Hardware System Engineer in Newbury

A technically deep, fast-moving unmanned systems business designing and building real platforms that operate across air, ground, surface, and subsea environments. Their work spans platform development, payload integration, wireless power transfer, IoT sensor networks, and the flight and field test campaigns that prove it all out in the real world.

This is a team that ships hardware to real customers not a PowerPoint business. If you want to work on unmanned systems that genuinely get deployed, this is the environment for you.

A senior, hands-on hardware systems engineering role with full ownership of unmanned platform hardware from early concept through integration, qualification, and field deployment. You'll be designing, integrating, and de-risking real vehicles not just drawing architectures. Alongside the technical work, you'll lead a small group of junior engineers and take end-to-end delivery ownership across one or more programmes.

Candidates from crewed aerospace, robotics, or complex electromagnetically backgrounds looking to move into unmanned are genuinely welcomed; what matters is engineering judgement and a strong delivery record.

What You'll Be Doing

• Owning hardware systems architecture for UxV platforms across one or more domains: airframe, propulsion, power, avionics, payloads, and comms.
• Translating customer and mission requirements into integrated designs, making and documenting trade-offs across mass, power, endurance, SWaP, cost, and manoeuvrability.
• Driving integration of COTS and bespoke sub-systems: motors, ESCs, autopilots, sensors, radios, cameras, tethers, wireless power links, and IoT modules.
• Leading build, bench test, and flight/field test activities troubleshooting under pressure when something doesn't behave on the day.
• Managing a small engineering team: allocating work, coaching juniors, reviewing designs, and ensuring what ships meets the standard.
• Running programmes end-to-end: planning, budgeting, tracking progress, reporting to stakeholders, and flagging risk early.
• Contributing to test campaign planning and execution: requirements traceability, test card design, trials support, root cause investigation.

What We're Looking For

Essential:

• Degree in aerospace, mechanical, electrical/electronic, mechatronic, or related discipline or equivalent hands-on track record.
• 6+ years of systems engineering on complex electromechanical products with a clear record of taking designs from concept into service.
• Strong integration ability across mechanical, electrical, and electronic sub-systems.
• Confident with 3D CAD (Fusion 360 or similar), schematic capture, and common lab and test equipment.
• Experience leading or mentoring junior engineers.
• Clear technical communicator across specs, drawings, trade studies, test reports, and stakeholder updates.

Desirable:

• Direct experience on UAV, UGV, USV, AUV or other unmanned platforms.
• Familiarity with autopilots (ArduPilot, Pixhawk-family), MAVLink, and GCS environments.
• Exposure to RF/comms links, tethers, wireless power transfer, or LoRa/IoT networks.
• Experience with aerospace or defence qualification frameworks (CAP 722, STANAG, DO-series, Def Stan, Mil-Std).
• Prior flight test or field trials experience in challenging environments.

What's On Offer

• Competitive salary commensurate with experience.
• A genuine senior role with programme ownership and leadership responsibility from day one.
• Work on multi-domain unmanned platforms across real, deployed programmes.
• A technically serious team that cares about engineering done properly and still ships.

SR2 is managing this search on an exclusive and confidential basis. The hiring company will not be disclosed at application stage. All enquiries handled in strict confidence.