Head of Flight Test Management / Senior Flight Test Manager

Helsing GmbH; München; On-site; EUR 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

Relocation support

Learning allowance

Health & wellness

Social events

Enhanced parental leave

Remote work option during pregnancy

Job summary

Helsing GmbH is seeking a Senior Flight Test Manager Air to lead the full flight test programme from development to customer acceptance. You will shape governance, budgets, and cross-organizational collaboration with cross-divisional teams in defense and aerospace contexts.

You will oversee end-to-end flight test activities, coordinate with engineering, programme management, and partners, and drive operational excellence and regulatory compliance.

Qualifications

• Minimum 6 years of relevant experience coordinating flight test campaigns in defence/aerospace or related sectors.
• Proven leadership of a multi-disciplinary flight test team and ability to engage with customers and partners.
• Ability to manage contracts, requirements and regulatory alignment with military structures.

Responsibilities

• Build and lead Helsing’s Flight Test Management Organization in collaboration with Grob Aircraft.
• Standardize flight testing processes, support certification and regulatory requirements.
• Coordinate flight test campaigns, budgets, and deployments across national/international ranges.
• Manage milestones, readiness, and deliverables in customer steering boards.
• Integrate OT&E concepts and develop Training as a Service concepts.
• Own schedule, optimize aircraft availability, and minimize downtime across programmes.

Skills

Flight test leadership

German & English fluency

Education

Engineering degree (mechanical/industrial/aerospace)

Job description

Who we are

Helsing is a defence AI company. Our mission is to protect our democracies. We aim to achieve technological leadership, so that open societies can continue to make sovereign decisions and control their ethical standards.

As democracies, we believe we have a special responsibility to be thoughtful about the development and deployment of powerful technologies like AI. We take this responsibility seriously.

We are an ambitious and committed team of engineers, AI specialists and customer-facing programme managers.We are looking for mission-driven people to join our European teams – and apply their skills to solve the most complex and impactful problems. We embrace an open and transparent culture that welcomes healthy debates on the use of technology in defence, its benefits, and its ethical implications.

As Head of Flight Test Management / Senior Flight Test Manager Air, you will lead and steer the entire flight test programme from early development test campaigns to operational customer acceptance. You are the strategical and operational manager for all test flight activities. You establish structures, manage budgets and timelines, unblock operational as well as technical-logistical bottlenecks, and orchestrate cross-organizational collaboration. You bring the requisite technical and flight operations foundation to assess risks and technical challenges with authority, but your primary day-to-day focus is on leadership, negotiation, governance, and stakeholder management. In this role, you will lead the flight test organization and closely work alongside Chief Engineering, the Programme team and the technical logistical organization. Customer and partner management to coordinate contracts, requirements and availability of flight test aircraft belongs to your daily responsibility.

The day-to-day

• Joint Leadership & Governance: Build, scale, and lead Helsing’s Flight Test Management Organization while operationally steering the growing flight test team in close partnership with our subsidiary Grob Aircraft. Align roles, crew assignments, and equipment, and establish clear cross-company governance, escalation paths, and decision-making frameworks.

• Process Standardization & Safety: Standardize and enforce rigorous flight testing processes (from Test Requests, Test Cards, and Readiness Reviews to standardized reporting) for UAVs and mission systems, including supporting certification processes and regulatory requirements.

• Campaigns, Ranges & Deployment: Coordinate flight test campaigns and budgets across multiple air programmes — including range selection, contracting, liaison, and approvals for national/international military test ranges and segregated airspaces (ED-Rs). Direct end-to-end domestic and international UAV deployments (ground control stations, telemetry, emergency response, spares, personnel, and DOB regulations).

• End-User & Contractual Alignment: Manage contractually committed flight test milestones, representing status, readiness, and deliverables in (customer) steering boards. Coordinate strategically with military command structures to align tests with operational defense requirements.

