Systems Engineer – UAV Architecture, Integration & Product Development

About the role

As Systems Engineer, you will help shape the overall UAV product together with stakeholders across engineering, operations, flight test and business functions. Your primary mission is to ensure that product decisions are made with a system-wide perspective and that all engineering disciplines work effectively towards a common product vision. You will apply Systems Engineering principles pragmatically to support product development, drive technical alignment, facilitate trade-offs and help teams make sound architectural and safety-related decisions. You will act as a technical integrator and trusted partner across disciplines, helping transform customer and business needs into successful product outcomes. 

Your responsibilities

Systems Engineering Practices & Methods 

• Establish lightweight and scalable systems engineering practices that help teams make better engineering decisions.
• Continuously adapt methods, tools and processes to the maturity and needs of the product.
• Coach teams in applying systems thinking, requirements management and architecture practices where they create value.
• Promote pragmatic and efficient engineering approaches rather than process for process sake.

Requirements & Product Definition 

• Facilitate the definition and alignment of product requirements together with business, engineering and operational stakeholders.
• Support development of ConOps, mission scenarios and operational concepts.
• Ensure clear traceability and shared understanding of key requirements and system constraints.
• Assess impacts and dependencies of requirement changes across the product.

System Architecture & Product Integration 

• Lead cross-functional discussions to develop and evolve the product architecture.
• Collaborate with subsystem experts to identify integration challenges early and develop practical solutions.
• Support system-level trade-off decisions considering performance, usability, manufacturability, safety, cost and maintainability.
• Drive alignment between avionics, software, mechanical, propulsion, communication and operational concepts.
• Coordinate interface definition and management across teams.

Safety & Reliability 

• Perform and facilitate FHA, FMEA and related safety activities as appropriate.
• Ensure safety insights are reflected in architecture and design decisions.
• Support compliance with relevant regulatory and certification requirements.
• Maintain pragmatic and traceable documentation of key safety decisions.

Technical Leadership & Collaboration 

• Act as a system-level facilitator across engineering disciplines.
• Enable teams to resolve technical conflicts and competing priorities.
• Promote collaboration and transparency across software, hardware, mechanical, operations and flight test teams.
• Identify gaps, risks and integration challenges before they become project issues.
• Take ownership beyond traditional Systems Engineering boundaries when required to enable project success.

Your profile

• Degree in Systems Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Electrical Engineering or related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• Experience leading complex cross-functional engineering activities in multidisciplinary product development environments.
• Strong experience in requirements engineering, architecture development or system integration.
• Strong collaboration, communication and stakeholder management skills.
• Demonstrated ability to align teams and drive decisions in ambiguous situations.
• Pragmatic mindset focused on delivering product outcomes rather than engineering artefacts.
• Strong ownership and willingness to step outside formal role boundaries when needed.
• Fluent English communication skills.

Strong Plus

• Experience in aerospace, UAVs, robotics, automotive, industrial automation, defence, rail or other complex multidisciplinary systems.
• Experience with MBSE methods and tools such as SysML, Cameo or Capella.
• Experience with requirements management tools such as DOORS, Polarion or Jama.
• Experience with ground control station, HMI design or operational workflows.
• Exposure to flight testing, product validation or regulated environments.
• Understanding of production, industrialisation and scaling from prototype to series production.

What we offer

• Opportunity to shape a growing UAV product in a highly collaborative environment.
• High degree of influence on technical decisions across all engineering domains.
• Systems Engineering as an enabling function closely connected to product development and execution.
• Broad exposure to architecture, integration, operations, safety, flight test and product strategy.
• Significant freedom to adapt methods and processes to what works best for the organisation and product.