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Modular Unmanned Autonomous Systems | Designed for the Warfighter, Built at the Edge.
The Role
Leads explosive safety and live-fire range operations for unmanned aircraft, energetic payloads, and deployable combat systems. Establishes safety policies, hazard controls, range packages, SOPs, training, emergency procedures, and compliance documentation. Serves as an independent operational authority with stop-work authority, coordinating with engineering, test, manufacturing, government, military, commercial range, and supplier stakeholders. Supports test readiness, explosive incident investigations, munition integration, and safe execution in remote and austere environments.
Summary Generated by Built In
Who We Are
About the Role
What You’ll Do
Explosive Safety Authority
Range Safety & Live-Fire Operations
Explosive Safety Program Development
Training & Qualification
Test & Engineering Support
Required Qualifications
Preferred Qualifications
Authority and Organizational Role
Work Environment
Compensation
ITAR Compliance
Equal Opportunity
At Firestorm, we’re on a mission to revolutionize how defense solutions are designed and delivered. Our goal is to empower the United States and allied nations to effectively deter aggressors—regardless of their defense budget—through innovative, cost-efficient technologies. We call this vision “democratized deterrence.”
As a venture-backed company at the intersection of defense technology and Silicon Valley, Firestorm develops mission-adaptable unmanned aerial systems and effects designed to rapidly deliver operational capability to the warfighter.
Firestorm is developing and testing next-generation unmanned aircraft, energetic payloads, and deployable combat systems. We are seeking an experienced Range Safety Officer / Explosive Safety Authority to lead explosive safety and range operations across the company.
This position serves as Firestorm’s principal operational authority for the safe handling, storage, transportation, integration, testing, and employment of explosives and energetic systems during development and test activities.
The ideal candidate is a former military Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Technician or similarly qualified explosives professional with extensive field experience executing high-risk explosive operations and managing live-fire ranges.
This is not primarily an engineering position. It is an operational safety and technical authority role responsible for translating explosive safety requirements into executable procedures that allow Firestorm teams to rapidly conduct testing without compromising personnel safety, regulatory compliance, or mission success.
The Range Safety Officer / Explosive Safety Authority will work closely with Engineering, Flight Test, Operations, Manufacturing, Program Management, government customers, explosive suppliers, and military and commercial range authorities.
Most importantly, this position will have the authority and responsibility to stop or suspend any explosive or live-fire operation when an unacceptable hazard exists.
Explosive Safety Authority
- Serve as Firestorm’s senior operational subject-matter expert for explosives, energetic materials, munitions, initiators, fuzing systems, and explosive test operations.
- Establish, maintain, and enforce company explosive safety policies, procedures, and standards.
- Provide independent explosive-safety review of proposed tests, demonstrations, developmental activities, and live-fire operations.
- Identify explosive hazards and establish appropriate controls, separation distances, personnel limits, PPE requirements, emergency procedures, and operational constraints.
- Exercise independent stop-work authority when explosive operations create an unacceptable risk to personnel, property, aircraft, or the public.
- Advise Firestorm leadership on explosive risk and clearly communicate when schedule, technical, or operational objectives conflict with acceptable safety practices.
- Serve as a technical interface between Firestorm and government explosive-safety organizations, range authorities, customers, vendors, and other regulatory stakeholders.
Range Safety & Live-Fire Operations
- Serve as Range Safety Officer, or Firestorm’s designated safety representative, during developmental tests, demonstrations, live-fire events, and other energetic operations.
- Plan and oversee explosive and live-fire test activities conducted at military, government, commercial, and Firestorm-operated facilities.
- Develop range packages, test safety plans, hazard analyses, operational risk assessments, emergency procedures, and range-specific documentation.
- Coordinate with host-range personnel to ensure Firestorm operations comply with range regulations, approved procedures, explosive limits, and local safety requirements.
- Establish firing-point, observation-point, exclusion-zone, fragmentation, and personnel-control requirements in coordination with applicable engineering analysis and range authorities.
- Conduct pre-test safety briefs and verify that personnel, equipment, communications, emergency response, and range controls are prepared before execution.
- Maintain positive control of live-fire operations and ensure clear authority for ARM, SAFE, FIRE, ABORT, CEASE FIRE, and emergency actions.
