Lead Flight Test Operations Manager (all genders)

STARK

ABOUT US STARK is a new kind of defence technology company, revolutionizing the way autonomous systems are deployed across multiple domains. We design, develop and manufacture high-performance unmanned systems that are software-defined, mass-scalable, and cost-effective. This provides our operators with a decisive edge in highly contested environments. In a time of rising threats, STARK is bolstering the technological edge of NATO Allies and their Partners to deter aggression and defend Europe. YOUR MISSION As Operations Manager at STARK, you will own the end-to-end planning, execution, and delivery of flight test campaigns. You are the person who takes a test objective, assembles the right people and equipment, deploys to a test range anywhere in Europe, and brings the team home with clean data and no incidents. You will directly manage teams of 6–8 flight test personnel and coordinate up to 20 people on-site, serving as the single operational authority during active campaigns. This is a hands-on leadership role at the intersection of project management, flight operations, and stakeholder coordination. You will work with military ranges, national aviation authorities, and airspace agencies across multiple countries. We need someone who thrives in ambiguity, makes sound decisions under time pressure, and keeps people safe while pushing the pace of testing. RESPONSIBILITIES CAMPAIGN PLANNING & EXECUTION * Plan, prepare, and execute 1–2 week flight test campaigns from initial scoping through post-campaign reporting, including logistics, personnel deployment, and equipment readiness. * Act as the operational lead on-site, making real-time decisions on scheduling, test sequencing, and resource allocation in response to evolving conditions. * Adapt campaign plans dynamically when requirements, weather, airspace, or technical constraints change. * Produce post-campaign reports documenting test outcomes, deviations, lessons learned, and recommendations for future campaigns. TEAM LEADERSHIP & ON-SITE MANAGEMENT * Directly manage a core team of 6–8 flight test personnel during campaign deployment, owning task assignment, daily briefings, and performance oversight. * Serve as the on-site project manager for up to 20 people, coordinating across engineering, software, safety, logistics, and customer or partner personnel. * Foster a disciplined but adaptive team culture where safety standards are non-negotiable and initiative is encouraged. STAKEHOLDER & AUTHORITY COORDINATION * Act as primary point of contact with local and national aviation authorities, military stakeholders, and airspace management agencies for the duration of each flight campaign. * Coordinate range access, airspace reservations, NOTAMs, and communication plans with military test ranges and civil airspace authorities. * Build and maintain working relationships with range safety officers, military liaison personnel, and regulatory counterparts across multiple countries. Your First 12 Months Timeframe Focus What This Looks Like Month 0–1 Onboard & Orient Complete STARK safety induction and flight operations briefing. Shadow the Lead Flight Ops Manager during active campaign planning. Learn all current test platforms, range relationships, and operational procedures. Attend your first test campaign as an observer alongside the existing team. Month 1–3 Own a Campaign Plan and lead your first flight test campaign end-to-end, from logistics preparation through on-site execution and post-campaign reporting. Establish yourself as primary point of contact with range safety officers and local aviation authorities. Begin building your own playbook for campaign planning and execution. Month 3–6 Scale & Standardise Run multiple campaigns in parallel or quick succession across different test locations. Formalise campaign planning templates, checklists, and risk assessment frameworks. Lead coordination with international test ranges and foreign aviation authorities. Begin managing cross-border logistics for campaigns outside Germany. Month 6–12 Lead the Tempo Own the full campaign calendar as STARK’s operational tempo accelerates. Mentor junior team members deploying on campaigns. Represent STARK independently in front of military stakeholders. Drive continuous improvement of campaign operations based on lessons learned across the first year. QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED * 3–6 years of experience in flight operations, flight test, military aviation, UAS operations, or operational project management in a technical environment. * Demonstrated experience managing small teams of 4+ people in field or deployed settings, ideally in aviation, defence, or similarly high-stakes operational contexts. * Familiarity with flight operations and flight safety principles, including risk assessment, crew briefings, and emergency procedures. * Strong project management skills with the ability to plan, execute, and adapt campaigns under time and resource pressure. Formal PM qualifications (PMP, PRINCE2, Scrum) are a plus. * Excellent communication skills in English (business-fluent required). German is a strong advantage.

