Autopilot Software Engineer- Permanent - Hampshire (Hybrid)
Role summary
We're hiring a full-time, permanent Autopilot Engineer based in Hampshire. The role is primarily on-site due to hardware and flight-test activity, with flexible hybrid working available.
You'll join an agile engineering team building safety-critical flight control software for an autopilot system, working from early requirements and feasibility through to on-site testing and real-world validation.
What you'll be doing
- Contribute to requirements capture, plus concept and feasibility studies
- Develop safety-critical flight control software to an exceptional reliability standard
- Support the test ecosystem end-to-end: automated unit testing through to on-site flight testing
- Maintain and (as required) fly the autopilot model aircraft test fleet
- Support issue identification, fault-finding and debugging across software and integrated systems
What we're looking for (essential)
- Professional embedded software engineering experience, including Embedded C/C++
- Clear passion for the field, evidenced by personal/university projects alongside commercial experience
- Strong understanding of mechanics of flight and aerospace control systems, with practical application
- Ability to develop behavioural / application-level logic (the "what to do", not just the "how to do")
- Comfortable using Git within an agile team, with solid engineering documentation habits
- Strong hands-on experience with STM32 MCUs and the wider MCU toolchain (IDEs/compilers/debuggers)
- Low-level driver knowledge: CAN, SPI, I2C, UART, PWM, ICU (and similar)
- Enough embedded hardware knowledge to support software integration onto rigs / test hardware
- Ability to support testing from unit tests to flight testing
- Flexible mindset-willing to go above and beyond to deliver on-time with real-world quality/performance
Nice to have
- Aviation or RC model aircraft interest/background (including piloting)
- Experience with open-source autopilot ecosystems such as Betaflight, Ardupilot, PX4, MissionPlanner
Location / working pattern
- Hybrid, but primarily on-site (hardware + flight test requirements)
- Permanent role
