Senior System Engineer

About the role

AirQo is seeking an experienced Senior Systems Engineer to lead the technical development of its Cargo 200 and Cargo 40 VTOL cargo UAV programmes. The role will own system‑level requirements, architecture, budgets and verification activities, working closely with mechanical, avionics and software teams and reporting to the VP of R&D.

Key responsibilities

• Define and manage system requirements, decompose them into subsystem and interface requirements, and maintain traceability.
• Lead system architecture studies, evaluate propulsion, energy and VTOL configurations, and control internal and external interfaces.
• Establish and monitor mass, centre‑of‑gravity, power and energy budgets for payloads up to 200 kg.
• Conduct safety analyses (FHA, FMEA/FMECA, FTA) and translate findings into redundancy and failsafe requirements.
• Plan and execute verification & validation, including component testing, SIL/HIL, tethered and free‑flight tests, and act as system‑level flight test engineer.
• Support airworthiness case development with UAE GCAA and applicable military standards, and lead technical design reviews.

Required profile

• Bachelor’s or Master’s in Aerospace, Mechanical, Electrical, Mechatronics or Systems Engineering.
• Minimum 7 years of engineering experience, including at least 3 years in systems engineering on aircraft or UAV programmes.
• Proven experience taking a programme from concept through flight test or field deployment.
• Fluent English and willingness to relocate to Abu Dhabi.

Required skills

• Systems engineering processes (ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288, INCOSE practices).
• Functional Hazard Assessment (FHA), FMEA/FMECA, Fault Tree Analysis (FTA).
• VTOL aircraft‑level performance analysis.
• MATLAB and Python for modelling and data analysis.
• Requirements management tools (DOORS, Jama, Polarion).
• Flight‑control integration (PX4, ArduPilot) and SIL/HIL testing.
• Model‑Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) with SysML, Cameo, Enterprise Architect or Capella.