Amid hovering inflation, fears of a recession, and mass layoffs in different industries together with crypto and actual property, the drone business goes sturdy — and it’s hiring in droves. Drone jobs may not be as onerous to come back by as one would possibly assume.
There are effectively over a thousand job openings within the drone business, and plenty of are literally situated within the U.S. That’s based on a recent evaluation from the nice of us over at Drone Trade Insights, a drone analytics agency based mostly in Germany that tracks figures associated to all features of the drone business, from market share to funding funding.
Drone Trade Insights scoured job websites together with LinkedIn, Certainly, StepStone and particular person firm profession pages between April and Could 2022, and located a complete of 1,004 open positions, unfold throughout 94 drone-related firms worldwide.

What varieties of drone firms are doing essentially the most hiring?
There are all types of drone firms. Some construct them, whereas others fly them. Even others construct instruments to assist individuals fly them. To seek out out which varieties of drone firms have essentially the most job openings, Drone Trade Insights broke them down by sector, and right here’s what it discovered:
- 46% of job postings are by drone {hardware} producers (461 complete job openings)
- 37% of job postings are by drone service firms (374 complete job openings)
- 17% of job postings are by drone software program firms (169 complete job openings)
{Hardware} firms dominate for job openings. However job openings for drone service firms are additionally excessive — and rising. For instance, a $42 million Wingcopter funding spherical is ready to drive enormous progress for the corporate each in enabling new tasks — and enabling hiring to execute these tasks. The corporate mentioned it plans to rent about 80 new workers due to its new funding, which might practically double the scale of the corporate.

And inside these sectors, job openings are diversified. {Hardware} firms aren’t hiring solely {hardware} engineers. Service firms aren’t solely hiring drone pilots.
The Drone Trade Insights report famous that, whereas the one most-advertised job was for software program engineer, there have been additionally a major quantity of job openings in advertising and marketing, gross sales, manufacturing and design. And plenty of openings for software program engineers have been truly at {hardware} firms.
In fact, jobs as drone pilots are on the market too. One 2021 report from a separate drone business analysis group, Drone Analyst, instructed the business couldn’t rent drone pilots quick sufficient.
Associated learn: Liang Feng shares a day within the life as a drone supply lead

What modified essentially the most about drone jobs — and what do these hiring developments inform us?
Drone Trade Insights additionally in contrast 2022’s jobs to 2018’s jobs. It purposefully ignored the previous couple years provided that hiring developments have been unsurprisingly fairly wonky in just about each sector as a result of COVID-19 pandemic.
- Drone Software program Corporations: Job openings elevated by 120% (from 77 to 169)
- Drone Service Suppliers: Job openings elevated by 113% (from 176 to 374)
- Drone {Hardware} Corporations: Job openings decreased by 26% (from 626 to 461).
Software program has seen the largest enhance in job openings. And whereas {hardware} firms have been the one sector to see a lower in job openings, they nonetheless have essentially the most quantity of job openings general — hiring for 461 open positions on the time of the report.
Briefly: we’ve the {hardware} already. Now, it’s time to use by truly offering drone working providers, or by constructing software program that may higher handle and interpret the information that was gathered by these drones.
“Now that the business as an entire has change into extra mature, it’s all about making use of drone expertise,” based on an announcement from Drone Trade Insights. “To thrive, drone firms now have to give attention to creating the fitting software program and providers and they should promote their distinctive promoting positions.”