Chief Drone Pilot, Fixed Networks

Recruiter: Trevor Newman-Akram

Career Grade: E

Regular business travel across the UK is expected.

This role has an anticipated split of 60% of the time will be supporting and completing field engineer tasks and 40% of time completing Chief Pilot specific activities

About the role

Business provides products & services to organisations in the small-to-medium sized business, corporate and public sectors, and provide wholesale services to communication providers globally.

We understand and care about what our customers need. Business helps BT provide an “always on” customer service experience in an increasingly demanding world. Our job is to keep the Business network safe and working 24/7/365.

We stay one step ahead and respond to our customers’ ever-changing needs. We react quickly and are always looking to improve our responsiveness and reliability.

In a nutshell, we use our engineering expertise to protect and build the services of today and tomorrow, for our customers – around the clock and wherever they are – and we need you to help us do this.

H&S as a priority – health and safety is our number one priority – you’ll have a good knowledge of our key health and safety guidelines and you’ll be able to demonstrate a good understanding of why we always take health and safety extremely seriously.

You’ll be responsible for helping to create an inclusive working environment where people from all backgrounds can succeed. Diversity makes sense for us, for our customers and for our future.

We have a moral and legal responsibility to ensure the health and safety of our people, and to ensure our activities have the minimum impact to the environment we live in.

Our executives and managers have a responsibility to deliver BT’s duty of care and need access to the competent advice and guidance that the role holder provides to enable them to deliver that.

What you’ll be doing

Spending time in person with our growing drone pilot team to:

• Assess competence, especially for those whose flight hours have expired
• Train out new job types and new kit required for those jobs
• Train out and test compliance with flight procedures
• Support new pilots with flight time and competency
• Assess risk at new and complex jobs
• Complete drone surveys as part of the pilot team
• Review the quality of work completed by others in the pilot team
• Assess and set up new drone kit before distributing to pilot teams
• Test new software releases before they are used by the wider team
• Work on proof-of-concept jobs ahead of them being trained out to the wider team

As a chief pilot you’ll be expected to:

• Keep up to date with new regulations as they released by the CAA
• Spending time with other chief pilots inside and outside of BT to learn new skills
• Attend quarterly drone safety meetings with BT Group
• You may author, own and approve pan BT, Business or CFU specific risk assessments in line with external legal standards.
• You may author, own, commission & deliver specialist Safety training content in line with external legal frameworks and business requirements – e.g. RPAS
• You may represent BT as an H&S professional at magistrate or crown court.

Essential Skills / Experience

• Risk Management: Able to assess and mitigate operational, environmental, and regulatory risks associated with drone operations.
• Stakeholder Management: Manages expectations and engagement levels of internal and external stakeholders, including regulatory bodies, clients, and operational teams.
• Technical Expert: Will become an authority in drone systems, flight operations, and aerial data analytics. Shares cutting-edge knowledge with the team and maintains active networks within the UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) industry.
• Communication Ability: Communicates flight plans, technical constraints, and strategic decisions clearly and constructively. Adapts messaging to suit technical and non-technical audiences, ensuring alignment and understanding.
• Give Specialised Advice: Provides guidance on complex aerial missions, regulatory compliance, and drone fleet management. Collaborates with cross-functional experts to develop robust, innovative solutions.
• Pilot Training & Development: Designs and delivers structured training programs for drone pilots, ensuring operational excellence, regulatory compliance, and safety. Coaches and mentors junior pilots, fostering a culture of continuous learning and Just culture.
• Innovation & Technology Adoption: Leads structured testing and evaluation of pre-identified drone technologies and methodologies. Assesses performance, safety, and operational impact, ensuring rigorous validation before integration into business operations.

Desirable Skills / Experience

Essential

• Qualified RPAS pilot
• IOSH Managing Safely or other basic supervisory H&S qualification
• Evidence of practical experience in carrying out RPAS flights in a professional setting
• Evidence of delivering coaching and/or training
• Ability to work independently and proactively

Desirable

• Professional membership of one or more relevant bodies e.g. IOSH or drone-related organisation
• Level 3 qualification in health and safety e.g. NEBOSH General Certificate or working towards same
• Proven record/experience of managing drone operations and associated health and safety

Other requirements:

• Will need a full driving licence (business needs car or commercial vehicle) as this role will require a lot of travel
• Will need to maintain pilot currency as a drone operator

Our Package

• Annual On target bonus 10% (personal and company multipliers)
• BT Pension scheme; minimum 5% employee contribution, BT contribution 10%
• Life Assurance
• Direct share scheme
• Exclusive colleague discounts on our latest and greatest BT broadband packages
• 50% off EE mobile pay monthly or SIM only plans and 50% discount for friends and family on EE SIM only plans
• My Discounts gives colleagues access to unbeatable savings on everyday purchases at hundreds of retailers
• Discounted EE TV including TNT Sport and the NOW Entertainment membership
• Great support for working parents including pay whilst on maternity, adoptive, and paternity leave
• Option to join the Healthcare Cash Plan or other benefits such as dental insurance, gym memberships etc.
• 25 days annual leave (not including bank holidays), increasing with service with buy holiday option
• equal family leave: receive 18 weeks at full pay, 8 weeks at half pay and 26 weeks at the statutory rate. It’s for all parents, no matter how your family is made up.
• Volunteering days so you can give back to your local community
• Brand new electric vehicle salary sacrifice arrangement, known as ‘My EV’

BT Group is the UK’s leading communications group and the holding company behind some of the country’s most recognised brands – including BT, EE, Openreach and Plusnet. Our purpose is as simple as it is ambitious: we connect for good. Our customers include consumers, small, medium and large businesses, public sector organisations and other communications providers.

BT Group’s role is about setting direction, unlocking value and creating the conditions for our brands and businesses to thrive.

Having come through the most capital-intensive phase of our fibre investment, our focus now is on what comes next – simplifying how we operate, using technology and AI to work smarter, and organising ourselves to serve customers better and grow sustainably. Group teams shape strategy, policy, brand, capital allocation and transformation, helping the whole organisation perform at its best.

We have a singular culture that unites all our people: we are customer-first challengers, who are committed, clear and connected. These behaviours unite us as one team to deliver for our colleagues, our customers, our stakeholders and the country. Joining BT Group means working at the heart of a business that matters to the UK, with the opportunity to shape decisions, influence outcomes and help set the future course of one of the country’s most important companies.