Senior Flight Operations Manager

About Pyka

Pyka’s goal is to provide society with a new form of safe, clean, and cost-effective transportation enabled by autonomous electric aviation.

To get there, we’re taking a different approach than most. We're applying our technologies to every industry where autonomous electric aircraft can be useful, starting with the highest value and most dangerous jobs. In doing so, we're building game-changing products manufactured at scale, while perfecting the safety, reliability, and capabilities of our autonomy engine and electric propulsion systems.

We design, develop and manufacture an ecosystem of technologies including proprietary flight control software, avionics, high power density motors, motor controllers, batteries, and custom carbon-fiber composite airframes.

Today, we supply autonomous electric aircraft for cargo transport and crop protection to real-world customers across four separate continents and have secured industry-first regulatory approvals from the FAA. Our cargo aircraft enables remote connectivity, enhances express delivery networks, and ensures fast and reliable shipping of critical supplies to areas in need. Our crop protection aircraft offers agricultural services providers and farmers an autonomous tool to make aerial application safer, more precise, and less harmful to surrounding environments.

Both vehicles are highly economical to operate, easy to deploy, and significantly reduce CO₂ emissions in their respective industries.

What you work on at Pyka makes people’s lives better now and brings the future of electric aviation one step closer each day.

Pyka is looking for a Senior Operations Manager to support the development and commercialization of its advanced autonomous aircraft. You will be responsible for overseeing successful operation of our autonomous crop spraying aircraft with launch customers in the US and Latin America—ensuring that each operating location is staffed and supplied to meet the company’s high level objectives in the region, and maintaining communications with launch customers to ensure their needs are being met.

You will manage a team of deployed flight test engineers, operators, and maintenance personnel, and will be responsible for putting in place the systems required for us to scale to dozens of operating aircraft in the next two years.

• Set and communicate goals and priorities to operations personnel deployed abroad
• Own customer success (smooth deployment and execution of new customer engagements, and growing scope of customer engagements)
• Manage deployed flight test operators and their schedules
• Manage complex logistics in support of flight operations, including ground infrastructure and retrofits for deployed aircraft
• Project manage containment actions for hardware issues in customer flight operations
• Travel to and participate in international commercial deployments (primarily Brazil to start) to support flight operations
• Identify organizational needs and develop processes/initiatives accordingly
• Make product suggestions based on feedback from customer operations

• Experience managing complex relationships with launch customers of new technology
• Experience managing operations of a fleet of robotic systems in the R&D stage and beyond
• Experience with mechanical and electrical systems, assembly, and troubleshooting
• Comfortable working in a busy and rapidly changing environment—propensity to bring order to chaos
• Extreme attention to detail and thoroughness
• Willingness to travel in foreign countries (approximately ¼ time)

• Experience operating autonomous and/or flying vehicles
• Experience managing operational teams remotely and in person
• Independent and motivated, with an extremely strong work ethic; able to self‑direct and manage time
• Proficient in Spanish and/or Portuguese
• We understand that candidates bring different strengths and experiences, and you don’t need to meet every qualification to be considered. If this role excites you, we’d love to learn more about you. You may be a great fit even if your background doesn’t align perfectly with the list.

• $126,…