Position Overview Onsite / Full-time / Salary The Flight Operations Technician is a field-based operational role responsible for the execution of Urban Sky’s stratospheric balloon missions, from mission preparation and launch through tracking, recovery, and return of flight hardware.

Flight Operations is the final operational handoff of work performed across Urban Sky. Our team is responsible for translating that work into successful missions in the real world, often far from headquarters and without immediate support. Mission focus, sound field judgment, adaptability, personal accountability, and a strong drive toward mission success are fundamental to this role.

This is not a conventional 9-to-5 position. Flight Operations Technicians may travel extensively throughout the United States and internationally, deploy with limited notice, work consecutive days, weekends, and irregular schedules, and spend long days driving or operating in the field. Mission days of 12-16 hours can occur. Deployments may range from several days to several weeks.

We are looking for people who find that environment motivating rather than burdensome.

What You Will Do:

Support the team wherever needed. Flight Operations is a small team. Successful operators take ownership beyond their individual assignment, communicate early, help teammates, and remain focused on the success of the overall mission.

Own mission execution. Help plan, prepare, launch, track, recover, and close out stratospheric balloon missions with a solid sense of personal responsibility for mission success.

Operate effectively in the field. Work independently and within a small team across remote, rural, austere,



and unfamiliar environments where immediate organizational support may not always be available.

Exercise independent field judgment. Continuously evaluate terrain, weather, roads, waterways, power lines, livestock, vehicle limitations, fatigue, public safety, and other changing conditions. Know when to continue, modify, relocate, delay, or discontinue an operation.

Prepare beyond the checklist. Anticipate communications limitations, weather, vehicle and fuel requirements, food and water, equipment needs, access routes, recovery contingencies, and other logistical requirements before deployment.

Launch and recover flight systems. Safely execute balloon and payload preparation, launch, chase, recovery, documentation, and return of flight hardware in accordance with procedures and mission-specific engineering direction.

Solve problems with limited support. Develop the technical knowledge and operational judgment necessary to troubleshoot flight systems, vehicles, equipment, logistics, and changing mission conditions without depending on someone at headquarters to solve every problem.

Operate vehicles extensively. Safely operate full-size and heavy-duty pickup trucks and other mission vehicles during long-distance deployments, off-highway access, launch operations,



and balloon chase and recovery.

Represent Urban Sky professionally. Interact appropriately with customers, military and government partners, law enforcement, landowners, and members of the public while protecting sensitive customer and company information.

Communicate and document clearly. Maintain reliable communication during operations and accurately document mission activity, flight hardware, recovery conditions, anomalies, and field observations through written reports, photographs, video, and operational systems.

What You Will Do: We will teach you Urban Sky’s balloon systems and mission planning. We need you to arrive with the field experience, maturity, judgment, and mission-success mindset required to operate effectively from the start.

Mission-first mindset.

A genuine drive toward mission success and customer success, with the initiative and determination to help move a mission forward when plans change, conditions become difficult, or additional effort is required.

Proven field experience.

Meaningful experience operating in remote, rural, austere, expeditionary, military, wildland, backcountry, aviation, emergency-response, or similarly independent environments. Field acumen should already be part of what you bring to the team, not something you are learning for the first time.

Strong situational awareness and judgment.

Demonstrated ability to assess ambiguous or changing conditions, identify hazards, make sound decisions, and recognize when an original plan needs to change.

Independent problem-solving.

Ability to

📌 Flight Operations Technician (Picton)
🏢 Urban Sky
📍 Picton