Design and Certification Specialist - Airframe & Transmissions

Design and Certification Specialist - Airframe & Transmissions

Location: Gatwick, GB

Salary: £68,000–£72,000 plus a market related supplement

Contract Type: Permanent, Full-time

Location: Gatwick / Hybrid

Required Security Level: SC

Visa Restrictions: This position does not currently offer visa sponsorship.

The Role:

Your main role will be technical involvement with certification projects and continued airworthiness activities. This will involve liaison with UK industry for certification & oversight activities, and engagement on international projects with other aviation authorities such as the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). You will support the business plan and the wider CAA, specifically with respect to meeting UK’s obligations in accordance with the Basic Regulation UK Reg (EU) 2018/1139 and ICAO’s standards for State of Design.

Reporting to the Design & Certification Principal Specialist for Airframe and Transmissions, your primary function will be the technical investigation, analysis and approval of certification projects with respect to the structures discipline. You will also support the understanding and resolution of structure‑related continued airworthiness issues affecting fixed and rotary wing aircraft.

• The assessment of fixed and rotary wing aircraft designs and design changes, with respect to structural aspects, and making recommendations for their approval.
• Validation of non‑UK certifying authorities’ design approvals in accordance with international working agreements.
• Investigation of UK Design Organisations in relation to CAA Part 21 Subpart J design organisation approval.
• Ensuring in‑service defects on aerospace products, including Mandatory Occurrence Reports, are investigated and that all necessary actions are taken to maintain safety standards.
• Taking direct airworthiness safety intervention measures where necessary in response to in‑service difficulties, incidents and accidents to ensure continued safety of participants and third parties.
• Escalating significant safety matters in accordance with the CAA regulatory safety management system (RSMS).
• Acting as Project Certification Manager (PCM) where required to coordinate projects or specialists in specific technical disciplines.
• Engaging with industry and regulators to ensure the CAA remains appraised of future projects, proposed introduction and development of new and innovative technologies, and any associated proposals requiring new regulation development.
• Clarifying existing requirements and contributing to the development of new ones to address new technology, novel applications of existing technology, and novel proposals for compliance demonstration.
• Identifying and coordinating research or contributing into areas of significant airworthiness concern. Representing the CAA in decision‑making committees and working groups, internally and externally, nationally and internationally from a design standpoint.
• Liaising with other regulators and accident investigation bodies on accidents and events and their ICAO Annex 13 investigations or equivalents.

You will ideally have an engineering degree and experience of aircraft airframe or transmissions design and/or certification. This can be from either fixed wing, rotary wing or E‑VTOL aircraft applications. One or more of the following aspects of airframe or transmission design related experience will be required.

• Static strength / stress analysis
• Fatigue and damage tolerance
• Materials and manufacturing
• Crash worthiness, decompression, and impact conditions
• Loads, weight and balance
• Aeroelasticity, vibration and buffeting
• Manufacturing processes and NDT techniques

Suitable candidates should also have a desire to continually develop experience through project involvement and dedicated training with the flexibility to contribute more generally to other areas of the Design and Certification team.

• Able to evidence working experience within an aircraft stress department working on aircraft and/or major design modifications or STCs
• Stress signatory or CVE level experience
• Practical and…