Senior Maintainability Engineer

Senior Maintainability Engineer

About Electra

At Electra, we're building the EL9 - a nine-passenger, hybrid-electric aircraft that takes off and lands in 150 feet. Our Ultra Short technology unlocks thousands of new operating locations and enables what we call Direct Aviation: quiet, point-to-point regional travel that gets people from where they are to where they want to go, without the congestion of major airports or the noise of conventional aviation.

A global company, headquartered in Manassas, VA, Electra is backed by Lockheed Martin, Honeywell, and Safran, has filed for FAA Part 23 type certification, and carries 2,000+ intent to purchase from operators worldwide. We're a team of ~100 people moving fast toward first EL9 test flights in 2027 and certification by late 2029 or 2030. Every hire matter at this stage - and this role is no exception.

The Role:

The Senior Maintainability Engineer will play a key role in the design and development of the aircraft and its installed systems. As this is a Ultra Short Aircraft program, the position requires innovative approaches to reliability and maintainability to support the integration of both electric and conventional propulsion technologies.

This is a broad and senior technical role, encompassing design support, analysis, and compliance demonstration. The Senior R&M Engineer will provide specialized support to multidisciplinary engineering teams-including systems, structures, and customer support-to ensure that reliability, availability, and maintainability objectives are achieved up to and beyond Entry Into Service (EIS).

 

What You'll Do:

 

• R&M strategies - Establish and maintain Reliability and Maintainability processes aligned with program objectives and applicable industry standards.
• Schedule Reliability and Availability targets - Define, track, and report aircraft reliability and availability metrics to achieve performance goals for Entry Into Service (EIS) and beyond.
• Perform R&M analyses - Conduct and manage FMEA/FMECA, Fault Tree Analysis (FTA), and Maintenance Task Analysis (MTA) to evaluate system reliability and maintenance characteristics.
• R&M documentation - Prepare and update R&M Plans, Procedures, and Reports in accordance with ARP4754A and MSG-3 methodologies.
• Define on-board maintenance capabilities - Lead the definition and validation of built-in test (BIT), fault detection, and fault isolation logic to enhance troubleshooting efficiency.
• Maintenance documentation - Support the creation of the Fault Isolation Manual (FIM) and related maintenance documentation such as AMM, CMM, and SRM.
• Aircraft Connectivity initiatives - Collaborate in the design of connectivity and data-management features that enable predictive maintenance and digital troubleshooting.
• Ground Operations and Customer Support - Ensure maintainability requirements are incorporated into aircraft design, support tools, and operational procedures.
• Coordinate R&M reviews and deliverables - Promote design reviews, validate assumptions, and support integration of R&M data into the Maintenance Planning Document (MPD) and Maintenance Review Board Report (MRBR).
• Recommend design improvements - Analyze reliability data and maintenance findings to propose design changes that improve aircraft availability and reduce lifecycle costs
• Drive the Lessons Learned process - Capture and analyze in-service data to identify improvement opportunities and feed them back into future aircraft configurations.

 

What You Bring:

• Bachelor's degree in engineering and 12+ years of experience in aerospace maintenance, support, or contract management (or an equivalent combination of education, skills, and experience).

• Industry Experience:
  • Experience with an advanced air mobility startup (e.g., Volocopter, Lilium) and an established aircraft OEM (e.g., Embraer, Airbus, Boeing) preferred.
• Maintenance & Support Expertise:
  • Experience in Reliability and Maintainability Engineering within the aerospace industry.
  • Strong understanding of aircraft mai