Senior Certification Manager

Missionat Vertical Aerospace; Bristol; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

26 days holiday, plus bank holiday

5 extra days per year to buy or sell

5 extra days holiday when you marry or

4% of salary to spend on benefits

Help@Hand digital health service

Company performance-based bonus

Company Share Scheme

Company Pension Scheme 5% matched

Breakfast every day

Job summary

Vertical Aerospace seeks an experienced Certification Lead to drive the certification strategy across multiple aircraft domains. You will interact with civil authorities, develop plans, and oversee V&V campaigns to ensure timely approvals.

You will manage a team of certification specialists, identify risks, and coordinate with suppliers to meet stringent regulatory requirements, enabling continued airworthiness after certification.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in aircraft type certification or major modification programs.
• Experience interacting with aviation authorities globally.
• Leadership experience in multi-disciplinary engineering teams.
• Strong knowledge of airworthiness standards and safety processes.

Responsibilities

• Define certification basis and means of compliance with civil authorities.
• Lead development of certification plans, test proposals, V&V strategy, and inspection campaigns.
• Ensure compliance across software, hardware, structural, systems, interiors and propulsion domains.
• Manage inspections, flight tests, environmental tests and verification activities.
• Oversee configuration management and maintain traceability of certification requirements.
• Lead and mentor a team of certification, compliance and technical specialists.
• Identify risks and resolve threats to schedule or certification.
• Collaborate with suppliers to meet certification requirements.
• Support continued airworthiness and manage post-certification changes.

Skills

Aerospace certification

Regulatory compliance

Project leadership

Cross-disciplinary collaboration

Risk management

Communication skills

Problem solving

Audits & verification

Tools

DO-178C/DO-254

Job description

What you'll do

• Defining the certification basis and means of compliance, negotiating with civil aviation authorities
• Leading development of certification plans, test proposals, verification/validation (V&V) strategy, and inspection & qualification campaigns.
• Ensuring compliance in all technical domains (software, hardware, structural, systems, interiors, propulsion) with industry standards and regulations.
• Managing physical inspections, flight tests, environmental tests and other verification activities.
• Overseeing configuration management, design changes, and maintaining traceability of certification requirements.
• Leading and mentoring a team of certification, compliance, and technical specialists.
• Proactively identifying risks, resolving threats to schedule, and could-be obstacles to certification.
• Collaborating with suppliers to ensure their parts, processes and documentation satisfy certification requirements.
• Supporting continued airworthiness post-certification and managing modifications or changes.

What you'll bring

• 10+ years of experience in aircraft type certification or major modification/STC/major regulatory engagements in aerospace, preferably with highly regulated domains.
• Strong foundation in regulatory/airworthiness standards (e.g. equivalent to CS/FAR Part 23/25/27/29 or their global analogues), software & hardware compliance standards (DO-178C / DO-254), environmental qualification (DO-160 or equivalent), and systems safety & reliability (ARP4754A, ARP4761 or equivalents).
• Proven experience in interacting with aviation authorities internationally, negotiating technical requirements/methods of compliance, and delivering projects through audit or authority review.
• Leadership & management experience: building teams, mentoring engineers, managing cross-disciplinary stakeholder interfaces.
• Strong project planning, risk management, configuration control, and problem-solving skills.
• Excellent communication: able to translate complex technical/certification issues into program-level strategy and reports.
• Adaptability, bias for action, and able to thrive in fast-paced aerospace R&D / certification environment.

What can you expect from us?

We're on a mission. Where others see limits, we see opportunity, and we work at pace. Working at Vertical isn't your average role but for those seeking a challenge, a flexible, supportive organisation and an incredible team; working here is an opportunity to do the best work of your career.

Our approach promotes ingenuity and courage, while our environment builds success through diligence in safety and being open in the way we work. The only way we're going to assure the next chapter of aviation history is by working as a team, relentlessly, towards our goal.

Our people matter - we're not going anywhere without them. Which is why our company benefits go beyond the essentials.

Our benefits

• 26 days holiday, plus bank holiday
• 5 extra days per year to buy (or sell)
• 5 extra days holiday when you get married or enter a civil partnership
• Additional 4% of your salary to spend on extra benefits
• Award-winning digital health and wellbeing service (Help@Hand)
• Company performance based bonus - rewarding company and individual performance
• Company Share Scheme - open to every Vertical employee
• Company Pension Scheme - 5% and we match it
• Breakfast on us, every day

Disclaimer Statement

We encourage you to apply even if you may not have all the experience listed in the advert. We recognise that talent comes in various forms and we are committed to providing opportunities that create an environment of growth, diversity, and inclusion for everyone. As part of our desire to review and make our processes fair, we may ask you questions related to these aspects during the application process. For more information on how we will use your data, see our Legal section.

LocationBristol OfficeEmployment TypeFull timeDepartmentEngineering Delivery & Design Organisation