Field Operations Engineer

TL;DR

• Own the hardware, provisioning, and field testing that translates Breaker’s software into autonomous robots flying real missions
• Run field testing campaigns end-to-end - planning, provisioning, flying, data capture, and the post-test debrief
• Keep the company’s hardware inventoried, configured, and flight-ready: drones, radios, comms, and everything in between
• A hands-on, hardware-first role for someone who is drone-obsessed and process-driven (this is not a software development role)
• Roughly one week a month in the field; you must be willing to travel
• Australian citizenship required; a Remote Pilot Licence is a bonus, and we’ll help you get one if you don’t have it

About Breaker

The way humans use robots is broken.

Modern problems demand more robots than we have operators. Every drone, ground vehicle, and maritime system requires dedicated training, manual control, and constant oversight. One operator per robot. One pilot per mission.

Breaker’s AI agent breaks this constraint.

Our technology turns any robot into a truly autonomous, self-organizing teammate. Operators command and query teams of robots through natural language conversations over the push-to-talk radios they already carry, no laptops, no controllers, no additional gear.

Instead of manually flying search patterns across three different screens, you say, “survey this area and flag anything unusual.” The robot team figures out how to divide the task, coordinate their movements, and report back what matters.

We’re fundamentally changing the operator-to-robot ratio. Small teams become force multipliers.

Our software deploys directly onboard each robot, enabling real-time, intent-driven control even in contested environments with limited bandwidth. We’re solving problems most AI companies never touch: sub-second inference on edge hardware with strict latency, power, and connectivity constraints.

We’re backed by some of the best investors globally and growing our team across Austin, Texas, and Sydney, Australia. We’re a small team of experienced engineers moving fast on technology that will define how humans and machines work together for decades to come.

Join us if you want to help build the robots we were promised 🤖

About the Role

Breaker’s software is only as good as the robots it runs on, and getting those robots into the field, configured correctly and flying reliably, is its own hard problem. This role owns that problem. You’ll be the person who turns a software release into drones in the air: provisioning and configuring hardware, running simulation to catch issues before the field, planning and executing field testing campaigns, capturing and triaging the data that comes back, and keeping the company’s hardware organised and ready to go. When we run a demo, in Australia or overseas, you’re the one who makes sure the hardware works, the radios are debugged, and the platforms are configured exactly as they should be.

This is a hands-on, hardware-first role. It is not a software development position, and we want to be upfront about that - but if you love hardware, live and breathe drones, and take pride in a clinical, well-run operation, you’ll have an enormous amount of ownership from day one. As the company scales, there’s a clear path forward, including toward a forward-deployed engineering role supporting customers and integrations across regions.

Key Responsibilities

• Plan and run field testing campaigns end-to-end: prepare the gear, execute the test plan, capture clean data, and run the post-test debrief
• Provision and configure drones and other hardware - load software releases, set and tune flight parameters, and get every platform flight-ready
• Own the hardware registry and inventory, keeping the Sydney workshop organised and deployment-ready (and supporting the Austin team as needed)
• Run simulation (software-in-the-loop) testing on a regular cadence, including new releases and CONOPs, to surface issues before they reach the field
• Triage issues coming out of the field, package clean and useful bug reports for the software team, and offload and analyse field data
• Support demos and field deployments in Australia and internationally with on-site hardware, comms, and configuration support
• Build and maintain SOPs, operator manuals, test tooling, and field documentation; support new hardware and platform integrations alongside the team

About You

You’re early in your career, or a few years into it - this is not a senior role, and we care more about attitude, drive, and hands-on ability than years on a CV. Outstanding recent graduates are encouraged to apply, especially those who’ve cut their teeth on serious, competitive engineering projects.

Required Skills & Experience

• Hands-on experience with drones or other UAVs - you understand how they work (flight controllers, ESCs, props, radios) and have built, tuned, or seriously tinkered with at least one platform
• Familiarity with ArduPilot or a similar flight stack: setting parameters, tuning, and diagnosing problems
• Comfortable in Linux and on the command line, and with CAD and 3D printing for hardware fixes and fixtures
• Highly organised, with strong attention to detail - you track the things other people let slip
• Self-motivated and happy to follow (and improve) defined procedures, and you genuinely enjoy hardware and field work over chasing the next software project
• Willing to travel and participate in regular field testing (around one week a month)
• Australian citizenship

Highly Valued Experience

• A Remote Pilot Licence (RePL) and/or ReOC experience - if you don’t have a RePL, we’ll help you get one
• Standout university project experience in a competitive, company-like team (for example, solar car, autonomous systems, or robotics competition teams)
• A defence or military background - especially hands-on work with experimental hardware, UAS, drones, or military communications
• Field, deployment, or expedition experience in demanding environments
• Some software or scripting ability, including using AI coding tools, to build small tools and automations
• Experience improving or extending simulation environments, and prior startup or scale-up experience

Why Join Us?

You’ll be an owner, not a renter. We’re at the stage where foundational decisions are still being made and entire systems need to be built from scratch. Your work won’t be maintaining someone else’s legacy - you’ll be creating what comes next. The problems you solve and the systems you build will define how Breaker scales.

You’ll work with people who’ve done this before. Our team has shipped production robotics systems, scaled infrastructure, and solved the kind of hard integration problems that only come up when software meets the physical world. You won’t be the only person in the room who’s debugged a flaky radio link, provisioned a fleet of drones, or rescued a field test when the hardware fought back.

You’ll solve problems that don’t exist anywhere else. Most companies are building incremental improvements on established technology. We’re defining new categories - which means the work is harder, more ambiguous, and infinitely more interesting.

You’ll work hard, together. We’re in the office every day, grinding on hard problems alongside great people. We’ve built a workspace where the best work happens - access to hardware, quick decisions, real collaboration. We’re flexible when life requires it, but we’re looking for people who want to show up, get stuck in, and build something significant with a team they respect.

We’re going global. Backed by globally recognised investors, we’re growing teams across Sydney, Australia and Austin, Texas. If you want exposure to international expansion and the opportunity to help build across regions, that path exists here.

You’ll own what you build. Generous equity packages mean when Breaker wins, you win.

Location. Cicada Innovations, Eveleigh, Sydney, Australia (National Innovation Centre). Regular domestic travel for field testing, with occasional international travel for demos and deployments.

If you’re excited about the opportunity to work at the bleeding edge of physical AI, we’d love to hear from you.