Director, Flight Engineering & Maintenance

Job Function:

Business Support

Job Sub Function:

Travel Services/Aviation

Job Category:

People Leader

All Job Posting Locations:

Trenton, New Jersey, United States of America

Job Description:

We are searching for a highly experienced Director, Flight Engineering & Maintenance to join our Aviation organization located in Trenton, NJ.

The Director, Flight Engineering & Maintenance will lead aircraft maintenance strategy, execution, regulatory compliance, technical standards, and team development for the company’s aviation operation based at the J&J Aviation Hangar in Trenton, New Jersey. This role is responsible for ensuring the highest standards of airworthiness, safety, reliability, readiness, and service in support of a complex corporate aviation environment. The position combines deep aviation maintenance and engineering expertise with strong people leadership, cross-functional partnership, and operational excellence. The Director will lead a highly technical maintenance organization, oversee a significant maintenance-related operating and capital budget portfolio, manage a broad network of external aviation partners, and strengthen Johnson & Johnson’s aviation talent pipeline through a robust internship and early career development program. This is a highly visible leadership opportunity for a candidate who can build capability, drive performance, and advance a best-in-class aviation maintenance organization.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide strategic and operational leadership for all aviation maintenance and engineering activities supporting Johnson & Johnson Aviation, including scheduled and unscheduled maintenance, inspection programs, troubleshooting, component reliability, launch and recovery support, and aircraft availability.
• Serve as the senior maintenance leader for the aviation function, establishing maintenance policies, technical standards, governance processes, and performance expectations that ensure full compliance with FAA regulations, manufacturer guidance, company procedures, and internal safety expectations.
• Build, lead, and continuously develop a highly technical maintenance workforce with the capabilities, certifications, leadership depth, and learning agility required to support a modern, best-in-class corporate aviation operation. Provide visible people leadership across a team of approximately 10–15 employees, strengthening organizational capability through coaching, performance management, succession planning, technical development, leadership pipeline building, and proactive talent assessment.
• Lead strategic workforce planning for the maintenance organization, including capability assessment, resource planning, organizational design, talent assessment, and long-term bench strength strategies to ensure the right talent, skills, and capacity are in place to support a complex aviation maintenance portfolio and future business needs.
• Lead maintenance planning and execution across aircraft systems, facilities, ground support equipment, records, tooling, and external maintenance events to optimize fleet readiness, dispatch reliability, asset protection, and service continuity.
• Partner closely with flight operations, aviation leadership, pilots, maintenance supervisors, flight engineers, and enterprise stakeholders to coordinate maintenance schedules, minimize operational disruption, and support safe, seamless executive travel.
• Lead and govern relationships with numerous external aviation vendor partners, including OEMs, authorized service centers, repair stations, contractors, parts suppliers, and technical service providers, ensuring quality, responsiveness, compliance, innovation, and value delivery.
• Own a large maintenance-related budget and portfolio, including operating expense, capital investments, major maintenance events, long-range planning, and resource allocation, with accountability for financial stewardship, portfolio governance, forecasting accuracy, and cost optimization.
• Ensure rigorous maintenance documentation, airworthiness records, audit readiness, and process discipline to sustain compliance, transparency, and continuous improvement.
• Lead root cause analysis, corrective action planning, and reliability improvement efforts for technical issues, recurring discrepancies, and process gaps.
• Drive continuous improvement in maintenance operations through standard work, preventive planning, digital tools, data review, and metrics that elevate safety, quality, responsiveness, and efficiency.
• Act as a trusted advisor to aviation and enterprise leadership on aircraft maintenance strategy, technical risk, regulatory issues, fleet support requirements, workforce capability, and long-range operational needs, exercising the influence and judgment expected of a director-level leader.
• Build a highly technical workforce by establishing clear capability expectations, targeted development plans, technical training pathways, certification support, mentoring, differentiated development, succession strategies, and leadership development programs that strengthen both near-term execution and long-term organizational capability.
• Lead and sustain internship and early career talent development programs in partnership with aviation schools, technical colleges, universities, and relevant industry associations. Establish structured onboarding, mentoring, rotation, and hands-on development opportunities that accelerate readiness while supporting long-term workforce planning and future talent pipeline needs.
• Create a strong culture of accountability, inclusion, technical excellence, collaboration, and continuous learning. Champion knowledge transfer, leadership development, and technical skill advancement across the team to ensure bench strength, organizational resilience, and sustained performance in a high-service corporate environment.
• Bring strong people leadership experience with a demonstrated ability to build trust, elevate performance, strengthen leadership capability, and develop both emerging and experienced talent within a highly technical environment.

Johnson & Johnson Leadership Expectations

In this role, you will be expected to model Johnson & Johnson CEO Leadership Behaviors through visible leadership, strong judgment, and collaboration across the aviation function and broader enterprise. This includes identifying opportunities to improve how work is done, building strong partnerships, delivering results through disciplined execution, and developing talent for the future. The successful candidate will lead with integrity, foster an inclusive and high-performing environment, and bring an enterprise mindset that advances safety, operational excellence, and service.

Qualifications

• FAA Airframe and Powerplant (A&P) certificate required; Inspection Authorization preferred.
• Bachelor’s degree required; degree in aviation maintenance, engineering, aerospace, business, or a related field preferred.
• 10+ years of progressive aviation maintenance experience, including leadership responsibility within a corporate aviation, business aviation, or similarly complex aircraft maintenance environment.
• Strong people leadership experience, including leading technical teams, coaching talent, driving performance, and building organizational capability in a safety-critical environment.
• Demonstrated expertise in aircraft maintenance operations, regulatory compliance, technical troubleshooting, maintenance planning, documentation, audits, and vendor management.
• Experience building and developing a highly technical workforce through training, capability building, succession planning, and talent pipeline development.
• Strong working knowledge of FAA regulations, manufacturer maintenance manuals, service bulletins, airworthiness directives, and best practices applicable to corporate aviation operations.
• Experience managing multiple external aviation vendor partners and complex third-party service relationships.
• Experience overseeing a significant maintenance-related budget, including forecasting, cost management, and capital planning.
• Strong communication, organizational, and leadership skills, with the ability to translate technical issues into clear recommendations and actions.
• Demonstrated ability to lead at director level, including setting strategy, aligning resources, influencing stakeholders, and translating operational complexity into clear priorities and business outcomes.
• Ability to operate effectively in a fast-paced, highly responsive environment requiring sound judgment, flexibility, discretion, and strong customer orientation.

Preferred Experience

• Experience supporting Part 91 corporate aviation operations and executive travel environments.
• Experience with large-cabin business aircraft and/or rotary-wing operations.
• Experience leading maintenance organizations that coordinate closely with flight engineers, maintenance supervisors, and flight operations teams.
• Exposure to reliability programs, continuous improvement methods, digital maintenance systems, and data-driven operational management.
• Certified Aviation Manager (CAM) or similar leadership development credentials are a plus.