UAV Concept Engineer

SAAB; Cambridgeshire and Peterborough; On-site; GBP 65,000 - 95,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

30 days annual leave

Workplace pension scheme

Private medical insurance

Death in service insurance

Up to 5% share matching scheme

Enhanced Maternity/Adoption & Paternal

Job summary

Saab UK is seeking a UAV Concept Engineer to join the Concepts team. You will help size and mature next‑generation air vehicle platforms, turning requirements into analysable concepts through rapid trade studies and iterative design loops.

You will synthesize flight-test data, validate models, and contribute to fast, evidence-based design decisions. You will work in a small, multidisciplinary team, collaborating to deliver robust autonomous system concepts and tooling that accelerate development

Qualifications

• Hands-on experience in aircraft sizing, concept-design tooling and improving models using flight-test data.
• Experience in UAV conceptual design, constraint analysis and closing a design point.
• Proficiency with OpenVSP, RCAIDE, AVL, XFLR5, Datcom or equivalent tools.
• Strong aerodynamics understanding and ability to generate/interprete drag polars and lift curves.
• Experience with scripting for automation and data processing (Python or similar).

Responsibilities

• Perform aircraft conceptual sizing and constraint analysis to define design points.
• Develop and morph parametric air vehicle geometry through the analysis loop.
• Produce core conceptual outputs: drag polars, lift curves, weight breakdowns, energy/endurance.
• Run trade studies and design-space exploration for rapid iteration.
• Synthesize flight-test data to validate and improve models.
• Select propulsion concepts and integrate into energy-network analysis.
• Maintain and automate the concept-design toolchain for rapid iteration.
• Capture and communicate design risk for program management.

Skills

aircraft sizing

conceptual design

Python scripting

aerodynamics

flight-test data analysis

team collaboration

design-of-experiments

Tools

OpenVSP

RCAIDE

AVL

XFLR5

PX4 / ArduPilot

Job description

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

What you will be part:

Saab is a leading defence and security company with an enduring purpose, to help nations keep their people and society safe.

Empowered by its 28,000 talented people, Saab constantly pushes the boundaries of technology to create a safer and more sustainable world.

Saab designs, manufactures and maintains advanced systems in aeronautics, weapons, command and control, sensors and underwater systems.

Saab is headquartered in Sweden. It has major operations all over the world and is part of the domestic defence capability of several nations.

The Role:

Blue Bear is a leading autonomy and unmanned systems company. We are continuously innovating within the core area of Autonomy and Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) such as air vehicles, autopilots, navigation solutions, mission systems and ground control stations. We are currently seeking engineers to help conceptualise, size and mature the next generation of our air vehicle platforms.

We are seeking a UAV Concept Engineer to strengthen our early-stage design capability: turning requirements and CONOPS into sized, analysed and testable air vehicle concepts through rapid, iterative trade studies. This role is central to our conceptual design loop, by early exploring design trade space and rapidly iterating through geometry, aerodynamics, weights, propulsion, mission and stability.

A defining part of this role is closing the loop between analysis and reality. You will synthesise data from bench and flight testing, flight logs, telemetry and measured performance and feed it back to correct and improve our conceptual models, sizing methods and surrogates, so each design iteration is grounded in real evidence.

Working as part of the Concepts team, you will bring a proactive, collaborative approach and a passion for fast iteration, sound engineering judgement and building tools and methods that make the whole team faster.

Key Responsibilities:

• Perform aircraft conceptual sizing and constraint analysis (wing loading vs thrust/power-to-weight, weight closure, mission/energy sizing) to define feasible design points for new UAV concepts.
• Develop and morph parametric air vehicle geometry and Outer Mould Line and drive it through the analysis loop, regenerating a concept from a defined parameter set.
• Produce the core conceptual outputs each iteration: drag polars, lift curves, weight breakdowns, mission energy/endurance, static margin, trim and control authority.
• Run trade studies and design-space exploration to make optimisation and sensitivity studies fast enough to explore many designs.
• Synthesise flight-test and bench-test data (flight logs, telemetry, measured aero/propulsion performance) and use it to validate, calibrate and improve conceptual models and sizing methods.
• Select and shape propulsion system concepts and integrate them into mission and energy-network performance analysis.
• Maintain, improve and where appropriate build the concept-design toolchain and automation that underpins rapid iteration (geometry, aero, mission, surrogate and data-processing tools).
• Capture and communicate design risk, where the design is immature or sensitive and feed it into the programme risk register.

Qualifications and skills:

• We are specifically looking for someone with hands-on experience in aircraft sizing, concept-design tooling, and the synthesis of flight-test data to improve models
• Demonstrable experience in aircraft / UAV conceptual design and sizing, constraint analysis, weight and mission/energy sizing, and closing a design point.
• Hands-on experience with conceptual and preliminary design tools such as OpenVSP, RCAIDE, AVL, XFLR5, Datcom or equivalent in-house tools.
• Sound applied aerodynamics knowledge, drag build-up, lift curves, drag polars and the ability to generate and interpret them for design decisions.
• Experience synthesising flight logs / telemetry / test data and using it to validate and improve analytical models (model calibration, correlation to test).
• Strong scripting and analysis skills in Python (or similar) for automation, data processing and building/using design tools.
• Working understanding of the full conceptual design loop: geometry, aerodynamics, weights, propulsion, mission performance and stability & control, and how the disciplines couple.
• Ability to work iteratively, favouring fast, defensible estimates over slow precision at the conceptual stage, and to communicate assumptions and uncertainty clearly.
• Strong problem-solving skills, sound engineering judgement, and a proactive approach to improving methods and tools.
• Ability to work collaboratively across a small, multidisciplinary engineering team.
• Structural analysis, FEA, airframe structural sizing.
• Stability & control analysis, flight dynamics modelling, and handling-qualities assessment.
• Design-of-experiments for sub systems.
• Propulsion sizing and integration of electric, hybrid-electric or gas turbine systems.
• Experience with PX4 / ArduPilot, SITL/HITL simulation, and processing autopilot flight logs (ULog, MAVLink).
• CAD and geometry handling; exporting/meshing surfaces for higher-fidelity aero (panel/CFD).
• Mid- to high-fidelity aero exposure (panel methods such as FlightStream, or RANS CFD) for validating key design points.
• Experience working in safety-critical, regulated or defence environments.
• Ability to gain SC Clearance.

Saab UK Company Benefits:

• 30 days annual leave
• Workplace pension scheme with 8% company contribution
• Private medical insurance
• Death in service insurance
• Up to 5% share matching scheme
• Company enhanced Maternity/Adoption & Paternity leave.
• + Much more

By submitting an application to Saab UK you consent to undertaking workforce screening activities that may include but are not limited to: Baseline Personnel Security checks, National Security Vetting, reference checks, verification of working rights and in all circumstances preferred candidates will be placed through a security interview.

Regardless of whether you value cutting edge technology, creativity or an innovative environment, everyone at Saab contributes to keeping people and society safe.