UAV Concept Design Engineer – Sizing & Trade Studies

Saab AB; Great Denham; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

30 days annual leave

Workplace pension with 8% companycon‑

Private medical insurance

Group income protection

Death in service insurance

Share matching scheme (up to 5%)

Enhanced maternity/adoption & paternit

Job summary

Saab UK is seeking a UAV Design Engineer to own aircraft sizing and early-stage conceptual design. You will turn requirements and CONOPS into sized, analysed air vehicle concepts through rapid trade studies and iterative design loops.

You will develop parametric geometry, integrate propulsion concepts, and synthesize flight-test data to validate models while collaborating with a multidisciplinary team. SC clearance is required.

Qualifications

• Aircraft sizing, constraint analysis, weight and mission/energy sizing.
• Hands-on with conceptual/preliminary design tools (OpenVSP, RCAIDE, AVL, XFLR5, Datcom).
• Scripting in Python or similar for analysis and automation.
• Experience synthesising flight-test/telemetry data to calibrate models.
• Understanding full conceptual design loop: geometry, aerodynamics, weights, propulsion, mission performance.

Responsibilities

• Explore design trade space early and iterate geometry, aerodynamics, weights and propulsion.
• Perform aircraft conceptual sizing and constraint analysis to define feasible points for UAV concepts.
• Develop parametric air vehicle geometry and drive it through the analysis loop; generate core outputs.
• Run trade studies and design-space exploration; communicate design risk and mitigation.

Skills

Aircraft sizing

UAV conceptual design

Python scripting

Trade studies

Data-driven validation

Problem solving

Tools

OpenVSP

RCAIDE

AVL

XFLR5

Datcom

Job description

Saab UK is seeking a UAV Design Engineer to own aircraft sizing and early-stage conceptual design. You will turn requirements and CONOPS into sized, analysed air vehicle concepts through rapid trade studies and iterative design loops.

You will develop parametric geometry, integrate propulsion concepts, and synthesize flight-test data to validate models while collaborating with a multidisciplinary team. SC clearance is required.