Head of Safety & Airworthiness for UAS

KrateoSky; Denton (TX); On-site; USD 132,000 - 198,000; Full time

Job summary

KrateoSky is seeking a Head of Safety and Airworthiness to lead the design, implementation, and scaling of the company’s Safety Management System and airworthiness governance for high-velocity UAS programs.

You will solve complex safety challenges hands-on while building people, processes, and disciplined operating procedures that enable BVLOS and safe deployments. Applicants must have DoD clearance eligibility and a track record shipping safe, regulatory-compliant systems.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in aviation safety, airworthiness engineering, systems safety, or flight-test safety leadership.
• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, science, or a related technical field.
• Proven track record shipping real UAS or aircraft systems and governing flight safety for operational products.
• Deep expertise in MIL-STD-882E, 14 CFR Part 5, and ICAO Annex 19.
• Strong knowledge of safety integration across autonomy, avionics, flight controls, and flight-test operations.
• Experience building safety processes in fast-moving engineering environments.
• Experience leading safety investigations and corrective actions.
• AI-native proficiency with measurable productivity gains in safety contexts.
• Eligible to obtain US DoD Secret clearance.

Responsibilities

• Own the Safety Management System (SMS), safety policy, risk management, safety assurance, and safety promotion.
• Serve as the independent safety authority for UAS development, flight-test governance, and operational release decisions.
• Establish rigorous, audit-ready safety and airworthiness governance frameworks compatible with startup velocity.
• Define safety and airworthiness criteria for test readiness, flight readiness, and return-to-flight decisions.
• Provide independent assessment of hazards, mitigations, and residual risks for test or deployment.
• Build safety processes using MIL-STD-882E and 14 CFR Part 5 with scalable templates.
• Define hazard tracking, risk registers, safety review processes, and corrective-action governance.
• Exercise stop-test and no-fly authority when risk is not understood or controlled.
• Lead anomaly, incident, and mishap review boards with escalation to CTO/CEO.
• Review engineering changes and waivers for safety impact with cross-functional teams.
• Define evidence required for flight release and safety case claims and assess sufficiency.
• Ensure investigations of safety-significant events with verified corrective actions.
• Establish safety reporting, escalation, and lessons-learned mechanisms across orgs.
• Partner with engineering, certification, quality, and legal/regulatory to embed safety into development.
• Support FAA/EASA/DoD approvals and airworthiness evidence development as needed.

Skills

Aviation safety

Airworthiness engineering

Safety frameworks MIL-STD-882E

14 CFR Part 5

AI tooling proficiency

Security clearance eligible

Education

Bachelor’s degree in engineering/science

Tools

AI tools proficiency

Job description

KrateoSky is seeking a Head of Safety and Airworthiness to lead the design, implementation, and scaling of the company’s Safety Management System and airworthiness governance for high-velocity UAS programs.

You will solve complex safety challenges hands-on while building people, processes, and disciplined operating procedures that enable BVLOS and safe deployments. Applicants must have DoD clearance eligibility and a track record shipping safe, regulatory-compliant systems.