Flight Research Chief Engineer, Aircraft Systems
Santa Cruz, CA, USA
Flight Research Chief Engineer, Aircraft Systems
- ID
- 2026-5192
- Category
- Flight Research
- Type
- Regular Full-Time
Company Overview
Joby Flight Research designs, develops, and flight-tests novel aircraft using a software-first autonomy approach. We build and deploy autonomy, perception, planning, and radar systems across conventional, electric, and hydrogen-electric aircraft in both CTOL and VTOL configurations.
Overview
The Chief Engineer, Aircraft Systems is the accountable technical authority for the aircraft systems of the Flight Research program: avionics, actuation, propulsion and their integration to meet the program goals. Within it, you own the systems architecture, the systems requirements baselines, the systems safety case, and the systems verification strategy.
Above your domain you are a stakeholder in shaping program goals, aircraft-level requirements, and the Concept of Operations, and you are accountable for representing systems constraints and capabilities in them. You lead the aircraft-systems engineering IPT team, which includes systems engineers, electrical systems engineers, and others. In addition to leadership responsibilities, you stay technically sharp diving deep into the levels required to move the project and small team forward.
Your mindset and associated rigor of these responsibilities will evolve with the program; initially supporting rapid R&D and iteration within a small team supporting a small fleet of aircraft. With program progress, efforts will focus on commercialization and initial entry into service opportunities and derived requirements.
Responsibilities
- Own the aircraft-systems architecture and hold it coherent from concept through certification and flight.
- Own and baseline the systems requirements hierarchy and traceability; approve changes and resolve cross-system conflicts.
- Set functional boundaries with system owners (fuel cell, propulsion, avionics, actuation) and decide interface ownership and specifications.
- Own systems-level architecture and component trades against function, mass, power, reliability, cost, and performance; own make-versus-buy decisions and vendor engagement within budget authority.
- Own the systems safety case: FHA, PSSA/SSA, FMECA, and CCA per ARP4761/4761A, tailored to UAS failure classification and integrated with the SORA-based safety case.
- Approve the systems verification strategy. Allocate requirements across analysis, simulation, Hardware-in-the-Loop, the system integration lab, and flight test, with explicit verification objectives, credit claims, and configuration baselines.
- Chair the systems-level Technical Readiness Reviews (TRR) and Flight Readiness Reviews (FRR) and determine that the systems are ready for flight.
- Represent systems constraints and capabilities as a stakeholder in program goals, aircraft-level requirements, ConOps, Detect-and-Avoid (DAA), and Command-and-Control (C2) decisions.
- Lead and develop the aircraft-systems engineering team. Set technical direction, standards, and engineering workflows, knowing when to decide, when to delegate, and when to coach without becoming the critical path.
Required
- Bachelor's degree in Aerospace, Mechanical, Electrical, Systems Engineering, or a related field; advanced degree preferred.
- 12+ years in aerospace systems engineering, including significant time as a technical authority, chief engineer, or lead on a development program.
- Demonstrated accountability for systems architecture and the systems safety case through certification on at least one aircraft program.
- Deep fluency with ARP4754A/B, ARP4761/4761A, and the DO-178C / DO-254 / DO-160 family.
- Track record leading multidisciplinary systems teams and serving as the technical decision-maker, including functional-boundary and interface ownership with system owners and suppliers.
- Willingness to travel to flight test locations to support experimental troubleshooting and correlate flight data to system models.
Desired
- Prior chief-engineer or delegated technical-authority role on a clean-sheet program.
- UAS systems experience including autonomous logic, C2 link reliability, GCS integration, and Detect-and-Avoid for Group 3-5 UAS; BVLOS operations.
- Experience with SORA / SORA Annex F v2.5 (or equivalent operational risk assessment framework) and JARUS AMC RPAS.1309 Issue 2.
- Hydrogen-electric or fuel-cell propulsion, or other novel powertrain integration experience.
- Digital flight control systems development.
- Expert-level experience with MBSE and requirements management tools (Jama, Polarion, Cameo/MagicDraw, or equivalent).
- Clean-sheet aerospace development at the program-leadership level.
- MS / PhD in engineering
Additional Information
Compensation at Joby is a combination of base pay and Restricted Stock Units (RSUs). The target base pay for this position is $207,600 - $280,000/yr. The compensation package will be determined by job-related knowledge, skills, and experience.
Joby also offers a comprehensive benefits package, including paid time off, healthcare benefits, a 401(k) plan with a company match, an employee stock purchase plan (ESPP), short-term and long-term disability coverage, life insurance, and more.
This position must meet US export control compliance requirements, therefore a candidate must qualify as a “US Person” as defined by 22 C.F.R. § 120.15. “US Person” includes US Citizens, lawful permanent residents, refugees, or asylees.
Joby is an Equal Opportunity Employer
