Lead Engineer, Air

UFORCE; United States; Remote; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

UFORCE seeks a Lead Engineer, Air to own the first Western-facing air product, turning lessons from Ukraine into a reliable, manufacturable system customers can test and reorder.

You will unite engineering, manufacturing, supply chain and field teams around a controlled design, delivering a plan with clear milestones and acceptance criteria. This role remains hands-on, focusing on hardware decisions and proven changes.

Qualifications

• Hands-on experience leading delivery of a complete air vehicle or substantial UAS product.
• Ability to reason across mechanical, electrical, flight-control, communications and software interfaces.
• Experience taking aerial products into repeatable production, including design for manufacture and production testing.
• Track record diagnosing flight or field failures and proving corrective actions through testing.
• Ability to lead and influence through cross-functional teams and partners.

Responsibilities

• Establish product ownership and a delivery plan with clear owners and milestones.
• Create a controlled technical baseline with requirements, BOMs and change control.
• Lead end-to-end systems integration across airframe, propulsion, avionics and ground systems.
• Improve reliability and demonstrate performance through testing and corrective actions.
• Prepare the product for repeatable production with DFm and supplier risk management.
• Enable credible customer trials and define configurations and readiness criteria.
• Translate operator feedback into prioritized product changes with Ukrainian and international teams.
• Identify reusable architecture and set up for broader portfolio growth.

Skills

Hands-on UAS ownership

Systems integration judgement

Prototype-to-production

Reliability and test discipline

Cross-functional leadership

Cost and component judgement

Operational awareness

Startup execution

Clear communication and ownership

Willingness to travel

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 looking for a Lead Engineer, Air to take hands‑on technical ownership of our first Western‑facing air product, turning operational lessons from Ukraine into a reliable, manufacturable system that customers can test, deploy and reorder.

Your initial focus will be one product. You'll bring engineering, manufacturing, supply chain and field teams together around a controlled design and a clear delivery plan, resolving the reliability and integration challenges that stand between today's product and repeatable production.

This is a hands‑on technical leadership role, not a management‑only position. You'll stay close to the hardware, own system‑level engineering decisions and ensure that changes are proven through testing and reflected in what we build.

As our air portfolio expands, there is potential to grow into broader technical leadership, including Chief Engineer, Air. Progression will depend on business need and demonstrated performance, rather than a fixed promotion timetable.

What you’ll do

• Establish product ownership and a delivery plan. In your first 30 days, assess the current design, customer requirements and test evidence with engineering, manufacturing and field teams. Identify the highest‑priority risks and agree a 90‑day plan with clear owners, milestones and acceptance criteria.

• Create a controlled technical baseline. By day 60, establish practical requirements, configuration records, bills of materials, interface definitions and change control so teams know what has been approved, built, tested and deployed.

• Lead end‑to‑end systems integration. Own technical trade‑offs across airframe, propulsion, power, avionics, flight control, communications, navigation, payload interfaces and ground systems, drawing on specialist expertise where needed.

• Improve reliability and demonstrate performance. During the initial three to five months, establish a failure‑reporting and corrective‑action process, address priority failure modes and verify improvements through repeatable ground and flight testing against agreed requirements.

• Prepare the product for repeatable production. Partner with manufacturing and supply chain on design for manufacture, component qualification, approved substitutions and supplier risks. Release a production package covering drawings, BOM, assembly requirements, inspection and acceptance tests, supported by a costed BOM and cost‑reduction priorities.

• Enable credible customer trials and delivery. Define approved configurations, test plans and readiness criteria. Validate capability claims, document operating limits and provide clear engineering input on delivery feasibility, support needs and technical risks.

• Connect operational experience to product development. Work closely with Ukrainian product experts and international teams to preserve field knowledge, manage configuration differences and translate operator and customer feedback into prioritised product changes.

• Build a foundation for portfolio growth. Identify reusable architecture, components and engineering practices, recommend capability and resource needs, and review the scope for broader ownership with leadership as the portfolio develops.

Required Skill

• Hands‑on UAS engineering ownership: Experience leading delivery of a complete air vehicle or substantial integrated UAS product, with clear evidence of your own technical decisions and their impact on flight performance.

• Systems integration judgement: The ability to reason across mechanical, electrical, flight‑control, communications, navigation and software interfaces, and recognise when specialist depth is needed.

• Prototype‑to‑production experience: Meaningful involvement in taking an aerial product into repeatable production, including design for manufacture, configuration control and production testing.

• Reliability and test discipline: A track record of diagnosing flight or field failures, identifying root causes and proving corrective actions through repeatable testing.

• Cross‑functional technical leadership: The ability to set priorities, coordinate engineers and specialist partners, and drive delivery through influence as well as formal authority.

• Cost and component judgement: Practical understanding of how design decisions affect availability, qualification, unit cost, manufacturing quality and applicable sourcing requirements.

• Operational awareness: Understanding of how GNSS denial, jamming, communications resilience and operator feedback influence UAS design and testing.

• Startup execution: Comfort working close to hardware, making decisions with incomplete information and balancing delivery speed with appropriate engineering control.

• Clear communication and ownership: The ability to distinguish demonstrated capability from development goals, explain limitations and escape technical, safety or resource risks early.

• Willingness to travel regularly to engineering teams, manufacturing sites, test ranges and customers.

Nice to Have

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

• Experience adapting products for Western defence customers.

• Familiarity with applicable NDAA, Blue UAS and export‑control requirements.

• Experience supporting customer trials, military qualification or airworthiness activity.

• Experience with payload integration or payload‑release systems.

• 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?