Senior Programme Manager – Certification

AALTO, a global leader in Stratospace. Based in Farnborough, AALTO is an Airbus subsidiary that manufactures, operates, and delivers services with its solar-powered, stratospheric platform:
Zephyr.

Zephyr’s persistence enables continuous flight for months at a time. Its current flight-time record of over 67 days in the stratosphere. From above 60,000+ft, or 20km above ground, AALTO can deliver several applications including direct-to-device connectivity and high-resolution Earth observation.

AALTO operates in a new operational layer between most of air traffic and low-Earth orbit, Stratospace. This is where high-altitude platforms led by Zephyr deliver services to commercial and government partners. We can help monitor environments, observe borders, track natural disasters and connect unconnected communities.

Join us as we create a new domain of aerospace:
Stratospace. You’ll be part of a highly-skilled, innovative and passionate group of people – Team AALTO. Together, we can Unlock Stratospace.

About

The Role As Senior Programme Manager – Certification, you will be accountable for leading the end-to-end certification programme for Zephyr, ensuring delivery against agreed schedule, budget, quality and regulatory requirements. This is a role for someone who can operate confidently at senior level while remaining close enough to the detail to intervene when complex certification, technical or programme issues require experienced judgement.

Reporting to the Director of Programmes and supported by Programme Controls, you will establish the certification programme plan, drive governance, align stakeholders and ensure the organisation is ready to move from certification into entry into service. You will be the senior programme interface for certification delivery, working closely with the UK CAA and other relevant civil or military aviation authorities.

For an experienced aerospace professional, this is a rare chance to shape the certification approach for a platform operating in a new aviation layer between conventional air traffic and low-Earth orbit.

Responsibilities to include:

Programme Planning and Governance
· Own the Certification Programme Plan, including strategy, compliance approach, milestones, dependencies and baseline.
· Build an integrated schedule covering design, analysis, test, manufacturing readiness, certification and entry into service.
· Chair governance forums to drive decisions, manage risk, close actions and align stakeholders.
· Manage risks, issues, opportunities and dependencies, ensuring ownership, mitigation and timely escalation.

Certification Leadership
· Act as the main programme interface with the UK CAA and other relevant aviation authorities.
· Lead certification strategies, plans, reviews and approval activities from development through execution.
· Guide the Certification Basis, Means of Compliance, Special Conditions, Equivalent Safety Findings and authority agreements.
· Oversee certification artefacts, ensuring they are complete, credible, traceable and ready for authority review.
· Lead critical certification discussions, issue resolution and recovery actions where senior judgement is required.

Technical and Compliance Coordination
• Lead cross-functional teams to deliver compliance evidence across engineering, airworthiness, quality, manufacturing, operations, cybersecurity and support.
• Drive closure of the Compliance Checklist against applicable airworthiness and certification requirements.
• Maintain traceability across requirements, compliance methods, test evidence, analysis, conformity records and statements.
• Oversee certification ground and flight test activities, including planning, conformity inspections, authority witnessing and evidence closure.
• Ensure compliance packages are robust, auditable, configuration controlled and ready for review.
• Drive readiness to manufacture, operate, maintain and support certified aircraft.

Stakeholder and Resource Management
· Manage relationships across internal teams, suppliers, partners, customers and certification authorities.
· Lead resource planning and prioritisation across certification work streams with functional leaders.
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