Chief Engineer, Flight Controls Domain - Level 6

About

You will be the Chief Engineer, Flight Controls Domain for the Advanced Development Programs (ADP) Chief Engineer's Office, responsible for ensuring technical viability, airworthiness, mission success, and flight safety across all ADP programs.

• Location: Fort Worth, TX; Palmdale, CA; or Marietta, GA
• Citizenship: Must be a U.S. citizen (facility requires special access)
• Clearance: Active Secret clearance required to start

What You Will Be Doing

As the Chief Engineer, Flight Controls Domain you will be responsible for guiding the Flight Controls discipline through complex technical challenges, aligning program requirements with airworthiness and safety standards, and advising senior leadership on risk mitigation.

• Ensure technical viability and compliance with airworthiness and flight‑safety requirements for all Flight Controls efforts.
• Facilitate and participate in program technical reviews and ad‑hoc discussions related to the Flight Controls Domain.
• Promote sharing of lessons‑learned and engineering best practices across ADP programs.
• Connect programs with subject‑matter experts, legacy data, and analysis methods to resolve technical issues.
• Participate in Independent Review Teams, Tiger Teams, Failure Review Boards, and RCCA investigations as directed.

Who You Are

You are a collaborative technical leader with deep expertise in vehicle stability, guidance, navigation, and control for autonomous, piloted, and remotely piloted systems. You excel at identifying gaps, assessing risk, and delivering clear recommendations to senior leadership. Your strong communication skills enable you to influence cross‑functional teams and drive consistent engineering excellence across a portfolio of cutting‑edge programs.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in an engineering/technical discipline
• Broad technical expertise in architecture development, detail design, integration, and test of aircraft Flight Control Systems, including vehicle stability, guidance, navigation, and control; air data systems; and implementation of vehicle‑level flight simulations and hardware‑in‑the‑loop testing
• Direct experience with developmental flight vehicles
• Strong oral and written communication skills with the ability to distill and articulate complex issues into succinct, cohesive executive summaries

Desired Skills

• Experience with application of Airworthiness, Mission Success, and Flight Safety processes
• Experience with Aerodynamics and Propulsion, including aerodynamic database generation, wind tunnel testing, engine cycle analysis, inlet and nozzle performance predictions, and vehicle performance
• Experience with application of Root Cause Corrective Action (RCCA) processes
• Experience with development of Flight Control Systems for autonomous, piloted, and remotely piloted vehicles
• Experience with software development, integration, testing, and qualification
• Active TS clearance

Compensation and Benefits

National Pay Statement

• Pay Rate:
  • Annual base salary range for this position in California, Massachusetts, and New York (excluding most major metropolitan areas), Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, Vermont, Washington, or Washington DC: $164,300 – $289,800
  • For states not referenced above, the salary range will reflect the candidate’s final work location
• Benefits: Medical, Dental, Vision, Life Insurance, Short‑Term Disability, Long‑Term Disability, 401(k) match, Flexible Spending Accounts, EAP, Education Assistance, Parental Leave, Paid time off, and Holidays
• PTO Details (Washington state applicants only):
  • Non‑represented full‑time employees: accrue at least 10 hours/month of PTO; receive at least 90 hours for holidays
  • Represented full‑time employees: accrue 6.67 hours/month of Vacation; accrue up to 52 hours of sick leave annually; receive at least 96 hours for holidays
  • PTO, Vacation, sick leave, and holiday hours are prorated based on start date during the calendar year
• This position is incentive‑plan eligible

Premium Pay Statement

• Pay Rate:
  • Annual base salary range for this position in most major metropolitan areas in California, Massachusetts, and New York: $189,000 – $327,635
  • For states not referenced above, the salary range will reflect the candidate’s final work location
• Benefits: Medical, Dental, Vision, Life Insurance, Short‑Term Disability, Long‑Term Disability, 401(k) match, Flexible Spending Accounts, EAP, Education Assistance, Parental Leave, Paid time off, and Holidays
• This position is incentive‑plan eligible