Director of Process Assurance & Certification

Merlin; Boston (MA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Merlin Labs is seeking a senior leader to own the process backbone for certification across multiple autonomous aviation programs. You will lead a team responsible for configuration management, development assurance, process assurance, and software quality reporting to the VP of Airworthiness & Certification.

You will build scalable frameworks, drive audits with DCMA and FAA, and ensure regulatory compliance (DO-178C/DO-254, ARP4754A/B, ARP4761A) while balancing rigor with fast growth.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in engineering or related technical field; 12+ years in aerospace software/hardware development.
• Experience auditing or defending engineering process documentation for regulatory/commercial audits (FAA/DO-178C, DO-254).
• Proven leadership of multi-disciplinary engineering teams for certification programs.

Responsibilities

• Lead and grow a team of engineers spanning configuration management, development assurance, process assurance, and software quality assurance.
• Own configuration management and partner with engineering and flight test leaders to manage development, maintenance, and improvement of processes.
• Partner with technical leaders to standardize and deploy core processes while ensuring compliance with policies and guidance.
• Establish and run a compliance auditing program to verify process documents and execution meet policy for military and civil certification.
• Represent process assurance with certification authorities and customer quality, providing evidence of process compliance and maturity.
• Serve as primary contact for DCMA and other government QA representatives on military programs, evidencing process compliance during surveillance.
• Drive continuous improvement of processes based on audits and lessons learned; balance rigor with company speed.
• Lead root-cause and corrective action analyses to close audit findings.
• Report to VP of Airworthiness & Certification on process health, audit results and roadmaps.
• Build scalable, repeatable process frameworks to stay ahead of growth.

Skills

Leadership

Configuration management

Process assurance

Development assurance

Regulatory audits

Aerospace

Education

Bachelor's degree in engineering

Tools

PLM tools

DO-330 tools

Certification tools

Job description

Merlin Labs is seeking a senior leader to own the process backbone for certification across multiple autonomous aviation programs. You will lead a team responsible for configuration management, development assurance, process assurance, and software quality reporting to the VP of Airworthiness & Certification.

You will build scalable frameworks, drive audits with DCMA and FAA, and ensure regulatory compliance (DO-178C/DO-254, ARP4754A/B, ARP4761A) while balancing rigor with fast growth.