Flight Control / Autopilot Stack Engineer

Location: UK (Hybrid / Onsite depending on programme needs)

Salary: £50,000–£70,000

Type: Permanent

The Opportunity

We’re hiring a Flight Control / Autopilot Stack Engineer to join a team building advanced autonomous UAV systems for real-world drone applications.

This is a highly practical engineering role focused on developing, tuning and improving flight control software for multi-rotor and UAV platforms. We’re looking for someone who has worked directly with open-source autopilot ecosystems such as ArduPilot / PX4 / Pixhawk, and who understands how to translate control theory into robust, field-proven flight performance.

You’ll be involved in the development of autopilot features, control logic, system integration and vehicle tuning, working closely with hardware, embedded software and test teams to deliver reliable autonomous flight capability.

This role would suit a mid-level engineer who is still very hands-on — someone who has been writing code, tuning aircraft, and solving real flight behaviour issues on actual UAV platforms.

What You’ll Be Doing

• Develop and maintain software for UAV flight control and autopilot systems
• Work directly with open-source autopilot stacks such as ArduPilot, PX4 and Pixhawk-based systems
• Design, implement and refine flight control logic for multi-rotor and autonomous drone platforms
• Support systems control activities including controller development, tuning and flight behaviour optimisation
• Carry out PID/control loop tuning and performance validation for quadcopters and other UAV configurations
• Integrate autopilot software with onboard systems including:
• sensors / IMUs / GPS
• ESCs / motors / power systems
• companion computers
• telemetry and comms links
• Support autonomous flight behaviours, navigation modes and mission execution
• Troubleshoot flight anomalies, instability, vibration effects, sensor noise, failsafe behaviour and degraded performance
• Work closely with flight test and hardware teams to validate software in simulation, bench testing and live flight environments
• Contribute to improvements in:
• flight stability
• control responsiveness
• navigation robustness
• safety / failsafe behaviour
• mission reliability
• Support documentation, configuration control and release processes for flight software

What We’re Looking For

Essential Experience

• Commercial experience developing software for UAVs / drones / autonomous aerial systems
• Strong hands-on experience with ArduPilot, PX4 and/or Pixhawk-based autopilot environments
• Solid understanding of flight control systems and systems control fundamentals
• Proven experience tuning quadcopters and ideally other UAV platforms (e.g. VTOL, fixed-wing, hybrid systems)
• Experience working on real aircraft rather than purely simulated or academic control models
• Good embedded / low-level software capability, ideally in C++ and/or C
• Understanding of sensor integration and state estimation concepts relevant to UAVs
• Experience debugging and improving real-world flight performance issues
• Comfortable working across software, hardware and test in a practical development environment

Highly Desirable

• Experience with MAVLink, ground control stations and telemetry systems
• Exposure to EKF tuning, estimator behaviour and sensor fusion
• Experience with ROS / ROS2 or companion computer integration
• Familiarity with autonomous mission logic, waypoint navigation and higher-level flight behaviours
• Experience with SITL / HIL simulation
• Exposure to fixed-wing, VTOL or hybrid UAV control systems
• Experience in defence, aerospace, robotics or safety-critical autonomous systems

Technical Skills

• C / C++ for embedded or autopilot software development
• ArduPilot / PX4 / Pixhawk ecosystem knowledge
• Control systems / PID tuning / flight dynamics fundamentals
• UAV sensor and actuator integration
• Flight test debugging and performance optimisation
• Git / version control / structured engineering workflows
• Simulation and test tools for UAV development (desirable)

What Success Looks Like in This Role

• You can take ownership of autopilot and flight control software tasks and improve real vehicle behaviour
• You understand the difference between theory and what actually happens in the air
• You’ve personally tuned aircraft and can explain what you changed, why, and what the outcome was
• You can work effectively with both software and hardware engineers
• You’re comfortable diagnosing instability, poor tracking, oscillation, estimator issues or degraded control response
• You enjoy building systems that work reliably in the field, not just in simulation

Why Join

• Work on genuinely advanced autonomous drone systems
• High ownership and direct impact on flight performance
• Opportunity to work across the full stack of autopilot, controls, integration and testing
• Build technology that moves from engineering into real operational deployment
• Strong fit for engineers who want to stay hands-on and close to the aircraft