Senior Stress Engineer - Structure Dynamics in Bristol

Join to apply for the Senior Stress Engineer - Structure Dynamics role at Vertical Aerospace.

Our Mission

At Vertical Aerospace, we are pioneering the way for electric aviation. The Valo, our eVTOL (electric, vertical, take‑off and landing), 'zero emissions' aircraft will set a new safety standard for how we will navigate the sky. We won’t realise our mission following the same legacy processes and traditions our predecessors followed; instead, we want to 'redefine' aerospace best practices. We are growing quickly from a prototype business to a scaling SME, and the next few years will be critical to our success and delivering on our ambitious goals. Valo is targeting air‑liner‑level safety certification in 2028 ahead of entering service with our airline and operator customers.

What To Expect

As a Senior Stress Engineer – Structural Dynamics, you’ll play a key role in ensuring the safe and efficient integration of our Electric Propulsion Unit (EPU) into the Valo airframe. Sitting within the Powertrain Squad, you’ll work across teams and suppliers to develop structural concepts, assess dynamic behaviour, and guarantee compliance with stringent aerospace standards. Your work will span from early concept development through to certification – balancing mass efficiency, structural integrity, and dynamic performance, while ensuring seamless integration into the aircraft architecture.

What You’ll Do

• Own the structural integration of the Electric Propulsion Unit (EPU) into the Valo airframe, developing and selecting concepts for EPU side mechanical interfaces and aircraft‑side components that achieve compliance, robustness, and mass efficiency.
• Design for dynamic integrity by accounting for excitation sources from the propeller system and ensuring interfaces to the pylon, propeller, and the tilt mechanism for forward EPUs are structurally sound and fault‑tolerant.
• Develop and refine structural dynamics models (fully detailed or reduced‑order, e.g., multibody or super‑element) to predict dynamic behaviour, identify risks, and inform design decisions.
• Drive solution development toward lightweight, high‑performance designs, ensuring required stiffness and deformation limits are met while dynamic loads remain within anticipated thresholds.
• Perform stress, fatigue and dynamic assessments under static and dynamic load cases, respecting material allowables, installation constraints, and envelope allocations.
• Collaborate across disciplines—working closely with mechanical designers, EPU specialists, suppliers, actuators and aircraft structures teams, and test engineers—to ensure seamless integration and compliance with certification requirements.
• Support validation and verification activities, including correlation of analysis with test results and refinement of models to improve predictive accuracy.
• Contribute to management of in‑service issues including concession assessment, Engineering Problem Reports and root‑cause analysis.

What You’ll Bring

• Degree in Aerospace or Mechanical Engineering (or equivalent).
• Significant experience in aerospace structural analysis, with demonstrable exposure to structural dynamics and vibration‑critical installations.
• Experience working in certification‑driven development environments, balancing innovation with regulatory compliance.
• Strong analytical capability, with the ability to translate complex dynamic behaviour into clear engineering decisions.
• Ability to operate effectively in multi‑disciplinary, high‑accountability environments with limited supervision.
• A collaborative mindset focused on aircraft‑level optimisation, not local minima.
• Alignment with Vertical’s values: Safety, Openness, Courage, Ingenuity.

Beneficial

• Experience supporting certification or certification‑like clearance of propulsion, rotating machinery, or highly loaded dynamic systems.
• Familiarity with SC‑VTOL, SC E‑19, CS‑23, CS‑25, CS‑E, or equivalent FAA frameworks, particularly as applied to propulsion installations.
• Experience with bearing systems, rotating assemblies, or propeller/motor integration, including dynamic load paths and failure considerations.
• Exposure to test correlation and certification reporting, including interaction with certification or airworthiness teams.

What can you expect from us?

We’re on a mission. Where others see limits, we see opportunity, and we work at pace. Working at Vertical isn’t your average role but for those seeking a challenge, a flexible, supportive organisation and an incredible team; working here is an opportunity to do the best work of your career. Our approach promotes ingenuity and courage, while our environment builds success through diligence in safety and being open in the way we work. The only way we’re going to assure the next chapter of aviation history is by working as a team, relentlessly, towards our goal.

Our 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 – rewarding company and individual performance
• Company Share Scheme – open to every Vertical employee
• Company Pension Scheme – 5% and we match it
• Breakfast on us, every day

Disclaimer Statement

We encourage you to apply even if you may not have all the experience listed in the advert. We recognise that talent comes in various forms and we are committed to providing opportunities that create an environment of growth, diversity, and inclusion for everyone. As part of our desire to review and make our processes fair, we may ask you questions related to these aspects during the application process. For more information on how we will use your data, see our Legal section.