Senior Flight Test Engineer - Lead Aircraft Certification

Jobless; Huntsville (AL); On-site; USD 130,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Industry-competitive compensation

Performance-based bonus

Equity stock-based compensation

Health, vision, and dental insurance

401k with company match

PTO & holiday pay

Life and disability insurance

Job summary

FMS Aerospace is seeking an experienced Senior Flight Test Engineer for our Huntsville, AL office. The role leads planning, execution, and analysis of complex flight test programs to verify aircraft performance, airworthiness, and regulatory compliance on Part 23/25 certified aircraft.

The engineer acts as a technical leader, developing test strategies, authoring plans, coordinating activities, and mentoring junior staff.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering, Aeronautical Engineering, or related field.
• Minimum of 10 years of direct flight test engineering experience.
• Ability to obtain FAA Class III Medical Certificate.
• Expertise in flight test planning, performance evaluation, data analysis, and testing.
• Knowledge of FAA, military, or customer regulatory requirements.
• Proven leadership and cross-functional collaboration with budget/resource management.
• U.S. citizen capable of obtaining DoD Secret clearance.
• Willingness to travel up to 20% domestically and internationally; overtime during flight test windows.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications.

Responsibilities

• Lead flight test planning, execution, data reduction, analysis, and reporting for modification and certification programs.
• Develop certification bases, regulatory plans, test plans, procedures, and documentation for FAA and military activities.
• Serve as test director and active crew member during flight tests; conduct briefings and monitor activities.
• Prepare findings, reports, and substantiation materials to support airworthiness approval and design compliance.
• Review preliminary and detailed designs; support design reviews and readiness.
• Define instrumentation parameters, data acquisition requirements, ranges, accuracy, and sampling rates.
• Support baseline, envelope expansion, development, certification, and evaluation flight tests.
• Perform data reduction and analysis using flight test instrumentation and post-flight tools.
• Assist integration, troubleshooting, and evaluations of modifications at various sites.
• Develop and review Airplane Flight Manuals and related documentation.
• Implement safety and risk procedures for all test programs.
• Establish and maintain weight and balance for test aircraft.
• Supervise and mentor junior engineers; manage resources and participate in client meetings.

Skills

Flight test planning

Flight test execution

Data analysis

Systems testing

Leadership

Project management

Regulatory knowledge

Security clearance experience

Communication

MS Office

Education

Bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering

Tools

MATLAB

Python

Dewesoft

Job description

FMS Aerospace is seeking an experienced Senior Flight Test Engineer for our Huntsville, AL office. The role leads planning, execution, and analysis of complex flight test programs to verify aircraft performance, airworthiness, and regulatory compliance on Part 23/25 certified aircraft.

The engineer acts as a technical leader, developing test strategies, authoring plans, coordinating activities, and mentoring junior staff.