Drone Jobs

National Crime Agency · Gillingham · £47,049 pa

Lead drone pilot for the NCA's Technical Operations unmanned vehicle programme, responsible for flight planning and clearances, piloting a range of UAS and USV platforms, and developing innovative technical surveillance capabilities. The role involves training the drone cadre, engaging with the Civil Aviation Authority and suppliers, and acting as subject matter expert on unmanned vehicles.

Flarebright · Bicester · £39,000 – £49,000 pa

Contributes across the full development lifecycle, from concept and algorithm design to system integration, testing and troubleshooting of safety-critical navigation and autonomy software in C++. Works with a multidisciplinary team on real-time embedded systems, hardware/software-in-the-loop testing and flight test activities, producing design documentation and test reports.

Leonardo · Edinburgh

Designs, develops and verifies navigation systems and algorithms for airborne, maritime and land platforms, covering sensor fusion, state estimation and PNT solutions for contested environments. Works across the full engineering lifecycle, from concept and modelling to integration, verification and customer support, using MATLAB/Simulink and Kalman filtering techniques within a multidisciplinary, multi-national team.

Leonardo · Yeovil

Develops high-integrity real-time mission management software for both legacy manned helicopters and emerging uncrewed autonomous platforms. Works across UML modelling, Ada95/C/C++ implementation, DOORS requirements traceability, and hardware-in-the-loop integration, while navigating DO-178C certification and open architecture standards like FACE/MOSA.

Windracers · Fareham

Take technical ownership of powerplant and propulsion systems for fixed-wing logistics UAVs, covering architecture, integration, testing, production support and operational reliability. Lead design of engines or motors, propellers, mounts and cooling, manage supplier relationships and define verification and validation test strategies including ground, endurance and flight testing.

Empresaria Group plc · Bristol · £50,000 – £80,000 pa

Develops onboard software for uncrewed aerial systems, spanning autopilots, autonomy, payloads and mission-critical subsystems. Works on existing aircraft and clean-sheet designs, taking code from concept and SIL/HIL simulation through to real-world flight testing, with C++ and/or Rust in embedded and real-time environments.

Platform Recruitment · Cambridge · £45,000 – £65,000 pa

Design and develop embedded firmware for advanced radar and sensing systems used in UAV applications. Work across the full product lifecycle in a collaborative, engineering-led environment using C/C++ on STM32 microcontrollers in bare-metal and RTOS environments. Engage in system-level debugging and contribute to software architecture for next-generation sensing technologies.

Rise Technical Recruitment · Witney · £50,000 – £60,000 pa

Design and develop high-integrity embedded software for autonomous aerospace and defence platforms, building runtime safety, monitoring and fail-safe components. Work closely with verification and certification engineers on certifiable architecture supporting DO-178C DAL A/B objectives, with specialist SPARK Ada training provided. Hybrid role with at least three days a week on-site in Witney.

Rise Technical Recruitment · Witney · £50,000 – £60,000 pa

Defines verification strategies and develops test frameworks for safety-critical embedded software, delivering requirements-based V&V, traceability and certification evidence. Applies automated testing, fuzz testing, fault injection and Monte Carlo simulation, with exposure to SPARK Ada and formal methods in an autonomy-assurance team. Hybrid, minimum three days on-site in Witney.

QinetiQ · Ashford

Leads the QinetiQ Target Systems UK business, owning operational performance, financial delivery and strategic growth for aerial targets. Develops product strategies and a UK Centre of Excellence for manufacture and assembly, heading a cross-functional matrix team across engineering and operations. Works within the wider Air Leadership Team and interfaces with international sectors to drive global sales.

Callen Lenz · Salisbury · £50,000 – £60,000 pa

Design and build pixel-perfect, responsive user interfaces for flight control and ground station software, working with React, TypeScript, HTML/CSS and real-time streaming technologies. The role sits in a cross-functional agile team collaborating with UX researchers and designers, contributing to a design system, code reviews and test coverage with Jest, Cypress or RTL.