Lead Flight Controls Engineer - Certification Authority

Electra.aero; Manassas (VA); On-site; USD 135,000 - 165,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary and equity

Medical, dental, and vision insurance

Generous PTO and holidays

Paid winter break

401(k) with immediate vesting

Free catered lunches, coffee, snacks,в

Free on-site parking

Job summary

Electra.aero is seeking a Principal Flight Controls Engineer to serve as a senior technical authority and cert subject-matter expert for the EL9 aircraft. You will lead certification strategy, ensure regulatory compliance, and coordinate verification activities across analysis, simulation, and testing.

This role requires deep expertise in flight control architectures, certification planning, and cross-functional leadership.

Qualifications

• B.S. in Aerospace Engineering or related STEM field.
• 10+ years in flight controls or related aerospace systems development.
• Experience supporting aircraft certification and verification activities on safety-critical systems.
• Strong understanding of flight control systems and architectures.
• Experience with certification planning and compliance for aerospace systems.
• Ability to operate as a technical authority and in-house subject-matter expert.
• Excellent communication skills for authority-facing technical discussions.
• Experience with MATLAB/Simulink-based development and verification environments.
• Proven ability to collaborate across IPTs and disciplines.

Responsibilities

• Act as the flight controls certification focal for the EL9 program, owning the functional certification approach.
• Lead development and maintenance of the flight controls functional certification plan.
• Translate regulatory requirements and system safety assessments into certifiable flight control functions.
• Provide technical oversight for verification planning and execution across analysis, simulation, SIL/HIL, ground and flight test.
• Partner with the Flight Controls IPT Lead to support system architecture decisions and assess certification impacts of design changes.
• Support system safety activities, FHA, PSSA, and SSA alignment.
• Interface with certification authorities and support technical discussions, reviews, and issue resolution.
• Mentor flight controls engineers in certification, verification, and systems thinking.
• Coordinate across disciplines including systems engineering, safety, software, propulsion, and flight test.
• Support certification closure and entry-into-service readiness.

Skills

Aerospace engineering

Flight controls

Certification planning

System safety

Technical leadership

Communication skills

MATLAB/Simulink

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

B.S. in Aerospace Engineering

Tools

MATLAB/Simulink

Job description

Electra.aero is seeking a Principal Flight Controls Engineer to serve as a senior technical authority and cert subject-matter expert for the EL9 aircraft. You will lead certification strategy, ensure regulatory compliance, and coordinate verification activities across analysis, simulation, and testing.

This role requires deep expertise in flight control architectures, certification planning, and cross-functional leadership.