Everyone talks about eVTOL pilots. But flying taxis need way more than just pilots to work. For every pilot in the air, there are 20-30 people on the ground making it happen. From the engineers who design battery packs to the people who manage vertiports, the air taxi industry is creating an entire new job market.

The flying taxi market is expected to hit $9.53 billion by 2030. That kind of growth means thousands of new positions across dozens of specialties. And most of these jobs did not exist five years ago.

If you are looking for a career change or want to get into an industry before it explodes, this guide covers every major job category in the air taxi space. We break down what each role does, what it pays, and how to get started.

Air Taxi Jobs 2026: 15 New Careers in the Flying Taxi Industry (Beyond Pilots)

1. eVTOL Pilot

Let us get the obvious one out of the way first. Yes, pilots are needed. But not just any pilots. The FAA created a brand new “Powered-Lift” rating specifically for eVTOL aircraft. These pilots need to handle vertical takeoff, transition to forward flight, and manage electric propulsion systems.

Salary: $80,000 – $200,000 per year

Requirements: Commercial pilot license, powered-lift rating, 250+ flight hours

Demand: 400-800 pilots needed by 2030, growing to 5,000+ by 2035

We have a full detailed guide on how to become an eVTOL pilot with training timelines, costs, and career paths.

2. Vertiport Operations Manager

Someone has to run the vertiports where air taxis take off and land. A vertiport operations manager is like an airport manager but for a smaller, faster-paced facility. They handle scheduling, passenger flow, safety compliance, and daily operations.

Salary: $75,000 – $130,000 per year

Requirements: Aviation operations background, management experience, safety certifications

What you do daily: Coordinate flight schedules, manage ground crew, handle passenger issues, ensure safety protocols are followed, work with air traffic control

3. eVTOL Battery Engineer

Batteries are the heart of every electric air taxi. Battery engineers design, test, and improve the battery packs that power these aircraft. They work on increasing range, reducing weight, improving charging speed, and making sure batteries stay safe under extreme conditions.

Salary: $100,000 – $180,000 per year

Requirements: Degree in electrical engineering, chemical engineering, or materials science. Experience with lithium-ion or solid-state batteries preferred.

Companies hiring: Joby Aviation, Archer Aviation, BETA Technologies, Lilium

4. Electric Propulsion Engineer

These engineers design and maintain the electric motors that spin the propellers on eVTOL aircraft. Unlike traditional jet engines, electric motors are simpler mechanically but require deep knowledge of power electronics, motor control systems, and thermal management.

Salary: $110,000 – $170,000 per year

Requirements: Degree in electrical or mechanical engineering, experience with electric motor design or power electronics

Growth: Extremely high demand. Every eVTOL company needs these engineers and there are not enough of them.

5. Air Traffic Management Specialist (UAM)

Traditional air traffic controllers manage planes at airports. But air taxis will fly through city airspace at low altitudes, creating an entirely new air traffic challenge. UAM (Urban Air Mobility) traffic specialists manage the flow of dozens of eVTOL aircraft across a city at the same time.

Salary: $90,000 – $150,000 per year

Requirements: Aviation background, experience with air traffic management systems, knowledge of UTM (Unmanned Traffic Management) software

What makes it different: You are managing aircraft that fly low, take off vertically, and move between city buildings. Completely different from managing airplanes on runways.

6. eVTOL Maintenance Technician

Every aircraft needs maintenance. eVTOL maintenance techs inspect, repair, and service electric air taxis between flights. They check battery health, motor performance, propeller condition, avionics systems, and structural integrity.

Salary: $55,000 – $95,000 per year

Requirements: Aviation maintenance certification (A&P license), additional training on electric propulsion systems

Job outlook: For every aircraft in service, you need 2-4 maintenance technicians working in shifts. As fleets grow, this becomes one of the highest-volume job categories.

7. Charging Infrastructure Engineer

Air taxis need to charge fast between flights. Charging infrastructure engineers design and maintain the high-power charging systems at vertiports. They work on power grid connections, fast-charging technology, and energy management systems.

