Senior Design Engineer - Airframe

The role

A Senior Design Engineer will own airframe designs from definition through manufacture, release, build, and installation. You will coordinate a team of engineers to integrate airframe structures with powerplant and fuel-system interfaces.

What you will do

• Own airframe designs from incomplete or inherited definition through design for manufacture, release, build and installation
• Develop pragmatic design solutions that balance structural, manufacturing, integration, certification and programme requirements
• Approve and release engineering drawings, design data and technical reports
• Act as a checking signatory, ensuring released data is accurate, complete and supported by appropriate evidence
• Coordinate internal engineers and contractors
• Integrate airframe structures with powerplant, fuel-system and other physical aircraft systems
• Work directly with manufacturing, assembly and flight-test teams to resolve issues quickly and safely
• Build and collate the verification and certification evidence needed to support safety-of-flight readiness
• Challenge weak assumptions or insufficient evidence, manage technical interfaces and escalate safety-critical risks clearly
• Mentor junior engineers and support their technical development

Required qualifications

• Established experience delivering complex mechanical or structural designs in a safety-critical or highly regulated environment
• Strong theoretical understanding of airframe structures
• Evidence of taking an inherited or incomplete design through design for manufacture, release, build or installation
• Experience approving or checking engineering drawings, design data or technical reports
• Broad structural design experience with exposure to physical systems installation and multidisciplinary interfaces
• An understanding of the full product development lifecycle, including verification and certification
• Experience delegating technical work, setting priorities and coordinating delivery across engineers or contractors
• The confidence to make sound decisions under scrutiny and challenge work that is not supported by sufficient evidence
• Strong communication and organisation skills

Nice to have

• Experience within aerospace, particularly across eVTOL, prototype aircraft, MRO, aircraft modification or special-mission programmes
• Experience with CATIA V5 or 3DEXPERIENCE

Benefits

• 26 days holiday, plus bank holiday
• 5 extra days per year to buy (or sell)
• 5 extra days holiday when you get married or enter a civil partnership
• Additional 4% of your salary to spend on extra benefits
• Award-winning digital health and wellbeing service (Help@Hand)
• Company performance based bonus
• Company Share Scheme
• Company Pension Scheme - 5% and we match it
• Breakfast on us, every day

About the company

Vertical Aerospace is pioneering the way for electric aviation with the Valo eVTOL aircraft. The company is growing from a prototype business to a scaling SME.