Electric airplane builder Beta Technologies is hiring and ushering in a new age of aviation
Source: Burlington Free Press
On April 14, Beta Technologies will hold its first hiring day event in anticipation of ramping up production at the manufacturing plant for electric airplanes it opened last October in South Burlington off Williston Road at Patrick Leahy Burlington International Airport..
Miranda Ladue, who helps with Beta’s hiring efforts, said Tuesday anyone who has experience in manufacturing − as well as those who don’t − should come to the event.
“Our goal is to develop our workforce in Vermont and hire in Vermont,” Ladue said.
Beta has 650 employees, according to Ladue, 50 more than the 600 employees cited last October at the opening of the manufacturing plant. In January 2023, Ladue said, Beta stood at 400 employees − a growth rate of about 60% in 14 months. Most of Beta’s employees are in Vermont.
In addition to the South Burlington factory, Beta has an R&D headquarters and a maintenance and training hangar in South Burlington; pilot manufacturing facilities in Williston; and an Advanced Battery Research Center in St. Albans. The company also has locations in Plattsburgh, New York, Washington, D.C., Montreal, Canada, Raleigh, North Carolina and Springfield, Ohio.
Founded in 2017 by engineer Kyle Clark and is wife, Katie, Beta Technologies raised nearly $800 million in financing as of April 2022, an unprecedented amount in Vermont, according to David Bradbury of the Vermont Center for Emerging Technologies.
Ladue said the hiring day will be held inside Beta’s new manufacturing plant, for good reason.
“Getting people here will get them excited about the opportunities that are here,” she said. “It helps when you see electric airplanes on the floor. If you look at our website today there are over 100 positions open. I would love to get a lot of people here. We want to talk to a lot of people.”
Beta’s electric aircraft − the Alia, in both fixed wing and vertical take-off and landing versions − will begin rolling out of the South Burlington manufacturing plant later this year, with production ramping up in 2025 to one airplane per day.
