Vice President of Air Vehicle Integration & Flight Test

Department: Engineering
Reports To: Chief Technology Officer
Location: Frisco, Texas
Employment Type: Full-Time, On-Site
Travel: Required

Position Summary

The Vice President of Air Vehicle Integration & Flight Test (VPIFT) is the senior engineering leader responsible for full-system aircraft integration, verification and validation (V&V), and structured flight-test engineering across Avrex Aerospace aircraft platforms and mission systems.

The VPIFT ensures individual airframe, propulsion, power, avionics, flight-control, communications, payload, and mission-system components function as a cohesive and flight-ready aircraft system.

This position serves as the technical bridge between Engineering and Flight Operations. Flight Operations executes the mission; Integration & Flight Test Engineering defines, validates, and evaluates the technical objectives.

Key Responsibilities

System Integration

• Lead integration of major aircraft and mission-system subsystems into complete flight-ready platforms.

• Oversee integration of:

  • Airframe structures

  • Propulsion systems

  • Power generation and distribution

  • Avionics

  • Flight-control systems

  • ISR payloads and mission systems

  • Data links and communications systems

• Identify and resolve interface issues between hardware, software, propulsion, avionics, and payload systems.

• Ensure integrated aircraft meet established engineering requirements before release to flight test.

Verification & Validation

• Develop and oversee structured aircraft and subsystem V&V plans.

• Lead ground-test campaigns and hardware-in-the-loop testing.

• Oversee environmental, stress, power, thermal, control-law, redundancy, and failure-mode validation.

• Establish measurable verification criteria for aircraft systems and subsystems.

• Ensure aircraft do not enter flight test without appropriate engineering readiness reviews and documented validation.

Flight Test Engineering

• Coordinate with the Vice President of Flight Operations to plan and execute developmental flight-test programs.

• Develop test objectives and engineering test cards.

• Define instrumentation, telemetry, and data-capture requirements.

• Establish envelope-expansion methodology.

• Define and validate aircraft performance metrics.

• Analyze flight-test data and identify required engineering changes.

• Provide engineering release approvals as appropriate.

Configuration Management

• Establish and enforce aircraft configuration-management protocols.

• Maintain disciplined revision-control documentation.

• Establish and manage Engineering Change Order (ECO) processes.

• Maintain air-vehicle baseline configuration records.

• Ensure test configurations are accurately documented.

• Maintain configuration discipline across prototype, development, and production-intent aircraft.

Reliability & Root Cause Analysis

• Lead technical investigation of aircraft and subsystem anomalies.

• Conduct structured root-cause analysis.

• Establish and track corrective actions.

• Monitor reliability growth across aircraft platforms.

• Drive design-refinement cycles based on ground- and flight-test results.

• Maintain rapid feedback between flight-test findings and engineering redesign.

Cross-Functional Technical Leadership

• Coordinate technical integration activities across:

  • Flight Operations

  • Propulsion & Power Engineering

  • Autonomy & Software

  • Manufacturing & Production

  • Systems Engineering

  • Mission Systems

• Eliminate technical silos between engineering disciplines.

• Ensure subsystem development decisions support overall aircraft-system requirements.

• Drive disciplined integration across engineering organizations.

Documentation & Airworthiness Readiness

• Maintain engineering documentation required to support customer technical reviews.

• Support government evaluation programs.

• Develop and maintain engineering inputs for airworthiness documentation packages.

• Support future certification pathways when applicable.

• Ensure engineering test evidence, configuration records, and validation results are appropriately documented and retained.

Technical Leadership

• Establish integration and test priorities across Company aircraft programs.

• Identify technical risks that could affect flight readiness, program schedules, production, or customer delivery.

• Communicate aircraft technical status and integration risks to executive leadership.

• Mentor engineering personnel and establish disciplined systems-integration and test practices.

Qualifications

• Significant aerospace engineering, systems integration, aircraft development, or flight-test engineering experience.

• Demonstrated experience integrating complex aircraft or unmanned aircraft systems.

• Strong understanding of aircraft structures, propulsion, avionics, flight controls, communications, power systems, and mission systems.

• Experience developing and executing verification and validation programs.

• Experience with developmental flight testing, test planning, instrumentation, telemetry, and flight-data analysis.

• Working knowledge of configuration management and engineering change-control processes.

• Demonstrated experience conducting technical failure investigations and root-cause analysis.

• Strong cross-functional leadership and technical communication skills.

Success in This Role

Success is measured by the Company's ability to consistently transition aircraft from engineering development into safe, controlled, and productive flight testing with known configurations, documented validation, rapidly resolved technical issues, and increasingly mature and reliable aircraft systems.