills (commonly in Python, C++, or ROS), a background in robotics or computer engineering, and knowledge of drone hardware and aerodynamics. Experience with simulation tools (such as Gazebo or PX4), drone flight control software, and relevant certifications like Part 107 or industry-specific UAV credentials are highly valuable. Excellent problem-solving, remote collaboration, and effective communication skills distinguish top candidates in this field. These competencies are crucial for developing safe, reliable drone systems and efficiently working with distributed teams on complex, real-world challenges.

What are some unique challenges faced by remote drone developers when testing and debugging their code?

Remote Drone Developers often encounter challenges related to limited physical access to hardware, which can make testing and troubleshooting more complex than typical software development. Simulating real-world flight scenarios remotely requires robust virtual environments and careful coordination with onsite teams or automated testing rigs. Communication and collaboration tools are essential for syncing with hardware specialists, and developers must be proactive in documenting issues and sharing updates as drone firmware and software evolve. These factors make attention to detail and adaptability crucial skills in this remote role.

What is the difference between Remote Drone Developer vs Remote UAV Software Engineer?

AspectRemote Drone DeveloperRemote UAV Software Engineer
CredentialsTypically requires a degree in computer science, robotics, or aerospace engineering; certifications in drone operation or software development are a plusSimilar credentials, often with specialized UAV or aerospace certifications
Work EnvironmentPrimarily remote, collaborating with drone manufacturing or tech companiesPrimarily remote, working with aerospace firms or defense contractors
Industry UsageUsed in commercial drone applications, agriculture, delivery servicesUsed in defense, surveillance, and aerospace industries
Search & Comparison IntentOften compared for software development roles in drone techCompared for specialized UAV software roles in aerospace

Remote Drone Developers focus on creating software for commercial and consumer drones, while Remote UAV Software Engineers typically work on software for military or aerospace UAVs. Both roles require similar technical skills and certifications but differ in industry focus and application.

What are the most commonly searched types of Drone Developer jobs in California?

The most popular types of Drone Developer jobs in California are:

What are popular job titles related to Remote Drone Developer jobs in California?

For Remote Drone Developer jobs in California, the most frequently searched job titles are:

What job categories do people searching Remote Drone Developer jobs in California look for?

The top searched job categories for Remote Drone Developer jobs in California are:

What cities in California are hiring for Remote Drone Developer jobs?

Cities in California with the most Remote Drone Developer job openings:

Remote Drone Developer jobs near you

Lead Software Engineer, Developer Productivity

Zipline

San Francisco, CA • Remote

$136K - $171K/yr

Full-time

Posted 8 days ago

Job description

About Zipline

Zipline is the world's largest and most experienced drone delivery service. We are on a mission to serve all humans equally by ensuring access to food, medicine and essential goods anytime, anywhere. We design, build, and operate the world's largest autonomous logistics system, delivering critical supplies quickly and reliably. Today, Zipline operates on four continents, makes a delivery somewhere in the world every 30 seconds, and has completed millions of deliveries to date, including blood, vaccines, medical supplies, food, and retail products.

Our customers include the world's largest and most prominent healthcare systems, governments, retailers, restaurants and global businesses who rely on us to save lives, reduce emissions, increase economic opportunity, and provide delivery from point A to point B as fast as possible. The drone is only 15% of what we've built to enable seamless, reliable, global operations.

Our system strengthens supply chains, reduces congestion, and gives people time back. With more than 140 million commercial autonomous miles safely flown, Zipline is redefining access to healthcare, consumer products, and food across the globe.

We operate at a global scale and are looking for practical problem solvers who thrive on real-world challenges and rapid growth. Our team is motivated by building systems that have a direct, meaningful impact on people's lives and by scaling the future of logistics. We are seeking people who sculpt from first principles, enjoy facing adversity, and can do the impossible at record breaking speeds.

About You and The Role

You are the Software Engineering Manager for Zipline's Developer Productivity team. Your team builds the tools and infrastructure that help engineers develop, test, and ship software across FlightSystems and cloud.

You will own the team's roadmap, technical direction, and execution. Your work will improve the speed and reliability of CI, expand our use of remote build execution, simplify developer workflows, and support the long-term evolution of Zipline's software platform.

This is a hands-on leadership role. You will grow and coach the team, stay close to technical decisions, and work directly with software, firmware, autonomy, and infrastructure teams to solve the problems slowing engineers down.

What You'll Do
  • Lead the team responsible for Zipline's build systems, CI/CD infrastructure, remote execution, and developer tooling
  • Own the roadmap for improving CI speed, reliability, and developer experience across FlightSystems and cloud
  • Expand our on-prem remote build execution platform and move more build and test workloads onto it
  • Improve our Bazel build graph, remove bottlenecks, and make builds more hermetic and compatible with remote execution
  • Simplify CI by moving build logic into Bazel and consolidating heavy workloads into common Buildkite pipelines
  • Lead large migrations, including bringing firmware and other development workflows into the shared build and CI platform
  • Define reliability goals, observability, capacity plans, and incident-response practices for critical developer infrastructure
  • Hire, coach, and develop engineers while building a team culture centered on ownership, practical problem-solving, and strong internal customer support
  • Partner with engineering leaders to set priorities and make clear tradeoffs between developer velocity, reliability, safety, and cost
What You'll Bring
  • A strong software engineering background and experience managing engineers working on developer platforms, infrastructure, build systems, or CI/CD
  • Deep knowledge of modern build and CI systems, including remote execution, caching, artifact management, and distributed infrastructure
  • Experience setting technical direction and delivering complex, cross-team projects with measurable results
  • Strong technical judgment and the ability to stay close to architecture, implementation, and operational issues
  • A developer-focused mindset and a track record of building tools that engineers rely on every day
  • Experience hiring, coaching, and growing engineers
  • Comfort working through ambiguity and creating structure around broad technical problems
  • Clear communication skills and the ability to work across software, firmware, infrastructure, and engineering leadership

Bonus Points

  • Experience with Bazel, Buildkite, BuildBarn, AWS, Linux, Docker, or large monorepos
  • Experience with C++, Rust, Python, Go, or TypeScript
  • Experience supporting robotics, embedded systems, hardware-in-the-loop testing, or safety-critical software
  • Experience leading major build-system, CI-platform, or repository migrations
What Else You Need To Know

Zipline is an equal opportunity employer and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws or our own sensibilities.

We value diversity at Zipline and welcome applications from those who are traditionally underrepresented in tech. If you like the sound of this position but are not sure if you are the perfect fit, please apply!

Voluntary Self-Identification

For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey. Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiring process or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in a confidential file.

As set forth in Zipline 's Equal Employment Opportunity policy, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.