Aircraft Integration Lead

Pyka is looking for an experienced manufacturing engineer to lead new aircraft integration and subsystem production. 

You'll bring prototype and production vehicles to life while partnering with the Pyka engineering teams to identify opportunities for design and manufacturability improvements. Successful candidates will have an uncanny attention to detail, an obsession with quality, and the ability to foresee and solve issues with existing manufacturing processes in their earliest stages of roll out.

Your work will have an enormous impact on the success of Pyka’s transition from prototype builds to serial production. In this role you will work directly with key decision makers at the company who will look to you to set the direction on a broad range of manufacturing processes and QC processes that relate to vehicle integration and subsystem production. This will be a technically demanding position with enormous opportunity for ownership.

About Pyka

Pyka’s goal is to provide society with a new form of fast, environmentally friendly, and accessible 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 electric aircraft can be useful, starting with the highest value and most dangerous jobs. In doing so, we're building useful, game-changing products manufactured at scale, while perfecting the safety, reliability, and capabilities of our autonomy engine and electric propulsion systems. 

Today, we supply our aircraft to agricultural service providers and farmers as an autonomous tool that makes aerial crop protection safer, more targeted and less harmful to surrounding environments. Our vehicles are highly economical to operate and easy to deploy. What you work on at Pyka makes people’s lives better now and brings the future of electric aviation one-step closer each day.

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.

We foster a welcoming community within our company that promotes experimentation, asking questions, making simple solutions to complex problems, and expressing different views and opinions. We are a transparent company both internally and externally and do not believe in operating in “stealth mode.” Lastly, we don’t work 60 hour weeks, and don’t expect you to either. In this role you will have a great deal of responsibility, earn a competitive salary and benefits,  and contribute to the development of groundbreaking technology.

Responsibilities

• Work closely with the Manufacturing Lead and the Pyka design team to deliver production projects on-time with the highest level of quality.
  
  
• Manage a team of 3 to 6 direct reports (Integration Techs and Manufacturing Engineer).
  
  
• Own and manage quality of subsystem production and final vehicle integration.
  
  
• Work with design and manufacturing engineers to determine manufacturing processes that produce consistent and high quality subsystems and assemblies.
  
  
• Help create, maintain, and continually improve upon work instructions for production processes performed in-house, and by contract manufacturers.
  
  
• Maintain a presence on the production floor to support production quality and spot/diagnose issues.
  
  
• Support the development of scaled production and team build-out (hiring/training)
  
  

Note: Your primary focus will be on all aspects of subsystem production (avionics, propulsion system, batteries, etc.) and aircraft integration. You will not focus on the production of the composite airframe. 

Preferred Qualifications

• BS in an engineering discipline with 8+ years of related work experience
  
  
• Past experience working on production of a complex safety critical product (aviation, space, automotive, medical, etc.)
  
  
• Extreme attention to detail with the ability to spot issues based on very subtle clues/observations and implement robust solutions to problems
  
  
• Strong ability to work autonomously and in a team environment with the ability to help and mentor team members
  
  
• Ability to rapidly pick up and master the hands-on work involved in subsystem and vehicle production
  
  
• Experience working in a prototyping environment

Company Perks

• $140,000–$200,000 per year base salary + equity. Compensation will vary depending on location, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. Salary ranges are subject to change.
  
  
• Employer-sponsored health, dental and vision insurance, FSA with employer matching, and 401(k)
  
  
• Paid time off, company holidays, and parental leave
  
  
• Free catered lunch and plenty of snacks
  
  

Export Control Requirements

This position requires access to technology, software and other information that is subject to governmental access control restrictions, due to export controls.  Employment in this position is conditioned on the continued availability of government authorization to authorize release of such items, to the extent required, including without limitation an export license, or other documentation required to establish authorization to receive access to such items. 

Company may delay commencement of employment, rescind an offer of employment, terminate employment, and/or may modify job responsibilities, compensation, benefits, and/or access to Company facilities and information systems, as Company deems appropriate, in order to ensure compliance with applicable government access control restrictions.

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We do not work with external recruiters; if you are an external recruiter, please do not reach out.