Senior UAV Engineer

Senior UAV Engineer – Sub Sea Craft Limited

• Salary: £50,000-£60,000 DOE
• Employment Type: Full Time, Permanent

Sub Sea Craft is a fast growing, privately‑funded, UK‑based maritime technology company specialising in next‑generation, high‑performance watercraft and systems. We operate at the intersection of advanced engineering, cutting‑edge design, and user‑centric innovation, delivering safe, effective, and enabling solutions for both commercial and defence applications.

• Annual Leave – Entitlement to 25 days of annual leave plus bank holidays
• Wellbeing Day – An additional Wellbeing Day each year to focus on personal health and wellbeing.
• Private Healthcare – Access to comprehensive private healthcare coverage to support your physical and mental wellbeing.
• Life Assurance and Critical Illness Cover – Comprehensive protection including Life Assurance (4x salary) and Critical Illness Cover for added financial security.
• Family Leave – Enhanced maternity and paternity pay.
• Christmas Leave – A Christmas shutdown is typically observed.
• Professional Development – Commitment to ongoing learning and career growth, supported by training programmes and access to Linked In Learning.
• Pension Contribution – pension scheme with the option to contribute via salary sacrifice.
• Flexible Working – Opportunities for flexible working arrangements to promote work‑life balance.
• Inclusive Culture – A professional environment that values diversity, innovation, and collaboration.

We are looking for an experienced and highly autonomous Senior UAV Engineer to lead the design, integration, and validation of complex, special‑purpose Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) for the maritime domain. Joining our small but fast‑paced Research Engineering team, you will drive the iterative development process, owning key system architectures and acting as the technical authority for the platform. The ideal candidate takes a pragmatic approach to solving engineering challenges, with a strong commitment to quality and the ability to mentor others.

• Lead the ongoing development and define the technical roadmap for special‑purpose Unmanned Aerial Systems tailored for the maritime domain.
• Rapid prototyping and engineering design oversight of complex UAS systems and subsystems, from concept through to field‑ready prototypes.
• Own the mechanical, electrical, and system‑level design of UAS platforms/subsystems, ensuring robust design‑for‑manufacture (DFM) principles are applied.
• Maintain a combination of design leadership and hands‑on technical oversight and involvement for critical prototype builds, including complex mechanical and electrical assembly.
• Define, implement, and manage sensor payload integration, flight control system configuration, and complex data management pipelines.
• Plan, lead, and report on comprehensive test and validation activities, defining robust test protocols and interpreting complex data sets both on‑site and during off‑site flight testing.
• Act as a subject‑matter expert interface between the Research Engineering team and other business units (e.g., trials team, commercial, procurement, manufacturing, etc.).
• Occasional travel abroad to support testing and partner collaboration.
• Mentor and guide junior engineers and technical staff, fostering a culture of technical excellence and best practice within the team.

• Bachelor’s or master’s degree in Mechanical or Mechatronic Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Systems Engineering, Robotics or other relevant STEM discipline.
• 4+ years of progressive applicable work experience, ideally in an R&D or fast‑paced technical environment.
• Proven professional experience leading the design and build of complex UAS platforms (fixed‑wing and/or multirotor) – specifically custom builds.
• Expertise with commonly used autopilot software (e.g., Ardupilot, PX4 or INAV) and in‑depth knowledge of flight control algorithms and tuning.
• Demonstrable proficiency in low‑level coding (C++/C) for flight‑critical systems and/or high‑level coding (Python) for data processing and simulation.

• Experience with UAS sensors, advanced flight…