Senior UAV Flight Test Engineer

Senior UAS Flight Test & Assurance Engineer - Yorkshire (Permanent)

Salary: £62,000 | Start: Aug-Sep 2026 | Onsite / Hybrid
No visa sponsorship is available. Applicants must already have the right to work in the UK.

We're hiring a senior, hands-on flight test and assurance engineer to plan and deliver UAS test campaigns and produce the evidence needed for operational approvals. This role blends practical flight-test execution with strong test discipline (plans, readiness, reporting) and the ability to translate assurance / safety / regulatory expectations into usable, traceable test evidence. Longer term, there's scope to grow into V&V leadership as the programme scales.

What you'll do

Plan and deliver ground, integration and flight-test campaigns
Write and maintain test plans, test cards, procedures, readiness reviews, risk controls and post-test reports
Turn safety, assurance and operational approval requirements into practical test evidence
Support regulator-facing technical discussions alongside internal regulatory/airspace leads
Coordinate deployments: sites, equipment, logistics, test asset readiness and operational planning
Drive credible evidence for software-enabled functions (e.g., autonomy-related claims, detect-and-avoid mitigations)
Identify pragmatic tools / COTS systems that reduce test and assurance risk, time and cost
Help build scalable validation and verification practices for future programme maturity

What we're looking for

Strong background in flight test, test engineering, UAS operations, aviation assurance, airworthiness, or safety-critical systems testing
Practical experience planning and executing tests in the field (not just office-based planning)
Confident running readiness reviews, hazard controls and evidence generation / reporting
Able to read, interpret and apply aviation regulatory / operational approval material
Strong judgement, high ownership, and clear written communication

Nice to have

UAS / novel aircraft / autonomous aircraft test programme experience
Familiarity with SORA / SAIL and CAA/EASA-style approval environments
Experience with autonomy assurance, collision-risk modelling, simulation, safety cases, or software-enabled safety functions
Experience building a test / flight-test / V&V function as a programme grows
Only candidates based in UK and eligible to work in UK are allowed