Staff Engineer, Flight Test (R5006)
Plan, execute, and analyze ground and flight tests for advanced aircraft systems, coordinating across engineering, operations, and manufacturing teams. Requires 5-10 years of aerospace or flight test experience and a STEM bachelor's degree.
About the job
Responsibilities
- Develop, publish, and execute comprehensive flight test plans, procedures, cards, risk assessments, safety, and readiness reviews
- Support integration and test of aircraft systems, payloads, comms/data links, software, ground control systems, and mission equipment
- Lead and coordinate pre-flight, flight, and post-flight activities, including system configuration, instrumentation, telemetry, data collection and test reports
- Analyze ground and flight test data to identify performance trends, anomalies, root causes, and corrective actions
- Coordinate with engineering teams to validate requirements, troubleshoot issues, and mature system capabilities
- Lead or participate in test range operations, safety briefings, go/no-go decisions, and test setup and logistics
- Document test results, lessons learned, anomalies, and recommendations in clear technical reports
- Support aircraft maintenance, configuration control, and system readiness
- Create and improve flight test processes, tools, data workflows, and operational efficiency
- Create and maintain ground and air operating limitations requirements
- Travel to test sites, customer locations, and field exercises as required
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in Science, Technology, Engineering or Math (STEM Degree)
- 5-10 years of experience with developmental and/or operational ground and flight test, unmanned/manned aircraft systems, aircraft integration, or aerospace systems engineering
- Strong understanding of aircraft systems, flight dynamics, avionics, telemetry, sensors, or control systems
- Proven ability to write and execute structured test plans, procedures, and reports
- Strong troubleshooting skills in field and/or lab environments
- Excellent communication skills and ability to work across engineering and operations teams
- Willingness to travel and work outdoors, fields, or test range environments
- Overtime and weekend coverage as required
Nice-to-Haves
- 10+ years of experience with developmental and/or operational ground and flight test, unmanned aircraft systems, aircraft integration, or aerospace systems engineering
- Experience in Group 4-5 UAS and/or fighter type capability or similar weapons systems
- Familiarity with FAA, DoW, and test range flight operations
- Experience with autonomy, navigation, mission planning, and Command-and-Control (C2) systems
- Hands-on experience with aircraft maintenance, avionics integration, payload integration, and ground support equipment
- Experience with telemetry systems, flight and data logs, sensor data, datalinks, and RF systems
- Part 107 Remote Pilot Certificate or crewed aviation experience
- Proven Mission Control Room experience using Integrated Analysis & Data System (IADS) or similar development FTI display system
- Experience leading or supporting developmental flight test campaigns from design through planning and execution to include reporting
Skills
Flight Test Engineering, Aircraft Systems, Flight Dynamics, Avionics, Telemetry, Test Planning, Troubleshooting, Data Analysis, Unmanned Aircraft Systems, Uas, Ground Control Systems
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