Gulfstream Aerospace
I promised myself I wasn't going to do this again, but here goes.
Gulfstream is an excellent place to work. As opposed to many corporate flight departments, you can always be assured that the Gulfstream flight department will have an airplane.
Flight Test does developmental flight test, envelope expansion flight testing, production test flights to issue Certificates of Airworthiness, post maintenance evaluations for return to service, third party evals, aircraft technical evaluations, aircraft delivery, rent-a-captain services for customers as diverse as the Irish Air Corps and the Government of India, completion test flights, flight training for Gulfstream purchasers, participation at air shows and the occasional demonstration flight.
The Flight Demonstration Department does demonstration of the Gulfstream product line, hand holding for new customers, and sales accomodation flights. In practice, after being airborne for an hour, expect to look down at your FMS and see 13 hours and 30 minutes remaining on your flight as you demonstrate the jet's 6,750 nautical mile range to a prospective customer.
AA717driver is correct, you will probably have to develop new socialization skills. Pilots normally try to convince all other pilots (and anyone who will listen) that they are the best pilots on this and possibly all other planets. In this job you must try to convince the prospective customer pilot that he is. You must make it all look easy without appearing arrogant and learn new skills such as "Customer Golf" where you lose no matter how poorly the customer plays. In the final analysis, you are an important part of the overall sales effort and you must develop those Dale Carnegie (How to Win Friends and Influence People) skills.
In Gulfstream Flight Test average pay is about a buck and a quarter and tops out at around $155k. Expect to work five days a week and one weekend a month.
Demo gets less. The department has recently changed their hiring practices bringing new hires in through the AirBorne Product Support G100 and progressing them through the Israeli Aircraft Industries aircraft to the Gulfstreams on a merit basis. In Demo, you get one day off for every day that you are gone minus one day. If you have nothing to do you are not expected to do it at work. Expect to start just above $70K. Demo compensation maxes out at about $154K for those in leadership roles.
Gulfstream offers a defined benefit pension plan, 401K plan with company match, an incentive awards program and an excellent health care plan supplemented with an on premises health clinic.
In practice military pilots are preferred for both departments although experience and professionalism can offset that requirement. Leadership is Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy test pilots with an Army TP ascendant.
The Gulfstream Flight Department is a great place to gain knowledge and experience about aviation from a highly skilled body of pilots which includes a former Presidential pilot, a Vice Presidential pilot, the Chief Test Pilot B-1 Bomber, the Chief Test Pilot B-2 Bomber, the former Chief Pilot Atlas Airlines, Test Pilots who have taught at both Edwards TPS and the Naval Test Pilot School at Paxtuxent River, an Edwards Experimental Test Pilot who is also an aeronautical engineer, an A&P and an Inspector (there's an aeronautical engineer in Demo, too); a NASA Shuttle Training Aircraft (STA) pilot and one guy who has 542 hours in the Space Shuttle and two landings (he is given grief because he never got current). The Chief Test pilot is also a PPE which helps him to rate his pilots.
Demo has recently been inundated with applications from JetBlue and Delta pilots.
The most recent hire in Demo was an 11 year Delta pilot. The most recent hire in Flight Test was an engineer who is an Air Force test pilot and a long time instructor at the Edwards AFB Test Pilot School.
GV