Flight Test Lead, Aerial Autonomy

Applied Intuition; Sunnyvale (CA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

Applied Intuition in Sunnyvale seeks a Flight Test Engineer to lead planning, provisioning, execution, analysis, and reporting of flight test campaigns with technical rigor and collaboration across software, hardware, and customer teams.

The role emphasizes developing, maintaining, and improving flight test processes, embedding in product and project teams, and providing aviation subject matter expertise to developers and vendors. A US citizenship and clearance requirement apply.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of professional flight test experience.
• Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering or related field (e.g., Mechanical Engineering, Astronautical Engineering, Physics).
• Clarified objectives and led test plan working groups, reviews, and safety reviews.
• Authored clear test plans, hazard analyses, communication plans, checklists, and test cards.
• Secured personnel, equipment, and range time for test operations.
• Served as test conductor or test director on missions and made in-flight decisions.
• Analyzed test data for system evaluation and troubleshooting.
• Authored test reports and kept stakeholders informed of progress.
• Supported acquisition, test, and evaluation of aviation systems.

Responsibilities

• Gather and clarify test requirements from stakeholders and program managers.
• Create test planning and test management products such as test plans, hazard analyses, test cards, and checklists.
• Provision personnel, equipment, facilities, procedures, schedules, and open-air ranges for flight test operations.
• Execute tests as test director or test conductor, and sometimes as system operator.
• Analyze test results to inform post-operation decisions, and support engineering analysis of test data.
• Report operation and campaign progress to stakeholders, with recommendations for next actions.
• Coordinate with customers from planning through reporting so tests meet objectives.
• Identify flight test staffing needs and work with engineering managers to fill them.
• Provide aviation SME to software developers and hardware integrators.
• Build productive relationships with DoD warfighter domain experts and third-party UAS vendors.
• Develop partnerships with test ranges to secure persistent access for campaigns.
• Travel up to 50% of the time to test ranges and customer sites.

Skills

Flight test planning

Hazard analyses

Test coordination

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering

Job description

Applied Intuition in Sunnyvale seeks a Flight Test Engineer to lead planning, provisioning, execution, analysis, and reporting of flight test campaigns with technical rigor and collaboration across software, hardware, and customer teams.

The role emphasizes developing, maintaining, and improving flight test processes, embedding in product and project teams, and providing aviation subject matter expertise to developers and vendors. A US citizenship and clearance requirement apply.