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Fly, test and supervise autonomous aircraft

Drone Pilot & UAV Operator Jobs

$35–$55/hrmost jobs paymedian today $35/hrtop posted rate $56.25/hr (Anduril Industries)

Measured from 13 distinct advertised hourly rates, across 7 employers. 30 of these 57 openings give no hourly figure.

Drone operator, UAV pilot, flight-test and flight-operations roles from delivery, inspection, defense and autonomous-aircraft employers. 57 roles are open right now at 18 employers, including Amazon Prime Air, Anduril Industries and Zipline, and 43 of them are entry level. We re-read each employer's job board every day, so closed jobs drop off.

See 57 drone rolesDrone delivery jobs →Self-driving car & truck operator jobs →

Live drone & UAV roles

Updated 4 Nov 2026, 06:02 UTC

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Show 47 more drone roles

Before you apply

“Drone operator” covers very different jobs. Check whether a role needs an FAA Part 107 certificate (or your country's equivalent) and logged flight hours, whether it is flying or ground and monitoring work, and the shift, travel and work site it names. Applying to any job here costs nothing, and no real employer will ask you to pay.

Who hires drone operators

EmployerOpen rolesPay stated
Amazon Prime Air logoAmazon Prime Air17$23–$40/hr
Anduril Industries logoAnduril Industries8$37.50–$56.25/hr
Zipline logoZipline7$30–$45/hr
TSMG logoTSMG6Not stated
Shield AI logoShield AI3$35.60–$54.30/hr
DoorDash Labs logoDoorDash Labs2$28.40–$41.80/hr
Scout AI logoScout AI2$35–$40/hr
Skyports Drone Services logoSkyports Drone Services2Not stated
Aerospace engineering firm1Not stated
Allen Control Systems logoAllen Control Systems1Not stated
CHAOS Industries logoCHAOS Industries1Not stated
HireArt logoHireArt1$25/hr
Neros logoNeros1Not stated
Performance Drone Works logoPerformance Drone Works1Not stated
Pyka logoPyka1Not stated
Reliable Robotics logoReliable Robotics1Not stated
Skyways logoSkyways1Not stated
Wing logoWing1Not stated

What to check before you apply

Confirm which kind of drone job a posting is before you apply.

Licensing

Check whether the role needs an active FAA Part 107 certificate (or local equivalent) and logged flight hours, or whether the employer trains you. Commercial flight and ground-operator roles have different requirements.

Flight vs. ground

Some roles physically fly aircraft on missions; others are flight-test operators or remote and ground supervisors of autonomous flights. The day-to-day and the risk profile differ, so read the duties.

Pay, shift & location

Compare hourly rates with hourly rates, and check contract status, shift patterns, travel and the work site. Field and test-flight work is location-bound even when the aircraft is autonomous.

How to get the FAA Part 107 certificate

43 of the 57 drone roles open today require the FAA's Part 107 Remote Pilot Certificate, at Amazon Prime Air, Anduril Industries, Zipline, TSMG and 10 more employers. It is a knowledge test, not a flying test, open to anyone 16 or older.

  1. Create a profile in the FAA's IACRA system to get your FAA Tracking Number.
  2. Book the Unmanned Aircraft General (UAG) knowledge test at an FAA-approved testing center run by PSI. It costs about $175.
  3. Pass it: 60 multiple-choice questions in two hours, with 70% needed to pass.
  4. Apply for the certificate in IACRA with your test result. After a TSA security check you can print a temporary certificate while the card is mailed.

The FAA sets out these steps and its free study materials on its Become a Drone Pilot page.

A clean driving record or a drone certificate?

Fill in a single profile and any robot training employer can reach you through us. When a company needs someone in a certain city or country, or holding a license or certificate, and you fit, we put you forward, but only after you say yes. It costs nothing.

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AV & Drone Operators alerts

Get new AV & Drone Operators roles by email

Each week we gather the latest paid AV & Drone Operators openings from every employer we follow, with the hourly rate where it is posted, and send them in one email. No cost, and you can stop any time.