- Coordinate misfire, dud, hung-store, damaged munition, aircraft-recovery, and abnormal explosive-event response procedures.
- Conduct post-event explosive accountability and ensure ranges and test locations are left in an appropriate safe condition.
- Build and maintain Firestorm’s corporate explosive safety program as the company expands its munitions development and live-fire activities.
- Develop and maintain SOPs governing explosive handling, storage, transportation, receipt and accountability, assembly and disassembly, munition integration, initiator handling, live-fire testing, misfires and duds, emergency response, and explosive incident reporting.
- Support development and maintenance of Explosive Safety Submissions (ESS), test plans, safety releases, hazard analyses, and related approval packages.
- Establish standardized explosive-safety planning processes that can be applied across Firestorm programs and test locations.
- Maintain records necessary to demonstrate compliance with applicable company, range, contractual, federal, state, and DoD requirements.
- Support Firestorm leadership in evaluating explosive storage, operating locations, magazines, transportation requirements, and future explosive infrastructure.
Training & Qualification
- Establish an internal qualification program for personnel who handle or work around explosives and energetic systems.
- Develop and conduct explosives safety, ordnance handling, range safety, emergency response, and related training.
- Establish minimum qualification and currency requirements for personnel participating in explosive operations.
- Mentor engineers, technicians, flight-test personnel, and operations personnel in practical explosive-safety principles.
- Build a safety culture in which personnel understand both why explosive-safety requirements exist and how to apply them effectively during rapid developmental testing.
- Participate in Test Readiness Reviews, design reviews, flight readiness reviews, and other technical reviews involving energetic systems.
- Review proposed munition configurations and test concepts from an operational explosive-safety perspective.
- Work alongside Engineering and Munitions teams to identify hazards associated with warheads, energetic payloads, fuzing systems, initiators, safe-and-arm devices, release mechanisms, and aircraft integration.
- Provide operational EOD and explosive-effects expertise during test planning and anomaly resolution.
- Support the development of safe procedures for developmental systems where established military Technical Orders, publications, or EOD procedures may not yet exist.
- Assist engineering teams in evaluating credible failure modes and determining appropriate operational controls.
- Participate in mishap, anomaly, and near-miss investigations involving energetic materials or weapons systems.
- 10+ years of military or professional explosives experience, with substantial direct responsibility for explosive operations.
- Graduate of the NAVSCOLEOD – (Naval School Explosive Ordnance Disposal), FBI Hazardous Device School (HDS) school or equivalent military/government explosives qualification.
- Former EOD Technician/LE Bomb Squad Member with demonstrated experience as an EOD Team Leader or equivalent leadership position.
- Extensive hands-on experience with military explosives, demolition materials, initiators, ordnance, improvised explosive hazards, and explosive safety procedures.
- Demonstrated experience planning and executing high-risk explosive or live-fire operations with zero explosive range mishaps.
- Experience conducting formal Operational Risk Management (ORM) or equivalent hazard-analysis processes.
- Demonstrated ability to recognize unsafe conditions and make independent risk decisions under operational and schedule pressure.
- Experience developing or implementing SOPs, training programs, range procedures, or explosive-safety documentation.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills and the ability to communicate technical hazards to engineers, executives, operators, customers, and range personnel.
- Ability and willingness to travel to remote test locations and operate in austere field environments (25-30% Travel ~1wk/month)
- Ability to obtain and maintain a DoD security clearance.
- US Citizenship Required due to ITAR regulations.
- EOD Master-level qualification or equivalent senior EOD experience.
- 15+ years of military EOD experience.
- Active DoD security clearance.
- Experience serving as an EOD Team Leader, Range Safety Officer, Demolition Range Safety Officer, Test Director, Training Chief, or similar operational safety position.
- Experience supporting Naval Special Warfare, Special Operations Forces, aviation, UAS, or developmental weapons programs.
- Experience planning or supervising large-scale demolition and live-fire training.
- Experience with air-delivered weapons, UAS-carried munitions, loitering munitions, warheads, fuzing systems, or energetic payload integration.
- Familiarity with Explosive Safety Submissions (ESS) and DoD explosive-safety review processes.
