Merlin Announces Two Executive Hires to Advance the Merlin Pilot’s Capabilities and Commercialization

Rick Wilson joins as ​​Vice President of Engineering and Austin Pugh joins as the company’s first Vice President of Government Business Development

Merlin, the leading developer of safe autonomous flight technology for fixed-wing aircraft, today announced the appointment of two executives to advance the company’s market expansion and commercialize its integrated hardware and software solution, the Merlin Pilot. Merlin appointed Rick Wilson as its Vice President of Engineering, where he will lead the technical implementation and commercialization of the Merlin Pilot in addition to hiring across the company’s avionics and autonomy engineering team. Austin Pugh, the company’s first Vice President of Government Business Development, will focus on the global and domestic expansion into defense and broader public sector markets. The leadership expansion comes on the heels of Merlin’s $105 million Series B funding round led by Snowpoint and Baille Gifford alongside key partnerships with the United States Air Force, the New Zealand Civil Aviation Authority, and the FAA.

Wilson brings extensive autonomy experience to Merlin from his background leading, designing, and launching impactful autonomous solutions, including Fortem Technologies’ F700 Drone Hunter, Uber Advanced Technologies Group’s autonomous XC-90s, and Aurora Innovation’s Aurora Driver. Throughout his career, Rick has also assembled best-in-class technology teams that developed groundbreaking innovations across various sectors.

Pugh joins Merlin after spending nearly a decade at the Palo Alto Research Center, Inc. (PARC), one of the world’s preeminent open innovation labs specializing in deep tech innovation, incubation, and commercialization of emerging technologies spanning explainable AI pilots, cyber-physical system security, and more. Pugh also brings significant experience in the public sector from his time at PARC, where he led business development efforts as Vice President and Head of Public Sector, as well as his role at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) focusing on accelerating technology transitions from the DOE’s National Labs into early-stage entrepreneurs and Fortune 500 companies.

“Building a pilot that enables existing and future aircraft to continue to safely fly and scale solves today’s air network’s most acute problem: remaining the backbone of the modern economy as it continues to grow. At Merlin, we’re building the team with the extensive industry experience and understanding to execute on this opportunity,” said Matt George, co-founder and CEO, Merlin. “Both Rick and Austin have the skill sets and hands-on experience to progress Merlin’s capabilities and commercialization within critical markets, and we are excited to have them aboard our executive team.”

“I’ve always been drawn to the challenges and promises that come with safely scaling our air network, and Merlin is unique in its pragmatic approach to developing the Merlin Pilot. Having worked on autonomous systems for most of my career, this is an exciting opportunity to utilize my technical skill set to bring Merlin’s solution to our airspace and ensure that goods and passengers can continue to move via the air network in a safe and scalable manner,” said Wilson.

“Merlin has built an incredible team with decades of experience bringing critical aviation technologies to the global market. Joining this team not only allows me to work alongside industry innovators that are rapidly achieving important milestones, but also to continuously deliver advanced solutions for the public sector and defense markets,” said Pugh.

Merlin is currently hiring for dozens of open roles. To learn more and join the team, please visit: https://jobs.lever.co/merlinlabs

About Merlin

Founded in 2018 and headquartered in Boston, with additional offices in Los Angeles, Denver, Kerikeri (NZ) and Mojave, Merlin is building the definitive autonomy system for all things that fly. To learn more, visit www.merlinlabs.com or follow us on Twitter @merlinaero.

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