Head of Safety, Quality, and Mission Assurance

About Urban Sky

Urban Sky is a venture-backed aerospace startup that pioneers utilization of the stratosphere and reimagines the way humans view and analyze the earth. We design, build, operate, and sell stratospheric balloon systems, and the data we collect supports a wide range of applications, from real-time wildfire monitoring to urban mapping. Our technology is also employed by government customers including the Department of Defense (DoD), NASA, and others.

Urban Sky sends flight vehicles to the stratosphere on a weekly basis.

Our team consists of engineers, makers, developers, and doers who believe in the power of human potential when passion meets utility within a small, supportive team. At Urban Sky we strive to create a team culture grounded in candor, inclusion, respect and empowerment.

We aim to build the next chapter of stratospheric history in Denver and are seeking self-starting, open-minded, and hard-working team members.

About

The Role

Urban Sky is currently seeking a leader in safety, quality, and mission assurance to join our team in Denver, CO. This position will be responsible for fostering a collaborative culture of safety and quality, aimed at enhancing the overall safety, quality, reliability, and mission success of Urban Sky’s stratospheric systems across the organization. The successful candidate will collaborate with various teams including product management, manufacturing, design, and operations to lead the development of processes, systems, and strategies that improve the safety and reliability of our balloons, payloads, avionics, firmware, and software.

We believe that safety and quality are shared responsibilities, and the person who fills this role will have the vitally important job of ensuring our systems are safe, reliable and performant while empowering passionate engineers and technicians to own the safety and reliability of the systems they build while following your guidance.



Key Responsibilities

Develop and Implement Quality Management Systems:
Design, implement, and maintain quality management systems aligning with industry standards to ensure product quality and compliance. Ideally the candidate would have exposure to and an understanding of ISO 9001, AS9100, etc., though not a requirement. Utilizing and leading the implementation of tools such as DFMEAs, PFMEAs, and Control Plans to ensure system safety, quality, and reliability of Urban Sky’s products from ideation through manufacturing and mission execution.

• Safety and Quality Metrics:
  Monitor safety compliance and quality performance and implement systems necessary to track these metrics.
• Problem-Solving and Root Cause Analysis:
  Identify quality issues, investigate their technical and systemic root causes, and lead the implementation of corrective and preventive actions (CAPA) to resolve them.
• Management of Training Protocols:
  Develop training for staff on quality standards, best practices, and quality tools to ensure a culture of quality across all departments.
• Supplier Quality Management:
  Collaborate with suppliers to ensure that raw materials, components, and services meet the required quality standards.
• Continuous Improvement:
  Drive initiatives for continuous improvement in product quality, processes, and operational efficiencies, often using methodologies like Lean, Six Sigma, or Kaizen.
• Compliance and Regulatory Requirements:
  Ensure that the organization complies with safety regulations, quality standards, and document compliance through reports and certifications.
• Reporting and Documentation:
  Maintain records of safety critical decisions, risk management, quality inspections, audit results, corrective actions, and other documentation related to mission safety and quality control and report this information to upper management.
• Safety & Mission Assurance:
  Lead safety reviews prior to stratospheric flights, lead the evaluation of mission successes and failures, and ensure lessons learned from ground and flight tests are incorporated into future missions.
• Develop and Lead Mission Assurance Strategy:
  Define and implement a mission assurance program aligned with both internal performance requirements and…