Autonomy Engineer, Interceptor Drones

Apply on YC · Original job listing

• Role: Engineering / Robotics
• Experience: 1+ years
• Visa: US citizen/visa only
• Skills: C, C++, Python, Computer Vision, Embedded Linux, Firmware, Microcontrollers, Sensor integration

We are Jasper and Alessandro, the founders of Impact Drones (YC S26). We are hiring an autonomy engineer in Los Angeles to make SABLE, our jet interceptor, fly the intercept on its own: from a radar track, to the onboard camera, to terminal guidance. Jasper (aerospace engineer, MSc, TU Delft) has built drones for over a decade, including the Hannover Messe VTOL competition winner, and worked with special forces on the 2025 NATO Summit counter-drone plan; Alessandro (MSc, Columbia) built the pipeline behind our 176M USD in signed LOIs.

In March 2026, Iranian drones struck three AWS data centers in the UAE and Bahrain. Fiber-optic FPV drones cannot be jammed. The only thing that stops them is a physical intercept. That is what we build.

About Impact Drones
We sell Air Defense as a Service to civilian critical infrastructure. One container on site senses, decides and launches. It combines a sensor mast, our engagement software and 8 open launch bays built to our Open Launch Standard. The bays take SABLE, our jet interceptor, and third-party interceptors too. Interceptors change. The bay stays.

What you will own

• The handoff from the container's radar track to SABLE's onboard tracker.
• Onboard target detection, tracking, lock-on and terminal guidance for SABLE.
• Simulation, bench and flight tests that prove each change.

Your first 3 months

• Month one: your first guidance or control change for SABLE runs in simulation and on the bench.