Chief Inspector

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Full Time Tampa, FL, US

Title:Chief Inspector

Reports to: Head, Aircraft Integration Center

Metrea delivers effects-as-a-service to national security partners across five domains and more than a dozen mission areas—including airborne ISR, electronic warfare, secure communications, aerial refueling, special mission aviation, aerial firefighting, and advanced simulation.

Wherever we operate, we build vertically integrated full stacks of capability—designing, building, and operating turnkey solutions that let customers scale capacity while benefiting from continuous cycles of innovation. With operators and engineers under one roof, we close the gap between lab and field—what we call connecting design with effect.

Metrea’s solutions are built for elegance: effective, efficient, and evolving. This approach enables our partners to do more with less and achieve outsized, asymmetric advantage against rapidly evolving threats. Headquartered in Washington, DC, Metrea has facilities across the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe, and beyond.

provides an integrated, end‑to‑end capability for the rapid modification and fielding of mission‑specific aircraft. The Airborne Asset Adaptation (A3) Cell acts as the central command and coordination hub, managing requirements and external interfaces from inception to operational delivery. Specialized technical execution is delivered by the Aircraft Integration Centre (AIC), a FAA Part 145 facility focused on airframe modification, and Aerospace Design (ASD), which provides organic design engineering and FAA-authorized certification.

Collectively, these elements bridge the gap between initial requirements and the deployment of flight‑certified, mission‑ready assets.

MAIC is seeking an experienced and authoritative Chief Inspector to lead the Inspection and Quality Assurance functions within its FAA Part 145 / Part 21 supporting Part 21 design and modification activities.

The Chief Inspector is fully responsible for airworthiness determination, inspection processes, and regulatory compliance of all maintenance, modification, fabrication, and integration work performed s role ensures that all work is accomplished in accordance with approved technical data, repair station [RQ2] manuals, FAA regulations, and MAIC quality standards, maintaining continuous airworthiness across all supported aircraft and components.

The Chief Inspector acts as the primary interface with the FAA on inspection and quality matters and serves as a key technical authority supporting engineering, maintenance, fabrication, and program execution activities.

The Chief Inspector leads and executes inspection and quality control activities across MAIC by:

• Serving as the Repair Station’s primary authority for inspection, airworthiness, and return‑to‑service determinations
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• Ensuring full compliance with FAA Part 145 / Part 21 requirements, OpSpecs, Repair Station manuals, and FAA-approved procedures.
• Classifying repairs and alterations as major or minor and ensuring proper documentation and approval paths are executed.
• Overseeing and performing required inspections on aircraft, components, assemblies, fabricated parts, and installed systems.
• Reviewing and approving maintenance records, work orders, inspection reports, conformities, and RTS documentation.
• Ensures Instructions for Continued Airworthiness (ICA) are received, reviewed, and properly controlled prior to modification execution.
• Support Part 21 prototype, fabrication, and modification activities by ensuring inspection and conformity processes align with approved design data.
• Partner with engineering to review drawings, work instructions, and technical packages for QC compliance and regulatory compliance.
• Support conformity efforts, configuration control, and first‑article or prototype inspections as required.
• Hire, lead, mentor, and develop the Inspection team.
• Facilitate, with QA, internal audits and…