STARK

ABOUT US STARK is a new kind of defence technology company. We design, develop, and manufacture high-performance unmanned systems that are software-defined, mass-scalable, and cost-effective, changing how autonomous systems are deployed across multiple domains. This gives our operators a decisive edge in highly contested environments. As threats rise, STARK is strengthening the technological edge of NATO Allies and their Partners to deter aggression and defend Europe. YOUR MISSION As Head of Flight Test, you own STARK’s flight test organisation end to end: the pilots and operators who fly the aircraft, the flight test engineers who design the tests and run the instrumentation, the operations managers who deliver production, experimental, and customer-facing campaigns, and the staff responsible for flight test safety and operating permits. You will start in Germany, turning a fast-growing team into a mature flight test capability of roughly 40+ people that can execute operations in multiple locations, with requisite Operator permits (civil and military) as needed for the different classes of loitering munition and drones in STARK’s growing portfolio.  From there you build outward to 2028: a global organisation with local units in the UK, Ukraine, and Greece, each running common STARK processes under its own national authority. You are accountable for how fast STARK tests and how safely it does so. When those two pull against each other, you make the decision and take ownership. RESPONSIBILITIES ORGANISATION & LEADERSHIP * Own the full flight test organisation across four pillars: Pilots & Operators, Flight Test Engineering, Flight Test Operations, and Safety & Compliance. * Hire and develop the pillar leads, and build the career ladders and competency standards that take the German organisation to its ~40+-person target and beyond. * Carry budget, headcount, schedule, and tempo accountability for flight test as a whole. FLIGHT TEST STRATEGY & METHODOLOGY * Define STARK’s flight test strategy across all platforms (Virtus, Cascade, Gambit and the small to large scale effectors that follow). * Own the envelope-expansion and build-up philosophy: how a test point moves from simulation to flying testbed (for example a Twin Otter-class surrogate) to the air vehicle, de-risking at each step. * Own the master Flight Test Operations Manual (FTOM), the test-planning methodology (test cards, Flight and Test Readiness Reviews), and the flight test engineering (FTE) and instrumentation (FTI) standards. * Own the data lifecycle: quality, traceability, and results that stand up as cerification evidence. Flight safety & airworthiness * Hold the independent flight test safety function: Safety Review Boards, hazard analysis, risk acceptance, abort criteria, and emergency response at every test site. * Keep flight test activity inside approved limits (Permit-to-Fly, operational authorisations) and drive STARK toward its LUC and DOA-grade airworthiness posture. * Give safety dissent a hard, codified path to the Accountable Manager that schedule pressure cannot override. CAMPAIGN DELIVERY * Deliver three campaign types through the Operations pillar: production-acceptance flights at volume, developmental flight tests  for engineering, and customer-facing demonstration and qualification  flights. * Stand up a high-throughput production-acceptance regime as delivery contracts convert to volume, and run it as its own discipline, in parallel to the engineering flight tests. * Be responsible for flight operations, from obtaining permits, ensuring team and equipment logistics, and crew resource management  and training across German and international test locations. REGULATORY INTERFACE & THE 2028 BUILD * Act as STARK’s senior flight test interface to LBA, LufABw, BAAINBw / WTD, and EASA in Germany. * Decide which global processes shall apply  (methodology, safety framework, FTE/FTI standards, data tooling, competency standards) and what is owned by local flight test teams  (authority interface, named postholders, operational approvals). * Stand up local flight test organisations in the UK, Ukraine, and Greece that report into the global function and run national procedures on top of the common baseline. * Appoint the accountable safety and airworthiness postholders each national authority requires, for example, the MAA / CFAOS Accountable Manager (Military Flying) in the UK. YOUR FIRST 12 MONTHS Timeframe Focus What this looks like Month 0–2 Assess & take command Complete STARK safety and flight operations induction. Map the current organisation, campaigns, platforms, and authority relationships. Meet the function leads, and identify the immediate gaps in safety, staffing, and process. Take operational ownership of the running campaign calendar. Month 2–4 Set the German baseline Publish the master FTOM and safety framework. Stand up the independent Safety Review Board. Lay out the roadmap to EASA LUC approval. Close the most urgent senior hires. Month 4–8 Build the organisation Fill the pillar-lead and senior roles. Standardise test-planning, instrumentation, and data processes across all three campaign types. Bring production-acceptance up to a volume-ready standard.  Month 8–12 Extend beyond Germany Define the global-versus-local operating model. Stand up the first local flight test organisation (UK or Ukraine) with its named postholders and authority interface. Set the 2027–2028 plan for the remaining countries. QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED * 12+ years in flight test, military aviation, or aerospace test and evaluation, including 5+ years leading flight test  teams or organisations. * A track record of building or running a flight test capability, with end-to-end accountability for campaigns from test plan to certification evidence. * Working knowledge of UAV operating permits (EASA  "specific" category, and/or military airworthiness DEMAR / EMAR). * A grounding in flight test engineering, and data analysis. * Business-fluent English (C1+); German at working level for the authority interface, or a credible plan to get there. * NATO member-state citizen, eligible for German security clearance (Ü2/Ü3), and willing to build teams on the ground in the UK, Ukraine, and Greece. PREFERRED * Graduate of a recognised test pilot school (ETPS, EPNER, USNTPS, NTPS) or a flight test engineering long course. * UAS, loitering-munitions, or eVTOL flight test background. * Prior Design Organisation experience and named postholder / Form 4 acceptance. * Experience standing up flight test operations in more than one country. * Working knowledge of STANAG 4586 and STANAG 4671. MINDSET * Safety authority first: You hold the line when the schedule pushes against it, and people trust the call because you have earned it. * Builder by instinct: You have written the processes and stood up the teams before, and you would rather build an organisation than inherit one. * Regulator-credible: Colonels, certification inspectors, and junior technicians all get what they need from you, in the right register. * Comfortable with tempo: STARK tests fast and fails forward on purpose, and you keep that pace without letting safety slip.

