Lead Engineer, Maritime

UFORCE; Greater London; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

UFORCE, headquartered in London, seeks a Lead Engineer, Maritime to take hands-on technical ownership of a maritime product and drive it from prototype to repeatable production, delivering reliable systems for customers.

You will work across engineering, manufacturing, supply chain and field teams, collaborating with Ukrainian and international experts to solve key technical challenges and enable rapid, testable deployments for Western customers.

Qualifications

• Led engineering delivery for a complete unmanned vessel or major maritime product with clear ownership.
• Strong systems integration judgement across mechanical, electrical, propulsion, control, comms, navigation and software.
• Experience taking maritime product from prototype to repeatable production, incl. DFMA and production testing.
• Proven track record investigating sea-trial or field failures and validating corrective actions.
• Ability to lead engineers across disciplines and drive delivery through influence and authority.
• Understand design decisions affect component availability, qualification, cost and manufacturing quality.
• Understand marine conditions, degraded navigation, communications resilience and operator feedback.
• Judge stability, structural and vessel-safety implications and involve specialists.
• Turn incomplete information into clear priorities, sound technical decisions and progress.
• Communicate product capability, limitations, risks and delivery feasibility honestly.
• Hands-on approach with high ownership and balance speed with engineering discipline.
• Willingness to travel regularly to engineering sites, sea-trial sites and customers.

Responsibilities

• Own the product’s technical baseline across hull to control systems.
• Work with naval architecture to maintain stability and safety evidence.
• Translate customer requirements and field feedback into priorities and delivery plan.
• Lead systems integration across mechanical, electrical, marine-control and software interfaces.
• Collaborate with Ukrainian experts and international teams for Western customers.
• Establish configuration and change control across teams.
• Lead failure investigations and verify fixes through testing.
• Demonstrate performance and reliability with test plans and results.
• Partner with manufacturing on design for manufacture and component qualification.
• Release engineering package for repeatable production.
• Provide readiness assessments for customer trials.
• Coordinate engineers and risk management early.
• Identify opportunities to reuse architecture as product range grows.

Skills

Lead engineering delivery

Systems integration judgement

Prototype to production

Root-cause investigation

Cross-disciplinary leadership

Component qualification

Manufacturing quality

Marine conditions understanding

Prioritisation

Communication clarity

Hands-on ownership

Travel willingness

Job description

UFORCE exists to make aggression unaffordable.
Founded in Ukraine and headquartered in London, UFORCE is a defence-technology company with operations across Europe, the United States and Asia.
UFORCE builds uncrewed vessels, ground robotics and aircraft, autonomy software, and the command-and-control layer that operates them together. Each platform is deployable on its own, and stronger as part of the system. Its product lines include the MAGURA family of uncrewed surface vessels, the NEMESIS family of strike platforms, the LIUT family of ground robotic platforms, and counter-UAS systems.

About the role

UFORCE is growing rapidly, and we’re looking for a Lead Engineer, Maritime to take hands‑on technical ownership of a maritime product and help turn operational lessons from Ukraine into a reliable, manufacturable system that customers can test, deploy and reorder.

You’ll initially focus on one product, working across engineering, manufacturing, supply chain and field teams to solve the most important technical problems and take it from its current configuration to repeatable production and customer delivery.

This is a hands‑on engineering leadership role, not a management‑only position. You’ll stay close to the hardware, lead system‑level trade‑offs, investigate failures and make sure design changes are supported by test evidence and reflected in what we build.

We’re looking for someone who combines strong maritime engineering judgement with the ability to bring people together and deliver at pace. As UFORCE’s maritime portfolio expands, there is potential to grow into broader technical leadership, including Chief Engineer, Maritime, based on business need and demonstrated performance.

What you’ll do

• Own the product’s technical baseline across hull, propulsion, power, onboard electronics, control, communications, navigation, payload interfaces and control systems.

• Work with naval architecture and marine engineering specialists to maintain the stability, structural, weight and safety evidence supporting the product configuration.

• Translate customer requirements, operator feedback and field experience into clear engineering priorities and an executable delivery plan.

• Lead technical trade‑offs and systems integration across mechanical, electrical, marine‑control and software interfaces.

• Work closely with Ukrainian product experts and international engineering teams to preserve operational knowledge and develop the product for Western customers.

• Establish practical requirements, configuration and change control so engineering, manufacturing and field teams work from a consistent, approved design.

• Lead failure investigation, root‑cause analysis and corrective action, verifying fixes through repeatable bench, dockside and sea testing.

• Demonstrate product performance and reliability through clear test plans, measured results and documented operating limits.

• Partner with manufacturing and supply chain on design for manufacture, component qualification, approved substitutions, cost and production readiness.

• Release the engineering package needed for repeatable production, including drawings, bills of materials, assembly requirements and acceptance tests.

• Provide technical readiness assessments for customer trials and demonstrations, distinguishing proven capability from development goals.

• Coordinate engineers and specialist partners, make ownership clear and elevate technical, safety or resource risks early.

• Identify opportunities to reuse architecture, components and engineering practices as the maritime product range grows.

Required Skill

• Experience personally leading engineering delivery for a complete uncrewed vessel or substantial integrated maritime product, with clear ownership of technical decisions and outcomes.

• Strong systems integration judgement across mechanical, electrical, propulsion, control, communications, navigation and software interfaces.

• Experience taking a maritime product from prototype towards repeatable production, including design for manufacture, configuration control and production test.

• A track record of investigating sea‑trial or field failures, identifying root causes and proving corrective actions through testing.

• The ability to lead engineers across disciplines and drive delivery through influence as well as formal authority.

• Practical understanding of how design decisions affect component availability, qualification, unit cost and manufacturing quality.

• An understanding of how marine conditions, degraded navigation, communications resilience and operator feedback affect vessel design and testing.

• The judgement to recognize stability, structural and vessel‑safety implications and involve the appropriate technical specialists.

• The ability to turn incomplete information into clear priorities, sound technical decisions and measurable progress.

• Clear, honest communication about product capability, limitations, risks and delivery feasibility.

• A hands‑on approach, high ownership and the judgement to balance speed with appropriate engineering discipline.

• Willingness to travel regularly to engineering teams, manufacturing sites, sea‑trial sites and customers.

Nice to Have

• Direct experience working with Ukrainian maritime teams, products or operators.

• Experience adapting products for Western defence customers.

• Familiarity with applicable defence sourcing restrictions and export‑control requirements.

• Experience supporting customer sea trials, military qualification, vessel classification or marine assurance activity.

• Experience with naval architecture, high‑speed craft, marine autonomy, USVs / UUVs or mission‑payload integration.

• Experience coordinating engineering and manufacturing across countries.

• Evidence of growing from hands‑on product ownership into broader technical leadership.

The nature of combat has changed.

Tomorrow’s battlefield success depends on autonomy, speed, and adaptability.

And UFORCE is ready.

Are You?