Salary: $95,000 – $150,000 per year

Requirements: Electrical engineering degree, experience with high-voltage systems, EV charging knowledge a plus

Hot right now: The ACES consortium (Archer, BETA, Macquarie) is building 250+ charging sites by 2030. They need engineers to design and install all of them.

8. Flight Software Engineer

Modern eVTOL aircraft are basically flying computers. Flight software engineers write the code that controls the aircraft, manages the fly-by-wire systems, handles motor coordination, and runs the autopilot features. For autonomous aircraft like Wisk and EHang, these engineers are especially critical.

Salary: $130,000 – $220,000 per year

Requirements: Computer science or software engineering degree, experience with embedded systems, real-time computing, or aerospace software

Languages used: C, C++, Rust, Python for simulation

9. Passenger Experience Designer

Air taxi companies want rides to feel premium, smooth, and easy. Passenger experience designers plan everything from the booking app interface to the vertiport waiting area layout to the in-cabin experience. Think of it like UX design meets hospitality meets aviation.

Salary: $80,000 – $140,000 per year

Requirements: Background in UX design, service design, or hospitality. Aviation knowledge is a bonus but not required.

What you do: Design the end-to-end passenger journey — from opening the app to landing at your destination

10. Regulatory Affairs Specialist

Getting an air taxi certified to fly commercially involves thousands of pages of paperwork, dozens of meetings with the FAA or other aviation authorities, and years of documentation. Regulatory affairs specialists manage this entire process.

Salary: $90,000 – $160,000 per year

Requirements: Aviation law knowledge, experience with FAA or EASA processes, strong documentation and communication skills

Why it matters: No certification means no commercial flights. These people literally decide how fast a company can get to market.

11. Acoustic Engineer

Noise is one of the biggest challenges for air taxis. If they are too loud, cities will not allow them to operate in residential areas. Acoustic engineers design propellers, motor mounts, and aircraft structures to reduce noise as much as possible.

Salary: $95,000 – $145,000 per year

Requirements: Degree in mechanical engineering or physics with specialization in acoustics. Experience in noise testing and reduction.

Fun fact: Joby’s aircraft is designed to be 100 times quieter than a helicopter at the same distance. Acoustic engineers made that possible.

12. eVTOL Sales and Business Development

Air taxi companies do not just sell rides to passengers. They sell aircraft to operators, sign deals with airports, negotiate partnerships with airlines, and pitch to city governments. Business development professionals drive all of this.

Salary: $100,000 – $200,000+ per year (including commission/equity)

Requirements: Sales experience, aviation industry connections, ability to close large enterprise deals

Examples: The person who closed the Joby-Virgin Atlantic deal. The person who signed the Archer-LA28 Olympics partnership.

13. Safety and Compliance Officer

Safety is everything in aviation. Safety officers create procedures, run safety audits, investigate incidents, and make sure every operation meets regulatory standards. In a new industry like air taxis, they are building safety systems from scratch.

Salary: $85,000 – $140,000 per year

Requirements: Aviation safety background, knowledge of SMS (Safety Management Systems), incident investigation experience

Importance: One major safety incident could set the entire industry back years. These people prevent that from happening.

14. Ground Crew and Passenger Services

At every vertiport, there are ground crew members who help passengers board, guide aircraft into position, connect charging cables, and handle luggage. Passenger services staff manage check-in, answer questions, and ensure everything runs on time.

Salary: $35,000 – $60,000 per year

Requirements: Customer service experience, physical fitness, willingness to work outdoors. Training provided on the job.

Volume: This will be the highest-volume job category. Every vertiport needs 10-20 ground crew members working across shifts.

15. Data Analyst (Air Mobility Operations)

Air taxi companies generate massive amounts of data. Flight routes, passenger demand, battery performance, weather impacts, maintenance schedules — all of it needs to be analyzed. Data analysts help optimize routes, predict demand, schedule maintenance, and improve overall service.

