VP, US Engineering

UForce; Greater London; On-site; GBP 148,000 - 238,000; Full time

Job summary

UFORCE, a London-headquartered defence-technology company, is seeking a US VP of Engineering to build and lead the US technical organization and translate US customer needs into engineering priorities.

Reporting to the US CEO, you will drive deployment readiness, define reference architecture, establish ITAR-aware practices, recruit and scale the team, and ensure cybersecurity and compliance across a growing portfolio of battlefield-proven products.

Qualifications

• Proven track record delivering complex technical programs for US DoD customers.
• Hands-on experience leading software deployments, systems integrations and customer-facing engagements.
• Strong systems architecture judgment balancing customer needs with a common product platform.
• Experience translating ITAR, cybersecurity and regulatory requirements into practical architectures.
• Security-first approach with embedded compliance in delivery.
• Experience creating engineering operating rhythms, roadmaps and accountability.
• Proven ability to recruit, develop and lead technical teams with strong culture.
• Clear communication across customers, business leaders and global teams.

Responsibilities

• Lead technical execution for US deployments, exercises, demonstrations and evaluations; in first six months, personally support 3–5 engagements.
• Build repeatable operations: playbooks, guides, checklists and feedback processes.
• Define the US reference architecture including data flows, security boundaries and deployment patterns.
• Establish ITAR-aware practices and identify US-only requirements without splitting the global platform.
• Translate customer feedback into a prioritized US technical roadmap.
• Drive cybersecurity risk mitigation and require release-readiness reviews.
• Collaborate with Global Engineering to ensure learnings inform product improvements.
• Define hiring priorities and scale the US technical organization.

Skills

DoD programs

Software deployments

Systems architecture

ITAR compliance

Security-first engineering

Engineering leadership

Stakeholder communication

Team building

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

We're looking for a US VP of Engineering to build and lead our US technical organization and bring UFORCE's battlefield-proven products to US defense customers.

You'll make our products work in a new operating environment — secure, compliant with US requirements, and ready to deploy and sustain — while keeping them connected to our global platform. Reporting to the US CEO and serving on the Global Technical Leadership Team, you'll partner closely with the Global CTO and Global Engineering to turn US customer needs into engineering priorities.

This is a hands-on leadership role, not a position overseeing an established team. For the first 6–12 months, you'll personally support customer deployments, military exercises, software integrations and on-premises installations. As the business grows, you'll recruit the deployment engineers, mission engineers, product engineers and technical program managers who will scale that work.

What you'll do

• Lead technical execution for US customer deployments, exercises, demonstrations and evaluations, serving as the senior technical escalation point. In your first six months, personally support 3–5 deployments or technical engagements.

• Turn early deployments into a repeatable operation: build playbooks, troubleshooting guides, integration checklists and feedback processes that reduce reliance on ad hoc support from Global Engineering.

• Define the US reference architecture, including systems, data flows, security boundaries, deployment patterns, manufacturing interfaces and sustainment needs.

• Establish ITAR-aware engineering practices and identify US-only requirements, working with Global Engineering and US leadership to meet regional obligations without unnecessarily splitting the global platform.

• Translate customer feedback and field experience into a prioritized US technical roadmap, balancing customer impact, business priorities, engineering capacity and delivery risk.

• Put architecture, security and release-readiness reviews into practice, document technical decisions, and drive cybersecurity risks to resolution or approved mitigation plans.

• Build a regular working rhythm with Global Engineering so US customer learnings lead to timely decisions and shared product improvements.

• Design and build the US technical organization: define hiring priorities, recruit and develop technical talent, and establish clear ownership, performance standards and escalation paths. Grow the team's capacity to support multiple customer programs concurrently.

Required Skills

• A track record of delivering complex technical programs for US Department of Defense customers, with an understanding of defense acquisition, security, compliance and operational constraints.

• Hands-on experience leading software deployments, systems integrations, troubleshooting and customer-facing technical engagements — and a willingness to do that work yourself while building the team.

• Strong systems architecture judgment, including defining data and security boundaries and balancing customer-specific requirements with a common product platform.

• Experience translating ITAR, cybersecurity and regulatory requirements into practical engineering architectures and operating practices.

• A security-first approach to engineering, with documentation and compliance evidence built into delivery rather than added at the end.

• Experience establishing engineering operating rhythms, roadmap priorities, review processes and delivery accountability in an evolving organization.

• Demonstrated ability to recruit, develop and lead technical teams, with clear expectations and a strong engineering culture.

• Clear communication across customers, business leaders and global engineering teams, including the ability to explain tradeoffs, resolve competing priorities and turn operational feedback into product decisions.

Nice to have

• Experience bringing an international technology platform into the US defense market while preserving shared architecture and engineering standards.

• Experience delivering integrated hardware-and-software systems in operational or field environments.

• Familiarity with manufacturing readiness, including testability, provisioning and configuration control.

• Experience building sustainment capabilities, including support tooling, documentation and long-term operational processes.

• Experience developing technical partnerships with primes, vendors or labs while protecting intellectual property.

The nature of combat has changed.

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

And UFORCE is ready.

Are You?