Copello Global
Senior Mechanical Engineer
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Senior Mechanical Engineer – Aerospace & Defence - Bristol - £50,000-£60,000
Design the Systems That Make the Mission Possible
Are you a Senior Mechanical Engineer looking for more ownership, more variety and the opportunity to work on technology that actually gets into the air? Join an innovative aerospace and defence engineering team developing tactical uncrewed aircraft, avionics and mission systems.
You’ll own mechanical design for critical avionics and payload installations, taking hardware from early concept through qualification and into production. The programmes move quickly. Designs can go from CAD to flying hardware in months, giving you rapid feedback and the opportunity to see the direct impact of your engineering decisions.
A Role Beyond Traditional Mechanical Design
This is a broad engineering role where mechanical, thermal and electrical considerations come together. You’ll be responsible for:
- Designing avionics and payload installations, airframe components and mechanisms in SolidWorks.
- Owning models, drawings and design packs through the product lifecycle.
- Designing thermal management solutions for high-power electronics, including heatsinks, ducting, fans and interface materials.
- Designing installations with harness routing, connector access, grounding and serviceability in mind.
- Developing sealing and environmental protection for maritime and extreme climate operations.
- Supporting qualification testing across vibration, shock, temperature, altitude, humidity and salt exposure.
- Managing mechanical interfaces with electrical, systems and aerodynamics teams.
- Working with suppliers and manufacturing on machining, additive manufacturing and composites.
- Supporting design reviews and producing analysis and test documentation.
- Providing guidance and technical support to engineers earlier in their careers.
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What You’ll Bring
- Degree in Mechanical or Aerospace Engineering.
- Around 4–8 years' mechanical design experience, ideally within aerospace, defence or another demanding engineering environment.
- Experience taking hardware through environmental qualification and testing.
- Experience with low-to-medium volume manufacturing, including machining, additive manufacturing and/or composites.
- Ability to use structural or thermal FEA/CFD for initial analysis.
- Strong SolidWorks and engineering drawing experience; GD&T knowledge is beneficial.
- An interest in working across mechanical, thermal and electrical interfaces rather than being limited to a single discipline.
- A practical approach to engineering, with the ability to hand-calculate and sanity-check designs before turning to simulation.
- The confidence to make decisions and deliver under changing priorities and tight timescales.
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Why This Role?
This is an opportunity to work on innovative technology at the pace of a growing aerospace and defence programme. You’ll get:
- Genuine design ownership from concept through to flight and production.
- The chance to work on tactical uncrewed aircraft and advanced mission systems.
- Exposure to challenging problems in thermal management, environmental protection, vibration and integration.
- A broad engineering remit rather than a narrowly defined mechanical role.
- The opportunity to see your designs built, tested and flown within months.
- Collaboration with engineering teams across the UK and Portugal.
- Opportunities to develop your technical expertise and support the development of other engineers.
- Competitive salary + discretionary annual bonus.
- Pension contribution of up to 10%.
- 25 days holiday + Bank Holidays.
- Private Medical Insurance and wellbeing support.
- Flexible hybrid working from Bristol.
- Opportunities for national and international travel.
For further information and to apply please contact Victoria at Copello on 07341347640 and email Victoria@copello.co.uk
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