Legal Counsel – Aviation Regulatory and GCAA Affairs

About the role

The Legal Counsel is the company's principal day-to-day interface with the General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) and a subject matter expert on aviation regulation across the design, production, and operation of eVTOL aircraft. Reporting to the Chief Legal Officer, the role is responsible for coordinating all regulatory engagement with the GCAA and for supporting the drafting, review, and advisory work needed to shape and comply with the emerging regulatory framework for eVTOLs in the UAE, including, where invited, advising the authority itself on policies and regulations for this new aircraft category.

The successful candidate combines deep, hands-on experience with major aviation regulators, such as the FAA, EASA, and Transport Canada, with the drafting and advisory skill to help build regulation where little precedent exists. Occasional travel is expected for regulator meetings, industry forums, and cross-jurisdictional certification support.

Key responsibilities

• GCAA coordination and regulatory engagement. Act as the company's primary point of coordination with the GCAA across eVTOL design, production, and operation. Manage the cadence, agenda, and record of regulator engagements, including submissions, clarifications, meetings, workshops, and formal correspondence.
• Lifecycle tracking. Track and manage the status of applications, approvals, exemptions, special conditions, and certificates through their full lifecycle, and maintain a single, auditable source of truth for all regulator interactions, commitments, and deadlines.
• Regulatory drafting and advisory. Draft, review, and quality assure regulatory submissions, position papers, exemption requests, and responses to the authority, and prepare clear legal opinions and regulatory memoranda for engineering, certification, production, flight operations, and executive leadership.
• Research and comparative analysis. Research and analyse aviation laws, regulations, regulator policies, advisory circulars, special conditions, and international standards, including ICAO Annexes and guidance, relevant to eVTOLs. Support the CLO in advising the GCAA on eVTOL policy and regulation in the UAE.
• Certification and airworthiness. Provide legal and regulatory support to the type certification effort, including VTOL and powered-lift certification frameworks, special conditions, and applicable means of compliance. Support cross-jurisdictional certification and validation strategy, including reliance on bilateral aviation safety agreements between the GCAA and foreign authorities, and advise on airworthiness, continuing airworthiness, and design organisation obligations.
• Production and manufacturing. Support Production Organisation Approval and related manufacturing compliance, and advise on supplier, subcontractor, and parts approval obligations, as well as export controls and dual-use considerations affecting aviation components and technology.
• Contracts and cross-functional support. Draft, review, and negotiate agreements supporting the regulatory and operational mandate, including MOUs, partnership and pilot programme agreements, supplier and service contracts, and data sharing arrangements. Advise on data protection under the UAE PDPL and applicable frameworks, confidentiality, liability, and insurance.
• Compliance, risk, and governance. Maintain a live regulatory compliance and obligations register spanning design, production, and operations. Identify, escalate, and help mitigate regulatory and legal risks, monitor changes in UAE and international aviation regulation, and support internal governance, audits, and readiness for regulator inspections.

Requirements

• Qualified lawyer (LLB, JD, or equivalent), admitted or licensed to practise in a recognised jurisdiction.
• Substantial professional experience reviewing, drafting, researching, and advising on aviation laws, regulations, and regulator policies.
• Demonstrable, hands-on experience dealing with aviation regulators, covering submissions, approvals, certification, or regulatory advisory work.
• Working knowledge of the aircraft regulatory lifecycle: type certification and airworthiness, production approval, continuing airworthiness, and operational (AOC) approvals.
• Excellent legal drafting and analytical skills, with the ability to produce clear submissions and opinions in a low-precedent, evolving regulatory environment.
• Fluent professional English, written and spoken.

Also valuable

• Prior experience engaging with the GCAA and familiarity with the UAE aviation and advanced air mobility regulatory landscape.
• Exposure to eVTOL, AAM, or UAS certification frameworks, such as VTOL special conditions, powered lift, SORA, and U-space or UTM.
• Experience with bilateral aviation safety agreements and cross-jurisdictional validation of certificates.
• Experience in a startup, scale-up, or emerging technology environment.
• Familiarity with UAE law, data protection under the PDPL, and export control regimes.
• Arabic language ability.

What we're looking for

This role calls for regulator relationship management and diplomacy, credible and precise in front of an authority, backed by rigorous legal research and comparative regulatory analysis across jurisdictions. We are looking for precision drafting under ambiguity and comfort building where no template exists, strong stakeholder management across technical and executive audiences, sound judgement, discretion, and high integrity, and the organisation and drive to own a complex portfolio of regulatory obligations to deadline.