UEUAS Systems Engineer
UE
Career

UAS Systems Engineer

By the numbers
Typical pay
$134,960 / yr
Education to start
Bachelor's degree
Future demand
+6.1% by 2034
People in this job
68K
Figures shown for ·closest of 3 O*NET occupations
The work
A day, hour by hour
07:30
Flight log review

Pull yesterday's telemetry logs and flag anything that looks off.

08:00
Standup & triage

Sync with software, mechanical, and test teams. Sort blockers from ready.

08:30
Algorithm tuning

Tweak PID gains in the flight controller until hover stability tightens up.

10:30
Sim test run

Run autonomous waypoint mission in simulation — two edge cases still fail.

12:30
Field test flight

Drive to the test site, pre-flight the airframe, and run three data-collection passes.

14:30
Anomaly call

Motor 3 spiked mid-flight — real fault or sensor noise? Dig into the data.

15:30
Compliance check

Walk the latest design changes against FAA Part 107 safety requirements.

16:15
Docs & traceability

Update requirements matrix and log today's test results before they go stale.

17:00
Design tradeoff review

Decide whether to flag the payload weight issue now or solve it solo first.

Things you do
  • Design drone systems by connecting airframes, motors, sensors, and software together.
  • Write and tune flight control algorithms so the drone flies stably on its own.
  • Take drones to the field and run real test flights to catch problems.
  • Dig through flight data logs to figure out why something went wrong mid-flight.
  • Check that every design meets FAA safety rules before the drone ever leaves the ground.
Decisions you’ll make
  • Is this anomaly a real system flaw, or just noisy test data?
  • Should I push for more flight tests, or is the data good enough to ship?
  • Can I meet this performance requirement without compromising safety margins?
  • Should I flag this design tradeoff to the team now, or solve it myself first?
  • Is this airspace situation safe enough to fly, or do we scrub the test?
Education Pathways · how you get there
100 in 100 went the college route · 0 in 100 found another way in None, typically
Education mapped from O*NET:
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