Head - UAV Productisation and Systems Engineering

Head – UAV Productisation & Systems Engineering

Bangalore, India | Defense & Industrial UAS Platforms

Who We Are:

At Tolle Labs (tolle.in), we're not just building drones - we’re building scalable, certified flying robots that earn their wings at high altitude. Think nano & micro UAVs, autonomous ground control, docking infrastructures - engineered for defense, industrial edge, and serious reliability. We prototype, we iterate, but we ship only what survives the test, the skies, and regulatory scrutiny.

What This Role Is (for Real):

You don’t just move things forward - you armor them for battle . As Head of Productisation & Systems Engineering, you’ll be the shepherd of our most ambitious platforms: turning prototypes with promise into UAVs with pedigrees. You’ll obsess over manufacturability, certification justice, supply chain precision, and “first flight, first pass” reliability. If airworthiness, ruggedness, and production efficiency had a lovechild, you’d raise it.

Your Mission (What You’ll Actually Do):

• Lead the prototype -> product pipeline with military-level discipline: design validation, qualification, stress testing, redundancy, failure modes.
• Instill Design-for-Manufacture (DFM) and Design-for-Certification (DFC) in everything from CAD sketches to supplier contracts.
• Architect subsystems integration: avionics, autonomy (flight control, perception, AI), payloads, propulsion & battery systems, power electronics, comms - make them work together every time .
• Define and own V&V, HIL / SIL / Environmental / EMI-EMC / Safety qualification programs; work with test labs, regulatory authorities, and internal QA to close gaps.
• Build, vet and scale a supplier ecosystem: Tier-1/Tier-2 vendors, component selection, indigenous sourcing, risk mitigation.
• Lead pilot production runs, enforce metrics (yield, mean time between failure, fatigue, etc.), get ready for volume.
• Create and drive ruthless execution roadmaps: clear milestones, risk registers, contingency plans, budgets; report to founders & stakeholders like a hawk.

What You Bring to the Table:

• 12-18 years in UAV / aerospace / defense hardware productisation. You have one or more full life-cycles under your belt: from lab-prototype to certified, production-ready system.
• Deep technical mastery: avionics, embedded systems, autonomy / perception, propulsion & power, structural / materials, EMI/EMC, environmental / safety engineering.
• Direct experience with global regulatory / certification regimes (DGCA, FAA, EASA, CE, MIL-STDs etc.). You know the documentation, the audit, the test artifacts.
• Strong track record in supply chain / vendor management, BoM optimization, cost‐vs‐reliability trade-offs, manufacturability constraints.
• Program leadership with a mix of grit + process discipline: meaningful experience with lean / Six Sigma / AS9100 / quality systems.
• Bonus: test pilot or flight test exposure; hands dirty in test & qualification phases; familiarity with hardware in the loop (HIL), flight envelopes, boundary conditions, etc.

What Keeps You Up at Night, And How You’ll Fix It:

• First prototype falls apart in flight -> you ensure every critical subsystem has redundancy, testing & qualification baked in.
• Component shortage or supplier quality slip -> you’ll build buffer schemas, alternate sourcing, and rigorous incoming inspection.
• Certification audits blindsiding us -> your documentation, compliance checklist, test evidence are always ready.
• Scaling up -> you’ll move from artisan prototype builds to repeatable, manufacturable, reliable production meant for field strains.

What You’ll Get:

• Executive role where your decisions matter: you shape product, process, teams, and Tolle’s drone ecosystem.
• Ownership + ESOPs + competitive package.
• A chance to build something truly indigenous, mission critical, that stands up globally.
• Exciting scope: autonomy, hardware, regulatory, production scale -> all in one seat at the table.

Tone Check (Because Every Great Job Ad Has One)

We work with high stakes, tight margins, and tougher benchmarks. So we want someone who loves wrangling technical complexity and process discipline. If you prefer things that are fuzzy, this role won’t be satisfying. If you want to see your designs fly the first time, pass every test, meet every spec -> THEN WELCOME HOME

Apply here Or email your candidature to