Head of Safety & Maintainability (all genders)

Deutsche Aircraft GmbH; Weßling; On-site; EUR 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Deutsche Aircraft GmbH is seeking a senior leader to oversee Safety and Maintainability across the aircraft development lifecycle. You will lead a multidisciplinary team, shape the department's strategy, and drive critical certification activities in coordination with stakeholders worldwide.

The role requires deep knowledge of airworthiness regulations, strong people leadership, and a track record of delivering on safety commitments on time and within budget.

Qualifications

• 15 years of experience in aircraft safety, airworthiness, certification, or maintainability engineering.
• Proven leadership in complex engineering organizations.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management in an international environment.

Responsibilities

• Lead, develop, and inspire a department of Safety and Maintainability engineers and specialists.
• Define and execute the departmental strategy aligned with company and engineering objectives.
• Drive workforce planning, capability development, and succession planning.
• Foster accountability, safety, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
• Promote employee engagement, performance, and professional growth.
• Ensure training, coaching, and mentoring across the organization.
• Allocate resources across development, certification, and in-service support activities.
• Monitor departmental performance via KPIs, risk management, and corrective actions.
• Manage external partners, certification consultants, and engineering service providers.
• Deliver safety and maintainability program commitments on time, cost, and quality.
• Define departmental priorities, budgets, and resource requirements.
• Ensure compliance with airworthiness regulations and safety standards.
• Lead safety assessment activities across product lifecycle, including FHA and FMEA.
• Drive maintainability programs and MSG-3 maintenance development.
• Ensure quality of certification deliverables submitted to authorities.
• Foster continuous improvement of engineering processes and tools.
• Collaborate with Engineering, Certification, Program Management, Supply Chain, QA, and HR.
• Interface with authorities, suppliers, customers, and senior leadership.
• Develop relationships with suppliers on safety deliverables and compliance.

Skills

Leadership in complex engineering

Aviation safety & airworthiness

Stakeholder management

Project execution

International communication

Education

Degree in Aerospace Engineering

Tools

ARP4754/ARP4761 experience

Job description

You have a clear idea of what you want: To contribute to the vision of safe and energy-efficient flying, in a team of like-minded aviation enthusiasts who are determined to shape the future of aviation.

This is what you can do:

Leadership, People & Organization Development

• Lead, develop, and inspire a department of Safety and Maintainability engineers and specialists
• Define and execute the departmental strategy aligned with company and engineering objectives
• Drive workforce planning, capability development, and succession planning
• Foster a culture of accountability, safety, collaboration, innovation, and continuous improvement
• Promote employee engagement, performance, and professional growth
• Ensure adequate training, coaching, and mentoring across the organization

Operational Excellence & Resource Planning

• Ensure effective allocation of resources across development, certification and in-service support activities
• Monitor departmental performance through KPIs, risk management, and corrective action plans
• Manage external partners, certification consultants, and engineering service providers as required
• Deliver safety and maintainability program commitments on time, on cost, and on quality
• Define departmental priorities, budgets, and resource requirements

Technical Excellence & Certification

• Ensure compliance with applicable airworthiness regulations, certification requirements, and safety standards
• Lead aircraft-level and system-level safety assessment activities throughout the product lifecycle
• Oversee the execution of FHA, AFHA, PASA, PSSA, SSA, FTA, FMEA, CCMR, Zonal Safety Analysis, and DAL allocation activities
• Establish and maintain safety requirements within the broader context of aircraft integration and system development
• Drive maintainability strategies and oversee MSG-3 maintenance program development activities
• Ensure consistency and quality of certification deliverables submitted to authorities
• Drive continuous improvement of engineering processes, methodologies, tools and best practices

Stakeholder Management

• Collaborate closely with Engineering, Aircraft Integration, Flight Test, Airworthiness, Certification, Program Management, Supply Chain, Quality, Customer Support, Finance and HR
• Act as a key interface to certification authorities, suppliers, customers, and senior leadership
• Develop and maintain effective relationships with suppliers regarding safety and maintainability deliverables and compliance activities

You’ll bring this with you:

• Degree in Aerospace Engineering, Systems Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related discipline.
• 15 years of experience in aircraft safety, airworthiness, certification, or maintainability engineering
• Proven leadership experience in complex engineering organizations.
• Extensive experience with ARP4754, ARP4761, aircraft safety assessment processes, and regulatory compliance.
• Proven background in aircraft development, certification, and safety integration programs.
• Experience signing Safety of Flight and certification-related safety documentation is highly desirable.
• Demonstrated success in organizational development, people leadership and program execution.
• Excellent communication, stakeholder management, and decision-making skills in an international environment.

Did we arouse your interest?

We are looking forward to your application.