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San Francisco, CA, USA
2026-08-19
nan
North America
Intern - Device Build
Role Description
Navi captures everything a pilot sees and hears and turns it into automated debrief intelligence — sortie-level awareness that has never existed before. None of it works without the hardware in the aircraft. That's what you'll build.
**About the role**
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This is a hands-on hardware internship. You'll build, test, and ship the devices that fly in real aircraft at university flight schools and military squadrons. Every unit you assemble ends up in a cockpit, capturing data a pilot and instructor will sit down and review that same day. Nothing here is a prototype exercise. Navi is already live at leading flight schools.
You'll work directly with our hardware and engineering teams, and you'll see the consequences of your work fast — if a unit fails, you'll hear about it, and you'll be part of fixing it.
**What you'll do**
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* Assemble, wire, and bench-test Navi devices — audio capture, mounting hardware, cable harnesses, enclosures
* Diagnose failures on returned or field-reported units and feed what you learn back into the build
* Help improve the build itself — fixturing, assembly documentation, anything that makes the next hundred units faster and more reliable than the last hundred
* Track inventory, components, and BOMs so we never stall a deployment waiting on a part
* Assist in preparing shipments, and willing to learn and assist in other tasks too
* Work alongside engineers across hardware, firmware, and software to close the loop between what we build and what pilots actually experience
**About you**
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* Currently pursuing a degree in engineering, or equivalent hands-on experience — we care more about what you've built than where you're enrolled
* Comfortable with hand tools, wiring and basic electronics debugging
* Careful and consistent. Hardware that flies has to be built the same way every time, and you take that seriously
* You've built physical things — personal projects, robotics teams, Formula SAE, RC aircraft, drones, a workshop in your garage. Tell us about them
* Willing to do the unglamorous work. Some days are assembly and testing, and those units still have to be perfect
* Curious about why things fail and persistent enough to find out
* Comfortable in ambiguity — processes here are still being written, and you'll help write them
**Nice to have**
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* **You know how to fly.** A private pilot certificate, student pilot time, or any flight training is a real bonus. Pilots understand the cockpit environment these devices live in, and we'll lean on you for more than device build — flight testing, data collection, ride-alongs, and translating what actually happens in the aircraft back to the engineering team
* Familiarity with aviation systems, avionics, or general aviation aircraft
* CAD, 3D printing, or fabrication experience
* Basic scripting for test automation or data validation
**Why this role matters**
=========================
Pilots trust their lives to the systems in front of them. The device you build is the first link in that chain — if it doesn't capture clean data, nothing downstream works. Interns here own real units going to real customers, not side projects.
**What you'll get**
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* Hardware that ships — your work flies in aircraft at flight schools, airlines, and the U.S. Air Force
* Direct access to the founding team and every part of the stack, from hardware to AI
* A path to a full-time role for interns who prove they can own the build
**How we work**
===============
* **Find a way.** We don't wait for permission or perfect information. Ideas come from anywhere regardless of title. Figure it out, ship it, iterate.
* **Creativity over control.** First principles over process. We'd rather have a creative solution that's 80% right today than a perfect one next quarter.
* **Update fast.** Come in with a hypothesis, throw it away when the data says otherwise. Ego has no place here.
* **Intensity with focus.** We work hard because the mission demands it. Clarity on what matters is how we make that sustainable.