Flight Research Chief Engineer, Aircraft Systems

XWING; Santa Cruz (CA); On-site; USD 208,000 - 280,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Paid time off

Healthcare benefits

401(k) plan with company match

Employee stock purchase plan (ESPP)

Disability coverage

Life insurance

Job summary

Joby Flight Research in Santa Cruz, CA is seeking a Flight Research Chief Engineer for Aircraft Systems. You will own the aircraft-systems architecture, requirements baselines, the safety case, and the verification strategy from concept to certification and flight.

You will lead the aircraft-systems engineering team, set interfaces across propulsion and avionics, and drive program goals while supporting rapid R&D and later-scale operations.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a related engineering field is required.
• 12+ years in aerospace systems engineering with leadership experience.
• Proven accountability for architecture and safety case through certification.

Responsibilities

• Own aircraft-systems architecture from concept through flight, including certification.
• Baseline and manage the systems requirements hierarchy and traceability.
• Set interfaces and ownership across propulsion, avionics, and fuel systems.
• Lead systems verification strategy and coordinate across analysis, HIL, and flight test.
• Chair TRR/FRR reviews and ensure readiness for flight.

Skills

Systems engineering

Technical authority

MBSE

Leadership

AR/DO standards

Education

Bachelor's degree in Aerospace, Mechanical, Electrical, Systems Engineering, or related field

Tools

Jama MBSE

Polarion

Cameo/MagicDraw

Job description

Flight Research Chief Engineer, Aircraft Systems

Job Locations: US-CA-Santa Cruz

Type: Regular Full-Time

Company Overview

Joby Flight Research designs, develops, and flight-tests novel aircraft using a software-first autonomy approach. We build and deploy autonomy, perception, planning, and radar systems across conventional, electric, and hydrogen-electric aircraft in both CTOL and VTOL configurations.

Overview

The Chief Engineer, Aircraft Systems is the accountable technical authority for the aircraft systems of the Flight Research program: avionics, actuation, propulsion and their integration to meet the program goals. Within it, you own the systems architecture, the systems requirements baselines, the systems safety case, and the systems verification strategy.

Above your domain you are a stakeholder in shaping program goals, aircraft-level requirements, and the Concept of Operations, and you are accountable for representing systems constraints and capabilities in them. You lead the aircraft-systems engineering IPT team, which includes systems engineers, electrical systems engineers, and others. In addition to leadership responsibilities, you stay technically sharp diving deep into the levels required to move the project and small team forward.

Your mindset and associated rigor of these responsibilities will evolve with the program; initially supporting rapid R&D and iteration within a small team supporting a small fleet of aircraft. With program progress, efforts will focus on commercialization and initial entry into service opportunities and derived requirements.

Responsibilities

• Own the aircraft-systems architecture and hold it coherent from concept through certification and flight.
• Own and baseline the systems requirements hierarchy and traceability; approve changes and resolve cross-system conflicts.
• Set functional boundaries with system owners (fuel cell, propulsion, avionics, actuation) and decide interface ownership and specifications.
• Own systems-level architecture and component trades against function, mass, power, reliability, cost, and performance; own make-versus-buy decisions and vendor engagement within budget authority.
• Own the systems safety case: FHA, PSSA/SSA, FMECA, and CCA per ARP4761/4761A, tailored to UAS failure classification and integrated with the SORA-based safety case.
• Approve the systems verification strategy. Allocate requirements across analysis, simulation, Hardware-in-the-Loop, the system integration lab, and flight test, with explicit verification objectives, credit claims, and configuration baselines.
• Chair the systems-level Technical Readiness Reviews (TRR) and Flight Readiness Reviews (FRR) and determine that the systems are ready for flight.
• Represent systems constraints and capabilities as a stakeholder in program goals, aircraft-level requirements, ConOps, Detect-and-Avoid (DAA), and Command-and-Control (C2) decisions.
• Lead and develop the aircraft-systems engineering team. Set technical direction, standards, and engineering workflows, knowing when to decide, when to delegate, and when to coach without becoming the critical path.

Required

• Bachelor's degree in Aerospace, Mechanical, Electrical, Systems Engineering, or a related field; advanced degree preferred.
• 12+ years in aerospace systems engineering, including significant time as a technical authority, chief engineer, or lead on a development program.
• Demonstrated accountability for systems architecture and the systems safety case through certification on at least one aircraft program.
• Deep fluency with ARP4754A/B, ARP4761/4761A, and the DO-178C / DO-254 / DO-160 family.
• Track record leading multidisciplinary systems teams and serving as the technical decision-maker, including functional-boundary and interface ownership with system owners and suppliers.
• Willingness to travel to flight test locations to support experimental troubleshooting and correlate flight data to system models.

Desired

• Prior chief-engineer or delegated technical-authority role on a clean-sheet program.
• UAS systems experience including autonomous logic, C2 link reliability, GCS integration, and Detect-and-Avoid for Group 3-5 UAS; BVLOS operations.
• Experience with SORA / SORA Annex F v2.5 (or equivalent operational risk assessment framework) and JARUS AMC RPAS.1309 Issue 2.
• Hydrogen-electric or fuel-cell propulsion, or other novel powertrain integration experience.
• Digital flight control systems development.
• Expert-level experience with MBSE and requirements management tools (Jama, Polarion, Cameo/MagicDraw, or equivalent).
• Clean-sheet aerospace development at the program-leadership level.
• MS / PhD in engineering

Additional Information

Compensation at Joby is a combination of base pay and Restricted Stock Units (RSUs). The target base pay for this position is $207,600 - $280,000/yr. The compensation package will be determined by job-related knowledge, skills, and experience.

Joby also offers a comprehensive benefits package, including paid time off, healthcare benefits, a 401(k) plan with a company match, an employee stock purchase plan (ESPP), short-term and long-term disability coverage, life insurance, and more.

• paid time off
• healthcare benefits
• a 401(k) plan with a company match
• an employee stock purchase plan (ESPP)
• short-term and long-term disability coverage
• life insurance

This position must meet US export control compliance requirements, therefore a candidate must qualify as a “US Person” as defined by 22 C.F.R. § 120.15. “US Person” includes US Citizens, lawful permanent residents, refugees, or asylees.

Joby is an Equal Opportunity Employer