Flight Operations & Mission Preparation Intern

About HyLight

Power lines, gas pipelines and railways are still inspected the way they were 50 years ago: by helicopter. Expensive, noisy, and up to a tonne of CO₂ per flight hour.

We built the alternative. The HyLighter is a 12-metre autonomous airship running on hydrogen. It flies for up to 10 hours, almost silently, and spots a 1 mm defect from 25 metres up.

But the airship is only half the story. Every flight brings back massive amounts of LiDAR, imagery and methane data, and that’s where the value is. Our AI turns it into what operators act on: 50+ types of defects detected automatically, and leaks pinpointed across their network.

It’s not a prototype. HyLighters already fly missions for France’s largest energy and rail operators and have flown over the Palace of Versailles. Backed by Y Combinator, we just raised €13M to go from 4 airships to 15.

Working at HyLight

We design, build and fly every HyLighter, and turn its data into insight, all under one roof on a former airbase. Which means:

• You own it all the way. At a big aerospace company, you’d own a small piece of one subsystem. Here, you design it, test it, stand on the airfield when it flies, and see the client act on the data it brings back.

• Weeks, not years. Ideas go from whiteboard to flight test in weeks.

• Responsibility from day one. The founders’ average age is 27. Nobody here waits for permission.

Job Summary

This is a 4 to 6-month hands-on internship at the heart of our flight operations. Every HyLighter mission starts long before take-off. Someone has to check that the flying area is safe and legal, file the right declarations, warn everyone on the ground, brief the crew, and make sure the team leaves with everything it needs. That’s this role.

This role suits someone highly organised and reliable who enjoys logistics and coordination, and who is curious about aviation and how drone and airship operations are regulated.

The Mission

Working with our Flight Operations and Regulatory teams, your responsibilities will include:

Flying area preparation

• Analysing each mission area for risks and regulatory constraints, including airspace, restricted and prohibited zones, populated areas, sensitive sites and ground hazards.

• Checking that every mission falls within the scope of our operational authorisations and flagging anything that needs extra approval.

Mission declarations & authorisations

• Preparing and filing mission declarations with the relevant authorities, and tracking them until they’re confirmed.

• Keeping a clear record of every declaration, so that each flight is fully traceable.

Stakeholder communication

• Informing stakeholders about upcoming flights by email. This includes clients, local authorities, landowners, air traffic services and nearby aerodromes.

• Keeping communication templates and contact lists for each region up to date.

Mission orders

• Preparing mission orders for each flight, covering objectives, crew, schedule, area, constraints, contacts and emergency procedures.

• Making sure crews have everything they need before they leave the base.

Mission toolboxes & stock

• Preparing mission toolboxes and equipment kits for each deployment.

• Managing stock of consumables, spares and field equipment, and anticipating reorders.

• Checking and restocking kits when crews return, and reporting anything missing, damaged or needing maintenance.

Crew training & follow-up

• Organising crew trainings and keeping the training schedule.

• Tracking qualifications, certificates and recurrent training for every crew member, and flagging upcoming expirations.

• Keeping training records clean and ready for audit.

Profile Sought

Skills & experience

• Solid understanding of aerospace systems and physical principles (structures, avionics, propulsion, or embedded systems).

• Awareness of airworthiness fundamentals (EASA regulations, system compliance, safety assessments). We’ll train you on the rest.

• Strong organisational skills, with the ability to juggle several missions and deadlines at once.

• Clear, professional written communication.

Soft skills

• Rigorous and reliable. A forgotten declaration or a missing tool can ground a mission.

• Proactive: you anticipate problems instead of waiting for them.

• Hands-on, and happy to pack kits, sort a warehouse and spend time with the crews.

• A team player who works well with fast-moving field teams.

Languages: French (fluent, since most stakeholder communication is in French) and English (professional working proficiency).

What We Offer:

• Monthly compensation: €800 for 4th-year students, €1200 for final-year/master thesis internships

• Real responsibility and mentorship with the Tech and Regulatory teams

• Potential to become a shareholder in HyLight upon hiring

• 100% reimbursement of public transport pass (Navigo) or €800/year for sustainable commuting

• Bike provided for commuting

• Free lunch

• Bi-annual offsite trips with the whole team

Location

Base 217, Brétigny-sur-Orge, accessible via RER C