Certo Aerospace Ltd
Flight Test Engineer
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Flight Test Engineer / Pilot
Rotary Wing UAVs | Heavy Lift Aircraft | Defence & Aerospace
Frome, Somerset (On-site) £32,000-£45,000 DOE (9 Day Fortnight)
Help shape the future of heavy-lift autonomous aviation.
Most Flight Test roles involve following somebody else's procedures. This isn't one of them.
Certo Aerospace is developing one of the UK's most capable heavy-lift rotary-wing UAV platforms, designed to transport meaningful payloads over long distances in some of the world's most demanding environments.
From mechanical design and aircraft integration through to flight testing and operational deployment, everything is developed in-house by a small, highly collaborative engineering team.
As Certo continues to grow, we're looking for Flight Test Engineers at multiple levels to help build and expand our flight test capability.
Whether you're early in your career with strong practical engineering skills or an experienced Flight Test Engineer with regulatory and safety experience, we'd love to hear from you.
The Role
This is a varied role combining practical engineering, flight operations and technical planning.
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You'll be involved throughout the entire testing lifecycle, including:
- Planning and coordinating ground and flight test programmes
- Conducting aircraft ground and flight testing across the UK and overseas
- Producing flight test plans and technical documentation
- Developing new test methods, rigs and equipment
- Capturing and analysing flight test data
- Producing technical reports and recommendations
- Creating and maintaining risk assessments
- Supporting NOTAMs, permissions and regulatory compliance
- Supporting SORA applications and CAA requirements
- Working closely with Design Engineers and Workshop Technicians to prepare aircraft for testing
Who We're Looking For
We're far more interested in attitude and engineering capability than ticking every box.
You'll probably have experience in areas such as:
- Flight Test Engineering
- Rotary-wing aviation
- Helicopters
- UAVs / UAS
- Experimental aircraft
- Aerospace engineering
- Defence programmes
- Aircraft maintenance or integration
- Systems test or validation
Experience with CAA regulations, SORA, flight safety or regulatory documentation would be advantageous, although training can be provided.
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Rotary-wing experience is key.
We're specifically interested in candidates with experience around rotary-wing aircraft or rotary-wing UAV systems.
This could include Helicoptors, Heavy Lift-UAVs, Rotary Unanned Aircraft, Large-scale RC Helicopters used professionally, Military Rotary platforms. This role is not aimed at commercial drone operators with experience on DJI platyforms (for example).
We also have opportunities for more experienced Flight Test Engineers. These people will be ticking Flight Safety & Flight Authorisation on relevant platforms.
Benefits Package
- £32,000–£45,000 depending on experience
- 9-day fortnight (every other Friday off)
- Private healthcare
- 25 days holiday plus bank holidays
- Holiday purchase scheme
- Company events
- UK & occasional international travel
- Genuine opportunity to influence aircraft development
If you're passionate about rotary-wing aviation, flight testing and advanced aerospace engineering, we'd love to hear from you.
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