Vice President of Flight Operations
Department: Flight Operations
Reports To: Chief Operating Officer
Location: Frisco, Texas
Employment Type: Full-Time, On-Site
Travel: Required
Position Summary
The Vice President of Flight Operations (VPFO) is the senior operational leader responsible for all Avrex Aerospace flight activities, flight safety, operational readiness, and flight-test execution across the Company's aircraft platforms and programs.
The VPFO provides executive oversight of research and development flights, flight testing, demonstration flights, customer operations, and deployed mission operations. The position serves as the Company's operational authority for flight activities and is responsible for ensuring operations are executed safely, professionally, and in accordance with approved company, regulatory, and contractual requirements.
Key Responsibilities
Flight Operations Leadership
Provide executive leadership and oversight for all Company flight operations.
Direct R&D, developmental flight test, demonstration, customer, and deployed flight activities.
Exercise operational authority over flight go/no-go decisions and operational risk acceptance within approved Company parameters.
Establish operational priorities and ensure personnel, aircraft, equipment, ranges, and support systems are prepared for scheduled operations.
Flight Test Program Execution
Lead the operational execution of structured flight-test campaigns.
Support envelope expansion, endurance validation, payload integration, and system-performance verification.
Coordinate closely with Engineering on test-card development, aircraft readiness, instrumentation, telemetry, and data requirements.
Ensure aircraft have completed appropriate airworthiness and engineering reviews before flight.
Safety Management
Establish, implement, and continuously improve the Company's Safety Management System (SMS).
Maintain processes for hazard identification, operational risk management, incident reporting, safety review boards, and corrective-action tracking.
Promote a disciplined safety culture throughout flight operations.
Ensure flight activities are conducted in accordance with documented procedures and approved operational risk levels.
Regulatory Compliance & Airspace
Ensure flight operations comply with applicable aviation regulations and approvals.
Oversee FAA requirements, Certificates of Authorization (COAs), waivers, BVLOS authorizations, airspace coordination, and other required approvals.
Coordinate with Legal, Compliance, Engineering, and external authorities as required.
Ensure flight activities remain within regulatory, contractual, and airspace limitations.
Training, Qualification & Standardization
Establish and maintain flight operations SOPs, emergency procedures, and crew qualification standards.
Oversee initial qualification, recurrent training, and mission-specific certification.
Maintain standardization across pilots, operators, flight-test personnel, and supporting flight crews.
Ensure personnel maintain the proficiency and qualifications required for assigned duties.
Operational Infrastructure & Readiness
Oversee readiness of ground control stations, telemetry systems, mission-planning systems, test ranges, and operational support equipment.
Coordinate aircraft availability, configuration status, maintenance, and logistics with Engineering, Production, and Supply Chain.
Ensure aircraft and supporting systems are properly configured and ready before flight activities.
Maintenance & Reliability Interface
Ensure proper operational documentation of aircraft configurations, flight hours, inspections, discrepancies, and post-flight results.
Coordinate reliability feedback between Flight Operations and Engineering.
Support identification and resolution of recurring aircraft or mission-system issues.
Contribute operational data to platform improvement and performance optimization.
Customer Demonstrations & Field Deployments
Lead operational execution of customer demonstrations, evaluation events, and field deployments.
Ensure external-facing flight activities demonstrate professional execution and operational discipline.
Coordinate personnel, aircraft, equipment, logistics, and mission requirements for deployed operations.
Leadership & Reporting
Lead and develop Flight Operations personnel and establish a culture of accountability, safety, and mission execution.
Provide executive reporting on flight hours, sortie counts, aircraft utilization, reliability, maintenance downtime, incidents, and cost-per-flight-hour.
Maintain operational transparency with executive leadership.
Identify operational risks, resource constraints, and readiness issues requiring executive action.
Qualifications
Significant leadership experience in aviation, UAS, aerospace flight operations, or flight testing.
Demonstrated experience managing complex flight operations and multidisciplinary flight teams.
Strong understanding of aviation safety, operational risk management, airworthiness, and flight-test processes.
Experience operating within FAA-controlled or otherwise regulated airspace environments.
Experience developing SOPs, training programs, qualification standards, and operational processes.
Demonstrated ability to work effectively with Engineering, Production, Program Management, customers, and executive leadership.
Strong written and verbal communication skills.
Ability to travel and support flight-test, demonstration, and deployed operations as required.
Success in This Role
Success is measured by safe and disciplined flight execution, aircraft and crew readiness, regulatory compliance, predictable flight-test throughput, effective utilization of Company aircraft, and the ability of Flight Operations to reliably support engineering development, production, customer demonstrations, and Company mission objectives.