• OT&E & TaaS Development: Integrate Operational Test & Evaluation (OT&E) concepts into the test programme, translating operational doctrines (CONOPS) into realistic test scenarios to ensure military fit. Establish initial Training as a Service (TaaS) concepts for operators and lay the foundation for a dedicated TaaS organization.

• Schedule Ownership & AOG Reduction: Own the flight test schedule and manage aircraft availability, modifications, and maintenance downtime across competing programmes, giving internal stakeholders, partners, and customers one clear view of planned tests, dependencies, and risks. Interface closely with engineering, maintenance, service, and programme management to reduce AOG to an absolute minimum.

You should apply if you

• Have a proven track record (minimum 6 years' of relevant experience) in coordinating flight test campaigns or comparable engineering test programmes in defence, aerospace industry or related sectors

• Bring leadership experience of a flight test or similar multi-disciplinary team

• Represent an organisation credibly with customers, partners and suppliers, handling contractual and operational conversations without close supervision

• Communicate fluently in German and English, in writing and in person, with technical and non-technical audiences alike

• Have a university degree (or equivalent experience) in any subject relevant to these sectors, including but not limited to mechanical, industrial or aerospace engineering

• Are a high performer who thrives in a fast-paced environment

• Are collaborative, humble and a problem-solver

• Are willing to travel regularly

• Are ready to meet all necessary requirements for a security clearance according to the respective national laws

Nice to have

• Military operational background: Significant prior military experience within theGerman Armed Forces (Bundeswehr—preferably Luftwaffe, Army Aviation, or Naval Aviation)or allied armed forces (e.g., Flight Test Manager within an military operational testing and evaluation organization, Operational Pilot, Weapon Systems Officer, or Military Program Manager).

• Previous experience with aircraft maintenance

• Previous experience with logistics of military goods

• Fluent in Spanish

Note: We operate in an industry where women, as well as other minority groups, are systematically under-represented. We encourage you to apply even if you don't meet all the listed qualifications; ability and impact cannot be summarised in a few bullet points.

Join Helsing and work with world-leading experts in their fields

• Helsing’s work is important. You’ll be directly contributing to the protection of democratic countries while balancing both ethical and geopolitical concerns

• The work is unique. We operate in a domain that has highly unusual technical requirements and constraints, and where robustness, safety, and ethical considerations are vital. You will face unique Engineering and AI challenges that make a meaningful impact in the world

• Our work frequently takes us right up to the state of the art in technical innovation, be it reinforcement learning, distributed systems, generative AI, or deployment infrastructure. The defence industry is entering the most exciting phase of the technological development curve. Advances in our field of world are not incremental: Helsing is part of, and often leading, historic leaps forward

• In our domain, success is a matter of order-of-magnitude improvements and novel capabilities. This means we take bets, aim high, and focus on big opportunities. Despite being a relatively young company, Helsing has already been selected for multiple significant government contracts

• We actively encourage healthy, proactive, and diverse debate internally about what we do and how we choose to do it. Teams and individual engineers are trusted (and encouraged) to practise responsible autonomy and critical thinking, and to focus on outcomes, not conformity. At Helsing you will have a say in how we (and you!) work, the opportunity to engage on what does and doesn’t work, and to take ownership of aspects of our culture that you care deeply about

What we offer

• Competitive salary and VSOP options

• Relocation support: up to €2,500 and 4 weeks temporary accommodation

• Learning: €500/£450 yearly allowance

• Health & wellness: gym membership and mental health support (Nilo.health)

• Social: regularly company events and monthly social allowances

• Enhanced parental leave: 22 weeks fully paid for primary caregivers & 6 weeks for secondary caregivers.

• Family support: 5 days of paid family emergency leave, 100% remote work option during pregnancy and phased return to work

These are the core benefits across all locations, there may be additional benefits in certain locations.

Helsing is an equal opportunities employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability or gender identity. Please do not submit personal data revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, data concerning your health, or data concerning your sexual orientation.