Lead Flight Test Engineer — Autonomous VTOL

Samson Rose; Los Angeles (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Samson Rose is seeking a Flight Test Operations Engineer in the Los Angeles area to lead end-to-end flight-test campaigns for a next-generation autonomous aircraft. You will collaborate with engineering, business development, and test-range personnel to plan, execute, review data, and report findings.

The role requires hands-on testing, strong collaboration, and an ability to translate test results into actionable design improvements while ensuring safety and regulatory compliance.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or higher in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a closely related technical field.
• 5+ years of relevant engineering experience, ideally in aerospace, flight testing, or unmanned aircraft systems.
• Demonstrated experience planning, coordinating, and executing flight-test campaigns.
• Working knowledge of PX4, MAVLink, and QGroundControl.
• Understanding of aircraft systems, aerodynamics, and flight-test fundamentals.
• Experience monitoring flight operations, reviewing flight data, identifying anomalies, and supporting technical investigations.
• Familiarity with FAA airworthiness requirements and aircraft testing or certification processes.
• Strong technical documentation, organizational, and project coordination skills.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute flight-test plans and procedures for the autonomous aircraft.
• Own end-to-end test campaign activities from planning to data review and reporting.
• Coordinate flight-test operations across engineering, business development, test-range personnel, customers, and stakeholders.
• Lead preflight and postflight debriefings to ensure readiness and clear communication.
• Monitor aircraft performance during testing, identify anomalies, and coordinate real-time troubleshooting.
• Review flight-test data and translate results into actionable engineering improvements.
• Develop and refine test procedures to improve efficiency, repeatability, and safety.
• Support FAA airworthiness requirements and certification activities for testing in the NAS.
• Help develop field-test equipment, ground-support systems, and test vehicles.
• Work with engineering teams to investigate issues and improve performance and reliability.
• Identify opportunities to streamline testing while maintaining safety standards.
• Travel to test ranges as needed to support campaigns.

Skills

Aerospace Eng

Flight Testing

PX4

MAVLink

QGroundControl

Systems Eng

Education

Bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering

Job description

Samson Rose is seeking a Flight Test Operations Engineer in the Los Angeles area to lead end-to-end flight-test campaigns for a next-generation autonomous aircraft. You will collaborate with engineering, business development, and test-range personnel to plan, execute, review data, and report findings.

The role requires hands-on testing, strong collaboration, and an ability to translate test results into actionable design improvements while ensuring safety and regulatory compliance.