VP Flight Operations

sees.ai; Chichester; On-site; GBP 150,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

sees.ai is hiring a VP Flight Operations to lead the ongoing deployment of our autonomous drone operations across the UK and international markets. You will own safeness, cost, and growth, overseeing a team of 30+ across pilots, coordination, training, and fleet readiness while steering the operating model against regulatory approvals.

You will work closely with Regulation, Compliance and Engineering to ensure safe scale, protect assets, and deliver on customer commitments, with strong

Qualifications

• Substantial experience leading complex, safety-critical operations where there are many moving parts and high consequences.
• Experience building and leading sizeable operational teams.
• Experience creating systems for planning, training, competency and performance.
• Ability to own an operational cost base and improve efficiency as scale increases.
• Proven decision-making under pressure in technically complex environments.

Responsibilities

• Oversee end-to-end flight operation performance including safety accountability and efficiency.
• Lead planning, capacity, training, fleet-readiness and performance systems for scale.
• Establish operating model in new countries as the international footprint grows.
• Collaborate with Engineering, Regulation and Compliance to ensure safe, compliant growth.

Skills

People leadership

Safety-critical operations

Scaled operations

Stakeholder management

Job description

Chichester, United Kingdom | Posted on 18/09/2026

Build and lead a pioneering autonomous drone operation as it scales across the UK and internationally.

sees.ai is doing something that, until recently, wasn't possible. Our autonomous drone systems are already performing close-quarter inspections of live high-voltage transmission networks for major electricity infrastructure customers.

Now we're scaling.

Our operations team has grown rapidly, customer demand is increasing, our international footprint is expanding, and flight operations sit at the heart of what happens next.

We're looking for a VP Flight Operations to lead that next stage.

In one line: you will own our ability to fly safely, repeatably, at cost, at growing scale, in more countries.

You'll inherit an established operations organisation of more than 30 people across pilots, operations coordination, training and quality, fleet and operations engineering.

Your job is to turn rapid growth into a highly scalable operation: building the planning, capacity, training, fleet-readiness and performance systems that allow us to grow without losing safety, quality or pace.

You'll also be the Accountable Manager under our CAA authorisation and equivalent European approvals , with genuine authority over the operation and strong support from our in-house regulation and compliance team.

This is not a headquarters-only leadership role. We want an experienced operator who stays close to the reality of the operation, understands where the constraints and risks really are, and can make sound decisions when people, aircraft, customers, weather, sites and schedules all interact.

And as we grow internationally, you'll establish and lead that operating model in new countries.

What you'll own

You'll be responsible for the performance of the flight operation end to end, including:

Safety and operational accountability — acting as Accountable Manager, building a strong safety culture and ensuring risks, incidents and lessons learned are managed properly.

Delivery and capacity — making sure we can meet customer commitments, with a trusted forward plan for people, aircraft and equipment.

Cost and performance — understanding what drives our operational economics and improving utilisation, predictability and cost as we scale.

The operations team — recruiting, developing and leading high-performing pilot and field operations teams, with strong training and competency standards.

Fleet readiness — ensuring aircraft, ground equipment, vehicles, batteries and field kit are available and ready when the operation needs them.

Operational quality — making sure missions are executed consistently and the data we capture meets the standard our customers need.

International growth — establishing operations in new countries and adapting the operating model to new regulatory, customer and field environments.

You'll work closely with Engineering, Regulation and Compliance. Together, these teams determine how quickly and safely we can scale.

What we're looking for

We're looking first and foremost for an outstanding operator .

You'll have substantial experience leading complex, safety-critical operations where there are lots of moving parts, decisions need to be made quickly, and poor execution has real consequences.

You'll have experience of:

Building and leading sizeable operational teams

Professionalising operations as they grow

Creating systems for planning, training, competency and performance

Owning an operational cost base and improving efficiency

Making sound decisions under pressure and with imperfect information

Working comfortably in a technically complex environment

You should be technically confident enough to work effectively with engineers and understand the implications of technical decisions on the operation.

Direct aviation or drone experience is useful, but it isn't essential. Strong operators from areas such as field services, utilities, energy, logistics, marine, emergency services or other safety-critical environments could be a very good fit.

• Lead the flying operation at one of the world's first companies to run routine, centralised autonomous BVLOS operations at national scale
• Shape how critical national infrastructure is inspected and managed for decades to come
• Work alongside a world-class team with backgrounds spanning Apple, CERN, McLaren F1 and the America's Cup
• Real authority: a seat on the Executive Committee, a genuine mandate, and the standing to use it
• Genuine impact: your work directly keeps energy workers safe, cuts carbon emissions, and supports the transition to net zero
• Competitive salary, equity, and benefits commensurate with a senior leadership role