The Opportunity
A leading UK UAS specialist one of the most technically ambitious operators in British aerospace is creating a Principal Technologist role at the top of their engineering function.
This is the senior‑most technical position in the business: the person who owns the technology vision, shapes the R&D agenda, and determines what this organisation builds next.
If you’re the kind of engineer who has built and flown platforms, understands systems at depth, and wants to be setting direction rather than executing someone else’s, this is worth a conversation.
What You’ll Be Doing
- Defining and owning the technology roadmap for a portfolio of advanced UxS platforms
- Evaluating and integrating emerging technologies AI/ML, edge computing, multi‑domain autonomy, novel sensors
- Leading architecture and integration decisions across avionics, flight control, GCS, and autonomy stacks
- Horizon‑scanning and forging R&D partnerships with industry, academia, and government bodies
- Representing the business externally: technical committees, consortia, and key client engagements
- Supporting BD through technical bid writing and client‑facing white papers
- Steering the internal R&D portfolio identifying what gets resourced and why
What We’re Looking For
- Degree or higher in Aerospace Engineering, Computer Science, Robotics, Physics, or related discipline
- Proven experience in UAS, avionics, or autonomous systems from concept through to flight
- Strong depth across systems engineering, flight control, sensor fusion, and autonomy
- Track record delivering technically complex platforms across their full lifecycle
- Project management experience on innovation or R&D projects, ideally UAS‑related
- Comfortable operating at Director level technically and commercially credible
- British Citizen or existing right to work in the UK; eligible for national security vetting
Contact Details:
SR2 | Socially Responsible Recruitment | Certified B Corporation™ Recruitment Team
