Flight Test Safety Program Manager

Archer is an aerospace company based in San Jose, California building an all-electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft with a mission to advance the benefits of sustainable air mobility. We are designing, manufacturing, and operating an all-electric aircraft that can carry four passengers while producing minimal noise.

Our sights are set high and our problems are hard, and we believe that diversity in the workplace is what makes us smarter, drives better insights, and will ultimately lift us all to success. We are dedicated to cultivating an equitable and inclusive environment that embraces our differences, and supports and celebrates all of our team members.

Position Summary

The Flight Test Safety Program Manager is the functional owner of flight test operational safety and the Flight Test Safety Management System (FT‑SMS). The role manages the flight test hazard and risk process, maintains the Flight Test Emergency Response Plan, leads investigations, and drives a proactive safety culture across all test activities. The Flight Test Safety Program Manager has clear authority to challenge and stop unsafe test activity and serves as a key interface between Flight Test, Flight Safety, Archer Air (for commercial alignment), Certification, and site EHS on safety‑of‑test issues.

Key Responsibilities

Hazard Identification and Risk Management

* Actively identify potential hazards across all flight test operations (aircraft, ground, airport environment, airspace, and support equipment) and maintain a structured Flight Test Hazard Log.

* Lead Safety Risk Management (SRM) for flight test activities, including documented risk assessments for new test cards, envelope expansion, new configurations, routes, and changes to test areas.

* Participate in flight test planning, safety‑of‑test reviews, and test readiness reviews to ensure hazards, mitigations, and risk acceptance are explicitly captured and agreed before execution.

* Conduct routine inspections and safety observations across hangars, flight lines, control rooms, and support areas, engaging personnel at all levels to surface latent and emerging hazards.

Flight Test SMS and Safety Governance

* Develop, implement, and maintain the Flight Test Safety Management System (FT‑SMS) in alignment with Archer's enterprise SMS and relevant regulatory guidance.

* Define and track flight test safety performance indicators and leading metrics (e.g., event rates, exceedances, high‑potential near misses, deviations from procedures) and routinely present trends to leadership.

* Lead a periodic Flight Test Safety Review/board to review hazards, SRM outcomes, incidents, risk acceptances, and corrective actions with Flight Test, Flight Safety, Engineering, Operations, and EHS.

* Manage flight test safety reporting channels (occurrence reports, hazard reports, safety concerns), ensuring reports are captured, evaluated, prioritized, and tracked through closure.

Emergency Preparedness and Response

* Own and maintain the Flight Test Emergency Response Plan (ERP) annex, including procedures, notification chains, and coordination with airport authorities, ARFF, and local agencies.

* Plan, schedule, and conduct flight‑test‑focused emergency drills and exercises (tabletop and functional), document findings, and drive timely closure of identified gaps.

* Support pre‑mishap planning and notification procedures and act as a key safety lead during flight test emergencies or significant events, including participation in post‑event reviews and debriefs.

Investigations, Assurance, and Reporting

* Lead or co‑lead investigations of flight test incidents, occurrences, and high‑potential near misses using recognized investigation and root cause analysis methods.

* Produce clear, technically sound investigation reports identifying root causes and contributing factors, and define corrective and preventive actions; ensure actions are tracked to closure and lessons learned feed back into procedures, training, and SRM.

* Conduct targeted flight test safety audits/assessments of operations, procedures, and manuals to verify compliance with Archer standards, SMS requirements, and applicable regulations,…