# Senior Manager, Flight Operations at PDW

- Company: PDW
- What the company does: Performance Drone Works (PDW) is building the next generation of tactical robotic systems used across defense, national security, and public safety missions. Backed by Squadra Ventures.
- Company website: https://pdw.ai
- Type: Startups
- Level: Senior
- Location: Huntsville, AL
- Work setup: On-site
- Posted: 2026-09-15
- Apply by: 2026-10-30
- Apply: https://ats.rippling.com/pdwcareers/jobs/e4af212e-b8c4-451e-addc-cd18299f8048
- Page: https://www.1752.vc/careers/jobs/pdw-senior-manager-flight-operations/

## About the role

This position typically operates in a standard office setting and manufacturing environment. This role requires use of standard office and manufacturing equipment and may require occasional travel to customer locations or facilities. This position may have exposure to outdoor weather conditions, noise, and non-climate-controlled environments. May require the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) depending on the environment.

## What they're looking for

- Lead, develop, and scale the Flight Operations organization through workforce planning, clear accountability, performance management, succession planning, and development of pilots, supervisors, and support personnel
- Establish and govern flight-safety policy, operational-risk controls, emergency procedures, stop-work authority, and compliance with applicable FAA, FCC, range, export-control, customer, and company requirements
- Direct flight-test planning, readiness reviews, prioritization, scheduling, and execution against approved test plans, procedures, test cards, configurations, and acceptance criteria
- Ensure the operational fleet is maintained, configured, registered, tracked, and released for flight with complete maintenance, configuration, software, battery, and flight records
- Manage flight facilities, airspace authorizations and waivers, range coordination, external service providers, field deployments, and other resources required to support PDW flight activities
- Own departmental headcount, equipment, schedule, and performance metrics, including safety performance, pilot currency, fleet availability, test completion, data quality, and operational cycle time

Tags: Quality