Engineering Flight Test Coordination Lead

Responsibilities

• Maintain the configuration baseline for each aircraft, including: Installed experimental and standard parts (part numbers, serial numbers, mod status), Software/firmware loads and calibration states (as applicable), Instrumentation, test equipment, and payload configurations, Weight & balance configuration changes and supporting records
• Track aircraft configuration across multiple aircraft types and sub-types, ensuring consistent configuration definitions and naming conventions.
• Ensure configuration status is accurate, current, and auditable, enabling rapid “as-is” and “as-maintained” reporting.
• Serve as the single coordination point for all changes affecting experimental aircraft configuration, including: New experimental parts installations/removals, Temporary test configurations , “Test-only” deviations and allowances, Engineering dispositions and constraints
• Establish and manage an aircraft change workflow
• Track scheduled and unscheduled maintenance events for the fleet and ensure maintenance status is integrated into configuration visibility.
• Cook with maintenance teams to plan downtime, parts availability, and turn-back-to-flight readiness requirements.
• Maintain forward-looking schedules and constraints (test windows, inspections, compliance checks) to support optimal aircraft availability.
• Define and manage the requirements, documentation, inspections, and signoffs needed to place a standard airworthiness ticket (or equivalent internal release) back on the aircraft.
• Ensure experimental modifications are correctly documented, controlled, and reconciled against release criteria prior to flight operations.
• Build and maintain “ready-to-fly” and “return-to-standard” checklists by aircraft type/configuration, including verification of installed configuration and completed inspections.
• Establish and continuously improve the tools and processes used to manage configuration and change control (e.g., PLM/ALM/CM systems, databases, dashboards, forms, and workflows).
• Create fleet-level visibility dashboards
• Define, track, and report key performance and availability metrics
• Drive standard work, training, and compliance to the configuration & change processes across engineering, maintenance, test operations, and safety stakeholders.
• Partner with Engineering, Flight Test, Quality, Safety, Supply Chain, and Program leadership to align priorities and ensure changes are implemented safely and efficiently.
• Coordinates planned aircraft configuration updates to support future testing.
• Ensures the aircraft configuration meets test requirements and project schedule.
• Facilitate/establish a configuration review / change control board (if necessary), capturing decisions and maintaining action closure.
• Provide rapid configuration data support for investigations, test analysis, and operational planning.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Aviation Maintenance, Aerospace, Operations, Program Management or related field or equivalent experience.
• 7+ years of experience in configuration management, change management, aircraft maintenance planning, flight test operations, or related aerospace environment.
• Demonstrated experience controlling configuration of complex assets (aircraft preferred) including hardware/software and documentation.
• Strong working knowledge of aircraft maintenance concepts, records, and release/return-to-service discipline.
• Proven ability to design and implement processes, workflows, and tool solutions that improve visibility, compliance, and operational availability.
• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills; ability to operate effectively across engineering and operations teams.
• High attention to detail, strong analytical skills, and comfort working with metrics and dashboards.

Qualifications

• Preffered Qualifications: Experience supporting experimental aircraft, flight test programs, or rapidly evolving prototype fleets. Familiarity with PLM/ERP/CM fleet management tools (e.g., Teamcenter/Windchill, Jama/DOORS, SAP, Maximo, Jira/Confluence, Smartsheet, CAMPS, etc.). Knowledge of configuration audits, discrepancy resolution, and release readiness processes. Experience defining operational metrics and building dashboards (Power BI or similar).

Pay

Pay Range: USD $102,099.62/Yr. - USD $153,149.43/Yr.