STARK

ABOUT US STARK is a new kind of defence technology company, revolutionizing the way autonomous systems are deployed across multiple domains. We design, develop and manufacture high-performance unmanned systems that are software-defined, mass-scalable, and cost-effective. This provides our operators with a decisive edge in highly contested environments. We’re focused on delivering deployable, high-performance systems. In a time of rising threats, STARK is bolstering the technological edge of NATO Allies and their Partners to deter aggression and defend Europe. YOUR MISSION As a Flight Test Engineer & Onsite Test Coordinator, you are the "Conductor of the Flight Line." Depending on your seniority, you will be responsible for the end-to-end lifecycle of our flight test campaigns, from initial planning and hazard assessment to execution and deep-dive data analysis. Beyond the technical data, you serve as the primary Onsite Leader. You are the person who ensures testing priorities are crystal clear to everyone on the range. You manage the daily tempo, coordinate the crew, and ensure that every person, from pilots to software engineers, knows exactly which tests are being conducted and when. Your mission is to transform raw flight data into actionable insights while maintaining a high-tempo, disciplined, and safe testing environment. RESPONSIBILITIES * Primäre technische Autorität für die FT Engineering Säule über Field Engineering, back-office Engineering und Data Analyst Sub-Tracks hinweg. * Verantwortung für Test Planning Methodology (Test Cards, Instrumentation Plans, Telemetry Stack, Post-Flight Data Review), FRR und TRR Prozesse sowie die Engineering - Compliance - Evidenz-Pipeline für DOA. * Agiert als Flight Director Equivalent (Airbus-Modell) auf Hauptkampagnen. * Verantwortlich für Engineering-Schnittstelle zu GNC, Autonomy und Avionics Teams. * Führung des Engineering-Karrierepfads inkl. Selektion, Mentoring und Promotion. QUALIFICATIONS * 10+ Jahre Aerospace Engineering; 5+ Jahre Flight Test; 2+ Jahre Teamführung. * Master-Abschluss (oder Äquivalent) in Luft- und Raumfahrt-, Elektro- oder Control Systems Engineering. * Demonstrierte End-to-End Verantwortung für eine FT Kampagne von Test Plan bis Zertifizierungs-Evidenz. * Deutsch C1+; Englisch C1+. NICE TO HAVE * PhD in Flight Dynamics, Control oder Autonomy. * Loitering Munitions oder Live-Warhead Kampagnenerfahrung. * STANAG 4671 Arbeitskenntnisse. * PX4 / ArduPilot Codebase Vertrautheit.