Head of Flight Test (all genders)

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 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.