UAV Engineer

At Intelic, we build software for unmanned systems in the defense sector. We have offices in Amsterdam and Kyiv, with a team of engineers and defense experts from the Netherlands and Ukraine.

Our main product is Nexus, a platform that helps drones work faster, more reliably and in coordination with each other. In Ukraine, we work closely with our partners, so what we build is tested in real conditions.

In this role, you’ll work where software meets drone hardware: getting our software running on partners’ drones, debugging the data that comes from the flight controller and payloads, and testing new versions before they go out.

We work with partners and military units in Ukraine, and Nexus has to work on every platform they use. Each new drone means working out how it communicates, how it controls its payloads, and what we need to build so Nexus can support it. You’ll join our Ukrainian operations team in Kyiv and work closely with our software engineers in Amsterdam and with the partners who use our product.

If you have a solid technical base and want to learn how real drone systems work in the field, this is a good place to do it.

Your work is split between software, hardware and documentation. One day you’re in the office working out how to fit a new communication system into a drone’s architecture. Another day you’re in the field with a pilot: they fly, and you tune the aircraft and solve problems on the spot.

• Integrate Nexus with partners’ UAV platforms: work out what the drone does, what Nexus supports, and what’s needed to close the gap

• Work with Nexus Agent on companion computers and debug the data coming from the flight controller and payloads

• Configure and tune flight systems based on PX4 or ArduPilot

• Set up GPS modules, cameras, companion computers, telemetry and video links together with hardware engineers

• Test new software versions before release: run ground and flight checks, follow test cases and record the results

• Find the cause of problems when it’s not clear whether it’s hardware, software or the link

• Help military and technical partners solve problems with our product, remotely or on site

• Document issues, fixes and field feedback so the software and hardware teams can use them

• You understand how drone systems work. You know the basics of PX4 or ArduPilot

• You have a technical, maths or software engineering background, from study or work

• You understand hardware principles: what boards exist and what they’re for, how to program them and in which languages, and the main communication protocols

• You’ve written or changed code, for example in Python or C, and can explain what it does

• You find the cause of a problem step by step, using logs and data, instead of swapping parts until it works

• You have working English, written and spoken, to work with the team in Amsterdam

• You’re willing to travel for regular field work with our partners

• You have Ukrainian citizenship or the right to work in Ukraine

• Willingness to work in conflict-affected areas

• Experience in the defense sector or with military UAV deployments

• Hands-on experience with MAVLink, MAVProxy or companion computers like Raspberry Pi or Jetson

• Experience testing software before a release, for example running test cases

• You’ll work on real systems. Your work runs on real drones used by real units, not only in a lab.

• You’ll work across software and hardware. Few roles let you do both, with engineers in Kyiv and Amsterdam.

• You’ll learn fast. You’ll get hands-on with new platforms, protocols and payloads from the start.

• The mission is real. The systems you work on are used by Ukrainian units every day.

• Full-time position and official employment

• Hybrid work in Kyiv, with regular field trips

• Mobilisation exemption

• 25 vacation days

• Travel reimbursement