Top emerging job roles in the Drone industry

5 min read

Career Trends: October 14, 2022
Curated by the Knowledge Team of  ICS Career GPS


The growth opens a large number of job opportunities for aspirants with diverse skills and educational backgrounds.

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The drone sector is called the sunshine sector and is witnessing fast growth. With liberalised drone rules, new advancements in technologies, government support, and a conducive ecosystem, the sector’s future is promising. The government is actively implementing various public initiatives to encourage the use of drones.

The growth opens a large number of job opportunities for aspirants with diverse skills and educational backgrounds. Till a couple of years ago, drones were mostly used for defence purposes. But a lot has changed in the past two years. The drone sector has something to offer everyone. Someone with a basic qualification can get a job in the sector, and so can an engineer.  

Here are the top 5 emerging job roles in the drone sector:

1. Drone Pilot

  • Drones are of various sizes and kinds.
  • Currently, basic drone pilot training is being offered by several DGCA-approved training centres.
  • As more industries and businesses use different kinds of drones as per their needs, pilot training will become more advanced.
  • Many more training centres will come up and many industries may train pilots as per their requirements.
  • Drone pilot training will open opportunities in many sectors like tourism and entertainment, videography, surveillance, Agri-tech, etc.
  • Experienced drone pilots can also become drone pilot trainers.

2. Data Analyst for Drone Systems

  • Drones have an inbuilt camera that helps them capture videos or visual data.
  • Some drones are equipped with other sensors to record details like temperature, soil quality, etc. 
  • This data is usually sent to the cloud and is processed either manually or using software.
  • Currently, drones are not capable of interpreting data on their own.
  • Hence, we need efficient data analysts to help us make sense of the data.
  • The type of data and the nature of the information varies according to the requirement of different businesses and industries.

3. Software Engineers Building Drone-Related Software

  • Our country has a huge talent pool of software engineers.
  • As drones acquire additional abilities and find applications in new domains, more software systems should be built or customised according to the drone’s application. 
  • With the latest advancements in communication systems like the 5G network, drones can communicate with various systems, send data, receive instructions, etc. more efficiently.
  • Soon, drones will acquire AI (Artificial Intelligence) abilities.
  • They would analyse collected information and take appropriate action without any human intervention.
  • Such advanced systems need the collective efforts of software engineers, testers, managers, as well as domain experts. 

With the rapid digitalization of various sectors, software engineers are in huge demand. Engineers with cross-functional skills like aerospace engineering and software product development, experts in physics, applied physics, manufacturing, robotics, mechanical engineering, etc. can take jobs in the drone sector to contribute to its growth.

4. Data Entry Operators Feeding Drone Collected Data into Various Systems

  • Data entry operators collect the data and feed it into such software applications to retrieve needed outcomes.
  • Since the data collected will grow manyfold with the wide usage of drones, many such data entry operators will be required.
  • Data entry jobs need just basic qualifications and knowledge of using a computer.
  • These jobs are open even for non-graduates or graduates from non-engineering backgrounds.
  • These jobs may be entry-level, but with experience, one can grow into a data analyst.
  • For example, weather and soil data collected by an agricultural drone can be fed into software designed to help the farmers determine the next action.

5. Design and Manufacturing Engineers, Assemblers 

  • To meet the increasing domestic demand for drones, many drone manufacturing and assembling companies have come up. 
  • As the demand for drones increases, these companies will expand and increase in number. 
  • We are likely to witness a huge number of openings in the drone manufacturing and assembling sector for mechanical engineers, designers, aerospace engineers, robotics experts, electronics and communication engineers, software engineers with knowledge of designing software, supervisors, and managers.
  • Also personnel employed in manufacturing operations, quality control, and manual assemblers (where automation is not possible).

Taking up a job in the drone sector is a new path to entering the aviation industry. The new opportunities in the drone sector are very large in number. Moreover, the opportunities are for people with diverse skills and qualifications – engineers with various specialisations, manual assemblers, freelance videographers, robotics system designers, drone pilots, etc.


Have you checked out yesterday’s blog yet?

What is data analytics and how it may help in your career?


(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in the article mentioned above are those of the author(s). They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of ICS Career GPS or its staff.)

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