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How contested these jobs are

From 7 Oct 2026 to 3 Nov 2026, AV & Drone Operators roles drew 10.9% of the apply clicks on RobotTraining.jobs while making up 47.7% of the time roles were open, so each opening drew 0.23x the attention of an average role. Fewer people chase each opening than in most kinds of work, so a fitting application stands out more easily.

Measured from apply clicks on this site, not from hires. Every kind of work compared.

Hiring drone pilots and flight operators? : we size the pool near your site, check each person against your brief and introduce only the people who said yes. How it works and what it costs.

Frequently asked questions

What is a UAV operator, and what does a drone operator actually do?

It varies by employer. Some roles fly drones on delivery, inspection or mapping missions (often needing an FAA Part 107 certificate in the US); others are flight-test operators who put new aircraft through their paces, or remote and ground operators who supervise autonomous flights and step in when needed. Each listing states the specific duties, so read the posting before assuming.

Are there entry-level drone pilot jobs with no experience?

Yes. 43 of the 57 drone jobs open today are entry level: no senior title, no degree required and fewer than 3 years of experience asked. The most are at Amazon Prime Air (17), Zipline (7) and Anduril Industries (6). Most of them ask for the FAA Part 107 certificate, a knowledge test anyone 16 or older can take without flight hours, and 9 ask for no certificate at all.

Do you need an FAA Part 107 license or flight experience?

Some roles require an active Part 107 remote-pilot certificate and prior flight hours; others train you and value reliability, attention and comfort with hardware over a license. Separate an employer's required qualifications from preferred ones on each posting, and check whether the role is commercial flight or ground and monitoring work.

Is drone operator work remote or on-site?

Mostly on-site or field-based: test flying, delivery routes, inspection missions and field service happen where the aircraft is. Some larger operations run remote or ground-control monitoring shifts. Every listing states its location and whether travel or shift work is involved.

How much do drone operator jobs pay?

Pay is set per employer and role and stated on each posting, so this page shows the advertised amount where the employer publishes one. Field-service, flight-test and certified-pilot roles generally pay more than entry ground-support work; compare hourly with hourly and check shift, contract and travel terms.

Drone delivery jobs at Prime Air, Zipline, Wing and DoorDash →Jobs that require Part 107, by state →How many licensed drone pilots live in each state →Autonomous vehicle operator jobs →Entry-level robotics jobs of every kind →For drone schools and programs: a free weekly jobs list →AV & Drone Operators: pay and employers →

What these jobs pay

Related job searches

Drone industry news: we publish a monthly drone hiring update with UAS Vision, the daily news service on uncrewed aircraft, which carries this live list of drone jobs on its site and on its subscription service UAS NEWS | PRO.

The research behind this page

The figures here come from the same daily read of employers' job boards, and from sourced datasets, that our research reports publish with their method, their sources and a citation for every figure.

Newest facts in this research

  • Amazon began Prime Air drone deliveries in Nampa, Idaho, on 30 October 2026, flying MK30 drones from its fulfillment center to homes within 7.5 miles; DroneXL counts it as Amazon's first Idaho site and its 13th US metro.

    Source: DroneXL · Drone delivery scale · Amazon Prime Air

  • On 28 October 2026 the federal regulatory review database still listed the FAA's final Part 108 rule (RIN 2120-AL82) as pending EO 12866 review at the White House OIRA, received 10 July 2026, so the rule was not yet final.

    Source: Reginfo.gov (OIRA) · Drone delivery scale

  • Wing and KDDI Corporation with KDDI SmartDrone announced a partnership on 26 October 2026 to bring drone delivery to Japan, with a shared goal to launch service in select areas by the end of 2027.

    Source: Wing · Drone delivery scale · Wing

  • Matternet and Apian began drone delivery operations at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London on the NHS network, moving time-sensitive pediatric pathology samples; Matternet said it cuts urgent delivery times by up to 90%.

    Source: Matternet · Drone delivery scale · Matternet

  • Meituan's drone delivery service Keeta Drone says it has completed more than 1,000,000 deliveries.

    Source: Keeta Drone (Meituan) · Drone delivery scale