OpportunityPeopleTec is seeking a senior aviation professional to serve as a trusted technical and acquisition advisor to Army Aviation leaders. This position helps government customers translate operational mission needs into technically sound, executable aviation capabilities. The advisor will evaluate how rotary-wing aircraft, mission systems, payloads, and emerging technologies can satisfy operational requirements; identify technical, airworthiness, integration, schedule, and acquisition implications; and provide clear recommendations to senior government and military decision-makers.
The ideal candidate combines deep rotary-wing mission knowledge with practical understanding of Army acquisition and program execution. The ideal candidate is someone who can move comfortably between operators, engineers, program managers, requirements developers, testers, airworthiness authorities, and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).
Key Responsibilities
- Advise senior leaders. Provide independent technical and programmatic advice to senior government civilians, military leaders, program managers, and other decision-makers on Army Aviation capability, risk, priorities, and courses of action.
- Assess mission capability. Evaluate whether aircraft, mission systems, sensors, communications equipment, survivability systems, and other payloads can perform a specified mission under relevant operational conditions and constraints.
- Translate missions into requirements. Help customers convert operational problems, mission threads, concepts of operation, and capability gaps into clear, measurable, testable, and achievable requirements and technical documentation.
- Support aircraft and payload integration. Analyze platform interfaces, weight and balance, power, cooling, data, software, electromagnetic, human-systems integration, performance, safety, sustainment, and other considerations that affect integration and fielding.
- Guide airworthiness planning. Advise on Army airworthiness strategy, evidence, risk, documentation, coordination, and approval pathways for new or modified aircraft systems and mission equipment.
- Connect technical and acquisition decisions. Assess how technical choices affect cost, schedule, test, contracting, certification, sustainment, fielding, and program risk across the acquisition life cycle.
- Engage industry and OEMs. Meet with aircraft manufacturers, system developers, technology providers, and other industry partners to understand emerging capabilities, assess maturity and integration feasibility, and communicate government mission needs without creating vendor bias.
- Shape technical reviews and decisions. Prepare for and participate in requirements, design, readiness, milestone, test, risk, configuration, trade-study, and anomaly reviews; identify decision points, unresolved issues, and recommended actions.
- Integrate stakeholders. Coordinate across program offices, capability developers, engineering and airworthiness organizations, test activities, operational units, logistics and sustainment organizations, and industry partners to align technical work with mission outcomes.
- Produce executive-level products. Develop and deliver concise briefings, white papers, decision papers, requirements inputs, technical assessments, risk summaries, meeting products, and action trackers suitable for senior-level use.
- Anticipate issues. Identify capability shortfalls, integration barriers, airworthiness concerns, acquisition dependencies, and programmatic risks early enough for the customer to act.
Qualifications
Required Skills/Experience:
- 10 or more years of progressively responsible experience in military aviation, aviation systems, aviation acquisition, or a closely related field, with substantial experience involving rotary-wing aircraft.
- Demonstrated expertise in rotary-wing mission capabilities, aircraft performance and limitations, mission equipment and payloads, and the operational employment of aviation systems.
- Working knowledge of aircraft modification and system-integration considerations, including the Army airworthiness process and the technical evidence needed to support safe operation and approval decisions.
- Strong understanding of DoW and Army acquisition, requirements, test and evaluation, systems engineering, configuration management, risk management, and program-execution practices.
- Experience advising or briefing senior government civilians and military officers
- Ability to analyze complex and incomplete information, distinguish fact from assumption, frame viable courses of action, and communicate a defensible recommendation.
- Demonstrated ability to work across operational, technical, programmatic, contracting, testing, logistics, and industry communities.
- Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to explain highly technical issues in mission and decision terms.
- Bachelor's degree in engineering, aviation, systems management, business, acquisition, or a related discipline. Significant directly relevant military aviation and acquisition experience may be considered in place of a specific degree discipline.
- U.S. citizenship required
- Travel: 10%
- Must be a U.S. Citizen
- An active DoD Secret clearance is required to perform this work. Candidates are required to have an active Secret clearance upon hire, and the ability to maintain this level of clearance during their employment.