Pilot Level

As you progress through missions, stories, trading, and interacting with other ships/drones, your pilot will gain experience. With enough experience, your pilot will level up.

Level Cap

The level cap for players is level 60. Some NPC units can reach level 100+

A pet peeve of the developer (Nor) is games that increase level caps with expansion releases. Nor hates that and has pledged to never raise the level cap. Suck on that, World of Warcraft.