Senior System Engineer

Do you want to work with the 15th fastest-growing startup in Europe? If so, you’re in the right place. AssetCool is one of Europe’s fastest-growing startups, building the fastest path to more power on the grid. We’re tackling one of the most urgent challenges in the global energy transition: grid congestion. Electricity demand is rising fast; driven by electrification, AI and data centres. While traditional grid upgrades take years, demand exists today. The grid isn’t ready. AssetCool delivers robotic grid upgrades that physically increase the capacity of existing transmission lines by up to 30%, without rebuilding infrastructure.

Using advanced robotics and proprietary photonic coatings, we unlock data‑centre‑scale capacity in weeks to months, not years and at a fraction of the cost and disruption of conventional approaches. Our technology goes beyond capacity. We reduce losses, prevent corrosion, cut corona noise and generate high‑value operational data that supports smarter grid operation and maintenance. Our systems are already deployed globally, and we just raised a big funding round from leading energy and climate investors. AssetCool is one of the most innovation‑driven companies in the UK energy sector and we’re scaling fast! If you’re ambitious, mission‑driven and excited to work on real deployments that strengthen the industry that really matters, AssetCool is where you can make it happen.

Role Overview

AssetCool is looking for a Senior Systems Engineer to lead our Autonomous Systems team, covering UAV platforms, autonomous field robotics, sensing payloads, electronics and mechatronics integration, testing and deployment readiness. This is a hands‑on technical leadership role with immediate line‑management responsibility for a multidisciplinary team of around six engineers, with expected team growth as AssetCool scales its UAV, robotics and live‑line technology capability. The role reports to the Head of Engineering and works closely with Product Engineering, Robotics Software, Operations and Field Operations to deliver systems that are practical, safe and field‑ready.

The successful candidate will combine technical credibility across UAV systems, autonomy, mechatronics, embedded systems, sensing and field testing with strong people leadership. They do not need to be the deepest specialist in every area, but they must be able to make good system‑level judgements, bring multiple disciplines together and keep delivery moving in a fast‑changing engineering environment.

Key Responsibilities

• Team leadership, delivery and people management: Provide full line management for the Autonomous Systems team, including direct reporting lines, delegation and project/workload setting, mentoring, career development, performance management, HR and employee relations matters, motivation and team engagement. Establish clear priorities, ownership and delivery rhythms so the team can work effectively across multiple active projects and field trials.
• Technical direction and systems delivery: Lead engineering delivery across UAV platforms, autonomous robotics, onboard compute, autopilot systems, mechatronics, sensing, payload integration, embedded systems, communications, safety systems and field deployment equipment. Translate product, customer and operational needs into practical engineering plans, milestones and system trade‑offs.
• Systems engineering leadership: Guide requirements interpretation, architecture decisions, interface definition, configuration, technical risks and failure modes across complex integrated systems. Ensure designs are buildable, testable, deployable, maintainable and suitable for harsh field environments including remote sites, high‑voltage infrastructure, electromagnetic interference, transport and operator usability.
• Cross‑functional coordination: Work closely with Product Engineering, Robotics Software, Perception, Electronics, Chemistry, Production, Logistics, Operations and Field Operations to align plans, unblock dependencies and ensure engineering decisions reflect real customer, safety, production, field and deployment constraints.
• Testing, validation and deployment readiness: Oversee bench testing, integration testing, flight trials, field trials and customer demonstrations where required. Ensure tests have clear objectives, acceptance criteria, safety controls, evidence capture and post‑test learning, including appropriate consideration of failsafes, comms‑loss behaviour, operator override and operational controls.
• Engineering process and technical governance: Improve engineering discipline without adding unnecessary bureaucracy, including appropriate documentation for architecture, interfaces, configurations, decisions, risks, test evidence and deployment readiness. Strengthen planning, issue tracking, design reviews, handover, lessons learned and review gates as the team scales.
• Roadmap, resourcing and team growth: Work with the Head of Engineering to align Autonomous Systems priorities with the wider engineering roadmap, identify capability gaps, hiring needs and team structure changes, and build a scalable autonomous systems function that supports AssetCool's robotic coating and inspection roadmap.