Forge & Flight Academy delivers applied technical instruction to DoD, federal agency, and contractor personnel across five distinct capability domains. The Academy is hiring instructors and accepting applications now for two pillar roles.
What the Five-Pillar Framework Is
Most UAS training programs are organized around individual courses or platform types. Forge & Flight Academy is organized around capability pillars — domains of integrated technical competency that persist regardless of which specific platform, radio, or tool a student will operate after the course.
Pillar I: Unmanned & Autonomous Systems. The end-to-end lifecycle of unmanned platforms — assembly, configuration, operation, sustainment, and adaptation. FPV multirotor, fixed-wing, VTOL, autopilot configuration, power systems, payload integration, mission planning, and operator-level autonomy supervision. Students do not learn to fly. They learn how systems fail, degrade, and recover.
Pillar II: RF, Spectrum & Communications. Spectrum-aware operation for personnel whose platforms operate in contested RF environments. Control links, payload links, antenna selection, SDR-based spectrum visualization, GPS dependency awareness, and communications troubleshooting.
Pillar III: Field Fabrication & Sustainment. Organic repair and modification of technical systems without a supply chain or service contractor. Electronics repair, soldering under field conditions, power and wiring modification, additive manufacturing for forward-deployed sustainment, and component cannibalization. If you cannot fix it with what you have, you do not actually own the system.
Pillar IV: Autonomy, AI & Edge Computing. Operator-facing autonomy without hype — constraints, failure modes, and human control. Edge computing, companion computers, sensor fusion, and human-in-the-loop operations.
Pillar V: Capability Assessment & Technical Evaluation. Measurement of what people can actually do, not what certificates they hold. Capability-based rubrics, practical exams, stress-based evaluation, and instructor qualification.
Who We Are Hiring
Pillar I Instructor — Unmanned & Autonomous Systems. W-2 hourly, $35–$50/hr, per-cohort schedule. Requires demonstrated hands-on expertise across the Pillar I domain — building, configuring, and repairing platforms in field conditions. FAA Part 107 required. FSI Level 1 preferred. Based in Fayetteville, NC with customer site travel.
Pillar III Instructor — Field Fabrication & Sustainment. W-2 hourly, $30–$45/hr, per-cohort schedule. Requires demonstrated capability across electronics repair, soldering, power systems modification, and additive manufacturing for structural applications. Military sustainment background strongly preferred. Based in Fayetteville, NC with customer site travel.
Instructors are hired for a pillar and deliver courses across that domain. Not single-course assignments.
The Standard
The Academy’s assessment model requires instructors who have done the work at a level where they can recognize and evaluate it in others. Students leave having demonstrated they can perform the capability — not having completed the hours. That standard shapes everything about who we hire to teach.
Military background is emphasized because the operational context for everything the Academy teaches is the deployed environment. Instructors who have operated in that environment teach differently than instructors who have not.
Applications are open at forgeandflight.com/careers. Send applications to [email protected].