Salary: $80,000 – $130,000 per year

Requirements: Data science or analytics background, SQL, Python, experience with dashboards and reporting tools

Growth area: As air taxi networks expand to dozens of routes and hundreds of daily flights, data becomes critical for efficiency.

How Many Jobs Will the Air Taxi Industry Create?

Here are the estimates based on current growth projections:

• By 2027: 5,000 – 10,000 direct jobs globally (manufacturing, engineering, operations)
• By 2030: 50,000 – 100,000 direct jobs globally
• By 2035: 200,000 – 500,000 direct and indirect jobs

These numbers include everyone from factory workers building aircraft to software engineers writing flight code to ground crew at vertiports.

Which Companies Are Hiring Right Now?

If you want to get into the air taxi industry today, here are the companies actively hiring:

• Joby Aviation — 1,500+ employees, headquarters in Santa Cruz, California. Hiring across engineering, manufacturing, operations, and software.
• Archer Aviation — 900+ employees, San Jose, California. Hiring engineers, manufacturing staff, and business roles. Just announced the Midnight city-to-city flight in California.
• BETA Technologies — Burlington, Vermont. Hiring for charging infrastructure and aircraft engineering.
• Wisk Aero — Mountain View, California. Autonomous aircraft means heavy hiring in AI and software.
• Lilium — Munich, Germany. European operations, hiring across engineering and business.
• EHang — Guangzhou, China. Already operating commercially, hiring for international expansion.
• Skyports — London, UK. Vertiport company hiring operations and infrastructure roles.

How to Get Started: Step by Step

Here is a practical path depending on your background:

If you are a current aviation professional:

1. Look at eVTOL companies hiring in your specialty (maintenance, operations, ATC)
2. Get familiar with electric propulsion basics — free courses available online
3. Apply directly on company websites. Most companies prefer aviation experience over specific eVTOL experience right now.

If you are an engineer (non-aviation):

1. Your skills transfer directly — especially electrical, software, and mechanical engineering
2. Study FAA DO-178C (software) or DO-254 (hardware) standards to understand aviation certification
3. Target roles at Joby, Archer, or Wisk where engineering teams are scaling fast

If you are starting from scratch:

1. Ground crew and passenger services roles require no prior aviation experience
2. Community college aviation maintenance programs (2 years) lead to A&P certification
3. Customer service backgrounds translate well to vertiport passenger services
4. Consider aviation management degrees — they cover operations, safety, and regulations

Salary Comparison: Air Taxi Jobs vs Traditional Aviation

Because the industry is new and talent is scarce, air taxi jobs often pay 10-30% more than equivalent traditional aviation roles:

• eVTOL pilot vs helicopter pilot: 20-40% more
• eVTOL maintenance tech vs traditional A&P mechanic: 15-25% more
• Flight software engineer vs airline IT: 30-50% more
• Vertiport manager vs small airport manager: 10-20% more

The premium exists because there are fewer people with the right skills and companies are competing for talent.

The Future: What These Jobs Look Like in 2030

As the industry matures, some jobs will evolve:

• Pilots: May transition to remote monitoring roles as autonomous tech improves
• Maintenance: Will become more software-focused as aircraft get smarter
• Ground crew: May be partially automated at high-volume vertiports
• Data analysts: Will become more important as networks grow complex
• Battery engineers: Will shift focus to solid-state batteries and faster charging

The jobs are not going away. They are evolving. People who get in now will grow with the industry and move into leadership positions as it scales.

Conclusion

The air taxi industry is not just creating one new job (pilot). It is building an entire ecosystem of careers across engineering, operations, technology, management, and customer service. The companies are hiring now. The salaries are strong. And the industry is just getting started.

Whether you are an experienced aviation professional or someone looking for a fresh start in a growing field, there is a role for you in the air taxi world. The best time to get in is before the industry goes mainstream. That chance is right now.