Autopilot Software Engineer

Windracers Ltd; Park Gate; On-site; GBP 65,000 - 85,000; Full time

Job summary

Windracers Ltd in Fareham is seeking a full-time Autopilot Engineer to develop safety-critical flight control software for autonomous aircraft and model systems on-site with flexible hybrid working.

You will design and implement embedded software in C/C++, work with STM32 MCUs, and contribute to testing from unit tests to flight testing, collaborating inside an agile team to deliver reliable, real-world performance.

Qualifications

• Experience in software engineering with embedded C/C++.
• Experience backed by passion via projects.
• Strong knowledge of flight mechanics and aerospace control systems.
• Ability to develop behavioural/software logic, not just how to implement.
• Experience with Git in Agile teams.
• Experience with STM32 MCUs and MCU ecosystem.
• Knowledge of CAN, SPI, I2C, UART, PWM, ICU.
• Complementary hardware knowledge for software integration.
• Ability to support testing ecosystem from unit testing to flight testing.
• Willing to go above and beyond to deliver on-time and high quality results.

Responsibilities

• Inputing into requirements capture plus concept and feasibility studies.
• Development of safety critical flight control software to a 100% reliability standard.
• Support with the testing ecosystem from automated unit testing through to flight testing on site.
• Maintaining and flying (as required) the autopilot model aircraft test fleet.
• Support with issue identification, fault finding and debugging.

Skills

Embedded C/C++

STM32 MCUs

Git version control

Flight dynamics knowledge

Testing automation

CAN/SPI/I2C/UART

Agile software team

Debugging

Hardware integration

Education

Degree in Software/Embedded Systems

Tools

IDEs

Debugger tools

MCU development tools

Job description

Role Summary

We are currently recruiting a full-time, permanent Autopilot Engineer based in Fareham, primarily on-site with flexible hybrid working.

Responsibilities

• Inputing into requirements capture plus concept and feasibility studies
• Development of safety critical flight control software to a 100% reliability standard
• Support with the testing ecosystem from automated unit testing through to flight testing on site
• Maintaining and flying (as required) the autopilot model aircraft test fleet
• Support with issue identification, fault finding and debugging

Key Requirements

• Relevant professional relevant experience in software engineering including embedded C/C++
• Professional experience backed up by a passion for the field, evidenced through relevant personal/university projects etc.
• Strong knowledge of mechanics of flight and aerospace control systems including their practical application
• Ability to develop “behavioural/application-level” software (i.e. knowing what to do, not just how to do)
• Ability to use version control (Git) as part of an agile software team and appropriately document work
• Strong ability to use STM32 MCUs and the wider MCU ecosystem (IDEs, compilers, debuggers etc.)
• Knowledge of low-level drivers (CAN, SPI, I2C, UART, PWM, ICU etc.)
• Complementary knowledge of embedded hardware to a standard that allows for software integration onto hardware test rigs etc.
• Ability to support the testing ecosystem from automated unit testing through to flight testing
• Willing to be flexible/go above and beyond to deliver on-time and to “real world” levels of quality and performance

Nice to haves

• Aviation or RC model aircraft background or interest including piloting
• Experience with using/modifying open-source autopilot ecosystem (Betaflight/Ardupilot/PX4/MissionPlanner etc.)