Senior Manager, Flight Operations

What You’ll Do

• Own the strategy, capacity, operating model, and continued development of PDW Flight Operations in support of production, research and development, qualification, regression, performance, demonstration, and customer/program flight activities.
• Lead, develop, and scale the Flight Operations organization through workforce planning, clear accountability, performance management, succession planning, and development of pilots, supervisors, and support personnel.
• Establish and govern flight-safety policy, operational-risk controls, emergency procedures, stop-work authority, and compliance with applicable FAA, FCC, range, export-control, customer, and company requirements.
• Develop and govern pilot qualification, aircraft-specific authorization, recurrent training, competency evaluation, and flight-currency programs, including authority to approve, restrict, or suspend operational privileges.
• Direct flight-test planning, readiness reviews, prioritization, scheduling, and execution against approved test plans, procedures, test cards, configurations, and acceptance criteria.
• Partner with Engineering, Manufacturing, Quality, Product Management, and Program Management to resolve readiness constraints, communicate operational risk, and convert flight results and anomalies into accountable actions.
• Ensure the operational fleet is maintained, configured, registered, tracked, and released for flight with complete maintenance, configuration, software, battery, and flight records.
• Manage flight facilities, airspace authorizations and waivers, range coordination, external service providers, field deployments, and other resources required to support PDW flight activities.
• Own departmental headcount, equipment, schedule, and performance metrics, including safety performance, pilot currency, fleet availability, test completion, data quality, and operational cycle time.
• Lead response to flight incidents, test anomalies, and operational-performance issues, ensuring immediate containment, objective investigation, root-cause ownership, corrective action, and verification of effectiveness.

Requirements

• 8+ years of progressive experience in UAS, aviation flight operations, flight testing, or a comparable aerospace operational environment, including production and developmental flight activities.
• 5+ years leading a flight-operations or flight-test organization, with demonstrated success developing leaders, scaling teams, managing budgets and resources, and improving operational performance
• Bachelor’s degree in aviation, engineering, business, safety, or a related discipline, or an equivalent combination of education and directly relevant experience.
• FAA Remote Pilot Certificate with a small UAS rating.
• Demonstrated experience with FAA operating requirements, airspace authorizations, waivers, LAANC, Remote ID, and applicable FCC or range requirements.
• Demonstrated success establishing or managing flight-safety programs, operational-risk assessments, emergency-response procedures, incident investigations, and corrective actions.
• Ability to travel and support off-site operations, field deployments, and nonstandard flight schedules as operational needs require.
• Must have the ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Security Clearance.

Preferred Qualifications

• A pilot certificate issued under 14 CFR part 61, military aviation leadership, or formal flight-test education.
• Experience supporting Department of Defense customers, classified programs, or production-rate UAS operation.
• Experience implementing a Safety Management System or leading an aviation quality or regulatory audit.
• Advanced competency in acceptance, regression, qualification, performance, and developmental flight-test methodologies, including readiness reviews, data integrity, and anomaly resolution.
• Experience in an AS9100, ISO 9001, aerospace, defense, or similarly controlled environment requiring disciplined document, configuration, test-record, and quality controls.

Physical Requirements

• The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met to successfully perform the essential functions of the job.
• Ability to sit, stand, bend, reach, climb, and move about regularly throughout the day and lift / carry up to 25 pounds.
• Must have manual dexterity to operate standard office equipment as well as various electronic power supplies and test equipment.
• Must be physically capable of the assigned duties.

Work Environment

• This position typically operates in a standard office setting and manufacturing environment.
• This role requires use of standard office and manufacturing equipment and may require occasional travel to customer locations or facilities.
• This position may have exposure to outdoor weather conditions, noise, and non-climate-controlled environments.
• May require the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) depending on the environment.

This is a fast-paced work environment and requires cross-differential collaboration with independent and team-based responsibilities. Standard work hours for this position are 8:30am-5:00pm with occasional overtime as operational needs demand.

Benefits

PDW values our team, and we offer a compensation package reflective of your experience and capabilities. Benefits include:

• Comprehensive BCBS medical, dental, and vision coverage; 80% sponsored by the company.
• Safe Harbor 401(K) with company match.
• Paid Parental Leave.
• On-site gy m at Huntsville, AL & Denver, CO locations.
• Employer provided life insurance.
• Robust Employee Assistance Program (EAP).
• A work environment that encourages teamwork and innovation.
• Competitive salary, generous paid time off (PTO), and flexible leave options.