Flight Operations (Training) Inspector ATO & FCL

Salary:  Up to £57,000

Contract Type:  Permanent – Full time

Location:  Gatwick – Hybrid

Travel: Travel is required within this role, largely nationally with some travel to Europe and potentially worldwide.

Visa Restrictions: This position does not offer visa sponsorship.

We are the UK's aviation and aerospace regulator and recognised as a world leader in its field. Our activities are diverse, enabling the aviation industry to meet the highest safety standards, and we pride ourselves on our ability to adapt to the constantly evolving aviation environment.

The Role

To ensure that the evaluation, certification, approval and continuing compliance of pilot flight training provided by UK-certified training organisations is carried out in compliance with applicable aviation regulations and best practices to provide safe and compliant training and testing for students and holders of UK pilot licences.

Core Accountabilities

• Holding Accountable Managers (or Responsible Representatives) and other key position holders to account for managing safety within their training organisations.
• Ensuring safe and compliant pilot training is delivered by training organisations’ staff and contractors.
• Influencing training organisations to improve their performance and compliance through the development and effectiveness of their own safety and compliance management systems.
• Ensuring that safety, compliance, training and operations manuals and other documents and reports submitted by training organisations comply with the applicable regulatory requirements and standards before accepting them.
• Approval of a training organisation’s proposed nominated key people including, but not limited to, Accountable Manager, Safety Manager, Compliance Monitoring Manager, Head of Training, Chief Flying Instructor, Chief Theoretical Knowledge Instructor, and Seminar Tutor.
• Maximising the utilisation of skills and experience of other Flight Op’s inspectors and officers in sampling training sites, training courses and candidate testing.
• Collaborating with other Flight Op’s inspectors and officers to ensure the effective oversight of pilot training and testing carried out by organisations associated with commercial air transport operators.
• Ensuring competence of training organisations associated with public transport and police operators.
• Verifying continuing regulatory compliance of allocated training organisations through onsite audits and inspections within pre-defined oversight cycle periods contained in current Flight Op’s business rules.
• Maintaining accurate records of evaluation, inspection and auditing events and consequent oversight reporting.
• Recommending appropriate actions to the team lead for findings of significant non-compliances with applicable regulations and the remit of an organisation’s certification or declaration and its own documentation.
• Prioritising raised non-compliances within a timetable of closure actions to ensure they are completed within allocated timeframes and findings have been rectified permanently to prevent recurrences.

• Processing requests from training organisations for exemptions and permissions from legislative requirements and other restrictions.
• Agreeing with the Investigations and Enforcement Team appropriate levels of investigation and supporting their consequent regulatory or criminal enforcement actions for apparent serious breaches of the law.
• Capturing and sharing safety-related intelligence, information and analysis from multiple internal and external sources with all CAA groups in support of EPT/IRM processes.
• Applying principles of Performance Based Oversight in accordance with the wider CAA approach to Performance Based Regulation.
• Escalating risks to the appropriate management level within SARG.

About You

Minimum essential requirements for the role:

• Strong interpersonal skills to influence accountable managers and other key position holders within regulated organisations.
• Empathy with challenges faced by smaller organisations delivering professional-level flight training to feed the commercial pilot supply chain.
• Experienced and comfortable with either working alone or within a team.
• Aviation related degree or equivalent professional level qualification.
• Holds or has held an ATPL or CPL/IR on aeroplanes and/or helicopters.
• Significant experience as a flight instructor or examiner operating within UK airspace.
• Significant experience in aviation-related managerial positions including Head of Training in an approved training organisation or equivalent position in a commercial air transport operator.
• Experienced in the use of management systems, business planning, performance management monitoring (safety and business), risk assessment and mitigation, training development and the management of change.
• In-depth knowledge of the Aircrew Regulation, the Air Navigation Order, organisation certification and UK pilot licensing practices.
• Understand the priority of compliance and safety management over operational and commercial constraints found within regulated organisations.
• Employs a structured problem-solving approach to help identify and resolve root causes of internal processing issues.
• A confident decision-maker and effective organiser who takes initiative to plan and prioritise own workload and uses initiative to deal with ad-hoc requests or unusual situations.
• An enquiring mind that challenges perceived norms, identifies failings and seeks improvements to current processes and procedures.
• Has a positive, can-do approach to getting things done.
• Is comfortable with a wide variety of work experiences from the operational to the strategic.

Additional Information

For many appointments within the CAA, these roles require access to operationally sensitive infrastructure and/or Nationally Protected information. For these roles the post holders must undergo National Security Vetting and achieve the appropriate level of clearance.

CTC - To be vetted we will usually expect a reasonable period of residency in the UK so that meaningful checks can be undertaken. For this role this will need to be 3 years.

If you do not meet these requirements, we may not be able to accept your application.

For more information on CTC and SC clearance please visit - Vetting explained - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

The CAA values high ethical standards and personal integrity among employees. If invited for interview you will be asked to complete a declaration of interest.

Relocation & Property
 

The CAA will be relocating from Aviation House (Our Gatwick Office) to new premises in a few years’ time. Our move is driven by strategic, operational and environmental considerations.

We will be moving to a new local home, up to a 15-mile radius of Aviation House, to minimise disruption for our valued colleagues and customers.

We are now working with colleagues and visitors to understand what we need in our new office, before we start our property search. We will sell Aviation House and land, vacate the site and move to new premises, but we do not expect to move before 2028

Inclusivity

We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer and celebrate our diversity ensuring all are backgrounds included here at the CAA. As a member of the Disability Confident scheme, applicants who meet the minimum criteria for a role with us will be guaranteed an interview.

Our Benefits

We offer a range of excellent benefits such as:

• Flexible & hybrid working arrangements available
• 28 days annual leave + public holidays (additional 5 days leave purchase scheme)
• Generous pension scheme (Up to 12% employer contribution)
• Wellbeing Room at Gatwick
• Mental Health and Suicide First Aiders
• Employee Assistance Programme, talking therapies and neurodiversity support via Occupational Health & access to Headspace for colleagues and 5 dependents
• Free onsite gym at Gatwick or discounted gym membership for London
• EV charging points
• Employee Development courses internally and via Skillsoft

Our Values
 

Do The Right Thing, Never Stop Learning, Build Collaborative Relationships, Respect Everyone – For more information please Click Here

Closing Date: Wednesday 25th June 2025

Interview Date: w/c Monday 14th July 2025

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.

No recruitment agencies please.