- Experience coordinating operations with military test ranges and range control organizations.
- Familiarity with applicable DoD explosive safety, ammunition and explosives, range safety, and weapons-testing standards.
- Experience developing formal explosive-safety training and qualification programs.
- Instructor qualification or significant military training-development experience.
- Experience investigating explosive incidents, mishaps, near misses, misfires, or munition anomalies.
- Experience working directly with DoD customers, test organizations, and defense contractors.
- The Range Safety Officer / Explosive Safety Authority serves as an independent safety authority for explosive operations.
- Able to Hold all related federal, state and local explosive licenses
- Stop or suspend an operation when an unacceptable explosive hazard exists.
- Require corrective actions before an operation proceeds.
- Establish minimum personnel qualification requirements for explosive operations.
- Determine whether proposed operational controls are adequate for execution.
- Elevate unresolved explosive-safety risks directly to Firestorm leadership.
- Program schedule, customer commitments, test objectives, or organizational seniority do not supersede this authority.
- Engineering retains responsibility for system design and technical performance. Program and Operations organizations retain responsibility for execution and schedule. The Explosive Safety Authority determines whether an explosive operation can be conducted within acceptable risk.
- Based at Firestorm headquarters in San Diego, California.
- Regular work at military, government, commercial, and remote test ranges.
- Ability to travel approximately 20–30%, both CONUS and OCONUS.
- Work may involve proximity to explosives, energetic materials, weapons systems, aircraft, heavy equipment, and live-fire operations.
- PPE is provided; adherence to established explosive safety, range safety, and environmental procedures is mandatory.
- Ability to lift and transport approximately 30–50 lbs of equipment as required for field operations.
US Salary Range: $170,000 - $190,000
Equity: Meaningful equity in a pre-IPO defense technology startup
Compensation will be based on relevant operational experience, EOD qualifications, explosive-safety expertise, leadership experience, security clearance, specialized training, and business requirements.
To conform to U.S. Government export-control requirements, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), candidates must meet applicable U.S. person or authorization requirements.
Firestorm is an equal opportunity employer committed to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace and upholding equitable hiring practices. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment consistent with applicable federal, state, and local law.
CompensationThe base pay range for this role is $170 – $190 per year.
Skills Required
- 10+ years of military or professional explosives experience with substantial direct responsibility for explosive operations
- Graduate of NAVSCOLEOD, FBI Hazardous Device School, or equivalent military or government explosives qualification
- Former EOD Technician or law-enforcement bomb squad member with experience as an EOD Team Leader or equivalent leader
- Hands-on experience with military explosives, demolition materials, initiators, ordnance, improvised explosive hazards, and explosive safety procedures
- Experience planning and executing high-risk explosive or live-fire operations without explosive range mishaps
- Experience conducting formal Operational Risk Management or equivalent hazard analysis
- Ability to recognize unsafe conditions and make independent risk decisions under operational and schedule pressure
- Experience developing or implementing SOPs, training programs, range procedures, or explosive-safety documentation
- Strong written and verbal communication skills, including communicating technical hazards to diverse stakeholders
- Ability and willingness to travel to remote test locations and operate in austere field environments
- Ability to obtain and maintain a DoD security clearance
- U.S. citizenship due to ITAR regulations
Firestorm Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Firestorm and has not been reviewed or approved by Firestorm.
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Healthcare Strength — Health coverage is described as comprehensive across medical, dental, and vision, with company‑paid life/AD&D and short‑ and long‑term disability plus optional hospital indemnity, critical illness, and accident insurance. Tax‑advantaged accounts and mental‑health resources are also highlighted.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Time off includes “unlimited PTO” and an unusually generous holiday calendar that features a year‑end hiatus. Generous parental leave is also called out.
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Fair & Transparent Compensation — Multiple postings list explicit salary ranges for roles across engineering, operations, and field positions, and internship hourly rates are published. These disclosures provide clearer expectations on cash compensation for many candidates.
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The Company
What We Do
We are building the future of modular, open-source architectures supporting the Department of Defense requirements to create Affordable Mass. Firestorm is redefining military expectations for on-site modularity to support the widest array of mission areas.
