Founding Controls & Aerospace Engineer

Founding Controls / Aerospace Engineer ?? Swindon-based with regular travel to Kyiv | ?? Full-time ?? Up to £70,000 3% equity | Travel, housing & training covered Build tech that saves lives. I've partnered with an exciting mission led start-up. They're prototyping a solution that will directly save lives by fighting back against unmanned drone attacks. Their early in the journey, they have a mission, small team and basic prototype that they are still iterating. You'll be part of every aspect of design & development to bring this product to life over the next 6 months and production over the next 12 months. They're building hand-launched micro-missiles to intercept drones at short range, small enough to fit in a vest, affordable enough for wide use, and fast enough to matter. Working directly with Ukrainian brigades and testing at a private UK site to build real hardware that stops drones from killing civilians. We're now looking for a Founding Controls / Aerospace Engineer to join the core team. You'll lead the development of control algorithms, flight surfaces, and onboard system behaviour from simulation environments to hardware-in-the-loop and live-fire field testing. ?? What you'll do: Design and implement control algorithms for fin-guided flight Simulate and optimize aerodynamic surfaces and system dynamics Integrate sensors, actuators, and flight control hardware Build and run software- and hardware-in-the-loop setups Work with the full engineering team to test, tune, and iterate in the field ? What we're looking for: Experience building control systems for missiles, UAVs, drones or similar Deep understanding of control theory, flight dynamics, and real-time systems Experience with simulation tools (e.g. MATLAB/Simulink, Gazebo, custom tools) Systems thinker with the ability to work across software, hardware, and design teams Citizen of a NATO country or Ukraine Willing to work on-site in Swindon and travel to Kyiv for field work Bonus points for: Electrical, embedded systems, or computer vision experience Background in startup, rapid prototyping, or defence innovation Previous experience with missile, rocket or guided flight systems ?? Why join? Impact - Build frontline tech to save lives Ownership - We're still prototyping, you can be a huge part of the design journey Team - Work with experts from Stanford, Imperial, & special forces Support - Salary, all travel expenses 3% equity, any training covered This is not a research role. This is building, testing, iterating - fast. If you're an engineering whizz, ambitious, love a challenge and want your work to have some real-world impact that you can be proud of. Apply or give me a call. Spectrum IT Recruitment (South) Limited is acting as an Employment Agency in relation to this vacancy.

Location: Swindon, South West, GB

Posted Date: 8/3/2025