Job Title: Airworthiness Manager
Location: Dayton, OH, Huntsville, AL, Niceville, FL (On-Site)
Employment Type: Full-Time
Industry: Aerospace / Defense
About the Role
We are seeking an experienced Airworthiness Manager to lead and execute airworthiness certification activities for advanced avionics and aerospace systems. The ideal candidate will have deep technical knowledge of MIL-HDBK-516C airworthiness criteria and a proven ability to work across engineering, program management, and regulatory organizations to ensure compliance throughout the system lifecycle.
Key Responsibilities
Serve as the program’s primary airworthiness authority and subject-matter expert.
Interpret, apply, and validate compliance to MIL-HDBK-516C requirements across system design, integration, test, and sustainment.
Develop and manage airworthiness plans, compliance matrices, and certification strategies.
Coordinate with military airworthiness authorities to achieve necessary approvals and flight releases.
Lead airworthiness risk identification, mitigation planning, and technical reviews.
Support system safety analyses, hazard assessments, and configuration control activities.
Prepare and deliver technical documentation, briefings, and compliance evidence.
Ensure continuous alignment between engineering design decisions and airworthiness criteria.
Mentor engineering teams on certification processes and documentation expectations.
Required Qualifications
Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Systems Engineering, or related field (Master’s preferred).
15-20 years of experience in airworthiness, certification, or safety engineering for military or defense aerospace programs.
Hands-on, applied experience with MIL-HDBK-516C and familiarity with relevant derivative criteria.
Strong understanding of system development lifecycles, configuration management, and risk management.
Experience working with DoD acquisition programs or military certification offices.
Excellent communication skills with the ability to interface with customers, regulators, and cross-functional engineering teams.
Preferred Qualifications
Experience with aircraft modification, flight test programs, or developmental platforms.
Experience with development standards such as DO-178c and DO-254.
Experience with obtaining Military Standard Orders (MSO) and Technical Standard Orders (TSO).
Background in USAF Military Flight Release (MFR) or Airworthiness Qualification (AWQ) processes.
Knowledge of system safety standards such as MIL-STD-882E.
Security clearance (active or able to obtain).
Benefits:
Competitive salary with comprehensive health and wellness benefits
401(k) retirement plan
Educational and professional development opportunities
Dynamic and collaborative work environment
Employee ownership
IS4S: Speed with Discipline
Integrated Solutions for Systems (IS4S) is an employee-owned and controlled small business that provides a wide range of engineering and management solutions to the United States Armed Forces and other government and commercial agencies. We specialize in advanced positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) technologies, systems engineering and integration, software development, open systems architectures, computational physics, additive manufacturing, energetics, electromagnetics, avionics, vehicle electronics, and many other innovative technologies.
We are headquartered in Huntsville, Alabama with additional offices located in these areas:
We also have a growing remote workforce across the United States, including embedded teams at Redstone Arsenal in Alabama, Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, and Hanscom Air Force Base in Massachusetts.
Our mission is to solve important problems for our customers in an environment where doing the right thing is more important than profit, and where our company is fully owned, operated, and controlled by ethical, motivated employees.
IS4S was founded in 2008 by experienced engineers and managers who realized the need to ensure that our government, military, and commercial customers have an alternative to the defense contractor “status quo.” The IS4S approach to systems integration and development is based on a time proven premise: giving the customer the best value solution is always the right answer. We believe that there is no better way to build our business than to build our customer’s business with high value, technically innovative solutions and services.
IS4S is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, protected veteran status, disability status, sexual orientation or gender identity.
Airworthiness Manager
$160,000–$180,000/annual
