Flight Test Instrumentation Technical Program Manager

Joby Aviation Joby Aviation · Robotics · Marina, CA · Flight Test

Joby Aviation is seeking a Flight Test Instrumentation Technical Program Manager to plan, coordinate, and drive the delivery of instrumentation and flight test systems for experimental and certification flight test campaigns. This role involves managing schedules, coordinating cross-functional teams (hardware, software, flight test operations), ensuring compliance with regulatory and safety requirements, and managing budgets. The ideal candidate will have experience in engineering environments, familiarity with flight test instrumentation, and strong project management skills in a safety-critical context.

What you'd actually do

  1. Own and maintain master FTI and Ground Control Station program schedules, tracking design development, hardware procurement, installation, ground verification and system calibration, and instrumentation readiness milestones across multiple test campaigns
  2. Drive alignment across design engineers, flight test engineers, data analysts, and certification engineers to ensure flight test systems meet program, company, regulatory, and safety requirements for installation on experimental or type-certificated aircraft
  3. Coordinate across instrumentation engineers, supply chain, manufacturing, and flight test operations to ensure on-time delivery
  4. Support qualification and acceptance testing of new instrumentation systems and sensors prior to flight operations
  5. Ensure traceability of instrumentation calibration records and data quality assurance in accordance with program standards

Skills

Required

  • Bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Systems Engineering, or a related technical field
  • 3+ years of experience in an engineering environment with demonstrated responsibility for developing and implementing highly integrated engineering solutions
  • Familiarity with flight test instrumentation systems, including data acquisition systems, sensors, signal conditioning, and telemetry
  • Strong understanding of the hardware development lifecycle, from early concept and design through manufacturing, integration, ground test, and flight test
  • Demonstrated organizational skills and exceptional attention to detail in a safety-critical environment
  • Strong oral and written communication skills, with the ability to convey complex technical topics to diverse audiences including engineers, test pilots, and executives
  • Proven ability to simultaneously manage multiple high-paced engineering projects and competing priorities
  • Experience with project management tools such as Smartsheet or similar project management tools, Confluence, and/or JIRA
  • Proficiency in common workplace software including word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation applications

Nice to have

  • Experience supporting FAA or EASA type certification programs
  • Hands-on experience with flight test instrumentation installation, checkout, or calibration
  • Exposure to aircraft wiring, avionics integration, or structural instrumentation (strain gauges, accelerometers, pressure transducers)
  • Knowledge of airworthiness requirements for test article modifications and experimental aircraft operations
  • Exposure to mechanical design tools (SolidWorks, CATIA), DAQ software, and version control practices
  • Experience coordinating engineering design revision cycles to address integration and in-service discrepancies.

What the JD emphasized

  • airworthiness compliance
  • safety requirements
  • safety-critical environment
  • regulatory