Senior Program Manager, Air Vehicle Integration

Merlin Labs; Boston (MA); On-site; USD 100,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Merlin Labs in Boston is looking for a Senior Program Manager for Air Vehicle Integration. You will own the program to integrate Merlin Pilot onto airframes, ensuring the processes from integration through flight test and certification.

This role requires strong leadership in aerospace and autonomy, managing multiple integration programs while engaging closely with various technical teams. The ideal candidate brings a mix of operational rigor and strategic thinking.

Qualifications

• Deep program leadership in aerospace, autonomy, or safety-critical systems.
• Comfortable in STC review, hardware integration bench, and customer program review.
• Thrives amid ambiguity and high execution velocity.

Responsibilities

• Own program for getting Merlin Pilot onto airframes.
• Run integration programs with rigor and predictability.
• Partner daily with various teams including AVI, autonomy, and safety.

Skills

Program leadership in aerospace

Technical fluency in integration

Certification literacy

Operational rigor

Strategic operations

Job description

About Merlin:

Merlin is a venture backed aerospace startup building a non-human pilot to enable both reduced crew and uncrewed flight. Backed by some of the world’s leading investors, Merlin is scaling alongside our customers to begin leveraging autonomy today to solve some of aviation’s biggest challenges.

About the Role:

As Senior Program Manager, Air Vehicle Integration (AVI), you are the program owner for getting Merlin Pilot onto airframes — across every phase from desktop and SITL through bench and aircraft, and from first integration through flight test, certification, and operational fielding.

You'll own a portfolio of platform-integration programs spanning Merlin's fleet future platforms — for both U.S. government end users and prime-contractor partners. Your job is to run it with rigor, scale it as the portfolio grows, and make integration predictable.

This role sits in the Programs organization and partners daily with the AVI, autonomy, safety, flight test, supply chain, and business development teams. You will work hand-in-glove with two embedded Technical Program Managers who drive day-to-day technical execution.

About You:

You are a program owner - you own your work and do not pass the baton - your programs are your responsibility for success. You're a strategic operator with deep program leadership in aerospace, autonomy, or safety-critical systems, and you're equally comfortable in an STC review, a hardware integration bench, and a customer program review.

You bring technical fluency (you don't need to be the engineer, but you talk to one credibly), certification literacy, and the operational rigor to keep a multi-aircraft integration portfolio on baseline. You thrive amid ambiguity and high execution velocity, and you build trust with operators, primes, and certification authorities alike.