Autopilot UAV Engineer - ArduPilot & Flight Testing

Callen-Lenz; Salisbury; On-site; GBP 50,000 - 60,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

25 days annual leave

Pension Scheme via Royal London

Company contributed Share Incentive PL

Green Car Scheme

Life assurance (6x salary)

Private Health Insurance

Training & development opportunities

Job summary

Callen-Lenz in Salisbury, UK, seeks an Autopilot Software Engineer to develop and test ArduPilot/PX4 based flight control systems for diverse UAV platforms. You will optimise flight behaviour, assist with sensor integration, and contribute to documentation within an R&D team.

The role requires hands-on autopilot experience, strong C++ skills, and the ability to work independently in a fast-paced environment, with occasional national and international travel.

Qualifications

• Proven hands-on experience with Ardupilot, PX4, or similar open-source autopilot stacks.
• Strong knowledge of MAVLink, mission planning, and UAV communication protocols.
• Practical UAV tuning, flight testing, and log analysis.
• Excellent working knowledge of C++.
• Ability to work independently in a fast-paced R&D environment.

Responsibilities

• Develop, configure, and test Ardupilot-based flight control systems for various UAV platforms.
• Test and optimise flight behaviours, parameters, and mission execution in SITL and real flight environments.
• Support sensor integration (GPS, cameras, LiDAR) and ensure robust flight performance.
• Contribute to documentation, simulation environments, and internal development standards.
• Assist in software requirements capture and documentation; support software architecture.

Skills

ArduPilot

PX4

MAVLink

C++

Flight testing

Autopilot tuning

CAN/SPI/I2C/UDP/TCP

Software development

Linux

PID control

Education

BSc or MSc in Engineering or Science

Tools

ArduPilot

PX4

Mission Planner

MAVProxy

Job description

Callen-Lenz in Salisbury, UK, seeks an Autopilot Software Engineer to develop and test ArduPilot/PX4 based flight control systems for diverse UAV platforms. You will optimise flight behaviour, assist with sensor integration, and contribute to documentation within an R&D team.

The role requires hands-on autopilot experience, strong C++ skills, and the ability to work independently in a fast-paced environment, with occasional national and international travel.