Chief Aerospace Engineer

About the role

You will serve as the company-wide technical authority for aerospace engineering, the person accountable for the engineering integrity of vehicles that carry people and billion-dollar payloads. Program managers, executives, and boards rely on your judgment for the decisions that define the company: configurations, technology bets, and airworthiness commitments. This role matters because aerospace failures are unforgiving and public, and your technical authority is what keeps the company's vehicles safe, certifiable, and successful across decades of service. You will carry the ultimate technical accountability for the company's aerospace products, and your signature on a certification document will represent the culmination of thousands of engineering decisions you oversaw. Your leadership will set the technical culture: whether engineers raise concerns early or hide them, whether analysis is rigorous or performative, whether schedule pressure ever compromises airworthiness. You will spend as much time on organizational health as on technical content, building the review processes, hiring standards, and technical career paths that make great engineering repeatable rather than accidental. When the hardest calls arise, grounding a fleet, delaying a first flight, or telling a customer a requirement cannot be met safely, you will make them with the full weight of your experience.

What you will achieve

• Own technical authority across all programs: architecture approvals, milestone sign-offs, and flight readiness decisions
• Prevent major program failures through early intervention on flawed configurations, unrealistic performance claims, or certification risks
• Define the company engineering system: design standards, review processes, and technical career paths adopted enterprise-wide
• Drive resolution of enterprise crises: fleet groundings, systemic test failures, or certification impasses with decisive technical leadership
• Build the next generation of chief engineers through mentorship, setting the standard for aerospace judgment company-wide
• Strengthen enterprise technical governance by institutionalizing independent review boards for all safety-critical design decisions

What you will bring

Must-haves

• 15+ years of aerospace engineering experience with multiple flight vehicles delivered to service or operation
• Recognized authority in aircraft or spacecraft engineering with deep knowledge across aerodynamics, structures, propulsion, and systems
• Track record of program-level technical decisions that delivered safe, successful flight vehicles
• Experience making flight readiness and certification decisions under uncertainty and commercial pressure
• Deep understanding of airworthiness: FAA/EASA certification or military/government approval processes
• History of building engineering organizations and developing senior technical leaders
• Unimpeachable technical credibility with executives, boards, regulators, and the engineering workforce

Nice-to-haves

• Test pilot or flight test leadership background
• Advanced degree in aerospace engineering
• Industry recognition: AIAA Fellow, major awards, or widely cited technical leadership
• Direct experience leading mishap investigation or fleet return-to-service efforts
• Prior experience as a delegated engineering representative or authorized signatory