Staff Engineer, Operational Safety Specialist (R6049)

Job description

Job responsibilities

• Develop, implement, and maintain operational safety policies, standards, and procedures for X-BAT flight, ground, maintenance, test, and field activities.
• Support the Airworthiness team in creating, reviewing, controlling, and maintaining documentation and objective evidence used for airworthiness and readiness decisions.
• Contribute to the development and maintenance of safety cases for all aircraft, including traceability among hazards, operational mitigations, procedures, training, and verification evidence.
• Maintain the Operational Risk Registry and conduct risk assessments for flight test, engine runs, ground operations, launch and recovery, maintenance, and field deployments.
• Support safety reviews, test and operational readiness reviews, fielding assessments, and approval activities by ensuring required artifacts are complete, current, and available to decision-makers and operators.
• Build and maintain Emergency Response Program readiness for X-BAT, including plans, notification protocols, roles, checklists, site coordination, training, exercises, and corrective actions.
• Conduct audits and field observations to assess compliance with approved procedures, identify process drift, and verify that corrective actions are effective.
• Lead or support mishap, near-miss, and emergency-event investigations, including evidence collection, root-cause analysis, reporting, and corrective-action follow-through.

Job requirements

• Bachelor's degree in safety, aviation, engineering, emergency management, or a related discipline (or equivalent operational experience).
• 3-5+ years of experience in aviation safety, flight or test operations, UAS operations, military aviation, safety management systems, or emergency response.
• Experience developing or reviewing operational policies, procedures, risk assessments, readiness documentation, or emergency response plans.
• Working knowledge of safety management systems, operational risk management, mishap investigation, corrective action, and emergency preparedness principles.
• Strong technical writing, document-control, and analytical skills, with the ability to turn complex inputs into clear, usable operational products.
• Ability to work effectively across engineering and operational teams, support flightline and test-site activities, travel as needed, and work non-standard hours when operations require it.
• Experience supporting UAS, autonomous aircraft, military aviation, or developmental flight-test programs.
• Experience supporting airworthiness documentation, safety cases, certification evidence, or operational approval packages.