Vice President of Engineering

Role: Vice President of Engineering

💼 Industry: Advanced Air Mobility / eVTOL / Aerospace

🌎 Location: San Francisco

💰 Compensation: $300,000+ base salary + equity + executive benefits

This is a rare opportunity to lead engineering at a next-generation eVTOL startup building transformative aircraft for the future of mobility.

We are seeking a technically elite and execution-driven VP of Engineering to lead the full aircraft development lifecycle; from architecture and prototype through certification and production readiness. This role requires deep aerospace experience, strong systems thinking, and the ability to build and scale a world-class engineering organization in a fast-paced startup environment.

You will partner directly with executive leadership to define product strategy, technical roadmap, and organizational structure while driving disciplined execution across complex, safety-critical systems.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead and scale the full engineering organization across airframe, propulsion, avionics, systems, software, and flight test
• Own aircraft technical strategy, architecture, and development roadmap
• Drive execution from concept through prototype, certification, and production
• Establish rigorous systems engineering, requirements management, and verification processes
• Build a high-performance, accountable engineering culture focused on safety and delivery
• Align engineering milestones with company-level cost, schedule, and fundraising objectives
• Partner with regulatory authorities to support certification strategy and compliance planning
• Oversee supplier strategy and critical technical partnerships
• Present technical progress, risks, and strategy to board members and investors

Qualifications:

• 15+ years of aerospace engineering experience, with significant leadership responsibility
• Executive-level leadership experience scaling and managing multidisciplinary engineering teams
• Direct experience delivering complex aerospace systems from development through flight
• Strong systems engineering and certification knowledge in safety-critical environments
• Demonstrated ownership of cost, schedule, and technical performance

Ideal Background:

• eVTOL or Advanced Air Mobility
• Aerospace or commercial aircraft development
• Spacecraft or launch vehicle programs
• UAV / Drone systems
• High-performance propulsion or electrified aircraft systems

Experience in space, aerospace, eVTOL, or advanced drone platforms is highly preferred.

Core Attributes:

• Visionary technical leader with strong execution discipline
• Comfortable operating in high-ambiguity, high-growth startup environments
• Decisive, data-driven, and systems-oriented
• Strong communicator across engineering teams, executives, regulators, and investors
• Mission-driven and motivated by transforming next-generation mobility