Head of Flight Test Engineering
Wing SecuritySaaS Security company
Palo Alto, United States$276,000 - $293,000 USDDirector
CapitalG
Insight Partners
S Capital VC
Oren Yunger
Cyberstarts VC
Crystal Huang
About the role
TL;DR
Lead the Flight Test Engineering team, guiding strategy, execution, and analysis for autonomous aircraft systems.
- •Wing is looking for a Head of Flight Test Engineering to lead our Flight Test and Evaluation team.
- •This role is hybrid based in Palo Alto, CA.
- •In this role, you will bring deep technical domain expertise across autonomous systems to guide test strategy, mentor a talented team of flight test engineers, and ensure our flight test programs operate at peak efficiency and rigor.
- •You will manage a team of Flight Test Engineers, balancing people leadership with technical expertise.
- •You will lead high-integrity planning, execution, and analysis that directly underpins regulatory approvals and compliance.
- •Crucially, you will be a bridge between engineering, operations, regulatory, and product development—translating flight test observations into clear business impacts to empower and shape Wing’s overall development roadmaps.
- •Key Responsibilities Manage, mentor, and grow the Flight Test Engineering team, fostering a high-performing technical culture, clear career pathways, and strong cross-functional alignment.
- •Be responsible for the development of flight test evaluation strategies and plans for all aspects of the Wing Delivery System, from end-to-end system validation to novel component level technology development and operational concepts.
- •Drive end-to-end flight test execution—including risk assessments, Test Readiness Reviews (TRRs), Test Director duties, and advanced flight data evaluation.
- •Connect flight test observations directly to commercial outcomes, apply critical thinking by translating observations into actionable guidance for product, regulatory, and engineering roadmaps.
- •Drive high-integrity test planning, rigorous execution, and standardized data analysis to generate the traceability and objective evidence required for FAA and global aviation safety regulatory submissions.
- •Requirements 15+ years in flight test engineering, with extensive experience in complex or autonomous system development. 3+ years of hands-on experience flight testing Small Uncrewed Aerial Systems (sUAS), eVTOL, or autonomous aircraft.
- •Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace, Mechanical, Electrical, Systems Engineering, or a related technical discipline from an accredited university, or equivalent experience.
- •Demonstrated track record of technical leadership or direct people management of flight test and evaluation teams.
- •Current FAA Part 107 Remote Pilot certificate.
Required skills
Engineering ManagementRisk ManagementCompliance Management
Domain expertise
aerospace
Tech stack
PythonJavaScriptTypeScriptJavaC++C#GoRustRubyPHPSwiftKotlinScalaRSQLBashCObjective-CPerlLuaElixirClojureHaskellDartReactVue.jsAngularNext.jsSvelteHTML
