The unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) market is already huge, and it’s getting bigger—fast.
The Teal Group estimates that production of combat,
commercial, and consumer drones will triple over the next 10 years to US
$93 billion, with military UAV research spending adding another $30
billion over the decade. “The commercial market is still nascent,” says
Philip Finnegan, Teal’s director of corporate affairs. “Even as the
commercial market develops, it will not reach the size of the military
market anytime soon.” Still, MarketsandMarkets, another research firm,
expects the commercial drone market to reach $1.27 billion by 2020, a
compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 109.31 percent between 2014 and
2020.
Impressive numbers, but they don’t seem to be helping
engineering students and recent graduates who are interested in a career
in drone design and development.
WHERE THE JOBS ARE
The defense/aerospace UAV sector is hiring aggressively, but
most job descriptions call for engineering “talent” with several years
of experience, and a load of skill sets. And a security clearance, which
means the job applicant must be a U.S. citizen.
Raytheon Intelligence, Information and Services is looking
for a principal/senior systems engineer for its UAV program with at
least 10 years of experience, familiarity with UAV command and control
systems, his or her own list of U.S. Department of Defense (DoD)
customer contacts, and a U.S. government-approved Secret-level security
clearance. Raytheon also is in the market for senior systems engineers
with at least six years of experience, and a U.S. military background in
planning UAV missions and piloting UAVs.
Northrop Grumman’s Aerospace Systems Sector says it needs
“experienced” UAV engineers skilled in communications systems, radar
systems, guidance/navigation/control, UAV control and mission management
software, and cyber software. A recent list of the company’s job
openings for engineering graduates is much shorter, including a “new
grad” software engineer, but still requires a master’s degree in
computer science, computer engineering, or information systems. Northrop
also needed a “junior” EE with a bachelor’s degree who can obtain and
maintain a TS/SCI (Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information)
security clearance.
Google-owned Titan Aerospace is looking for an application
software engineer with at least a master’s degree in computer science (a
Ph.D is preferred), and experience in building ground control stations
for UAVs. Google also needs experienced software engineers for its
Project Wing who already know how to design complete UAV software
stacks. Most other drone designers and developers (DJI Technology, L-3
Communications, 3D Robotics, General Dynamics, Israel Aerospace
Industries, Elbit Systems Ltd., AeroVironment, and Yuneec International,
to name a few) have similar engineering staff requirements.
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