Chief Engineer - Air

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 Chief Engineer, Air to lead the engineering of our Western-facing air platforms and turn operational lessons from Ukraine into reliable, manufacturable products that global customers can test, deploy and reorder.

You’ll own the technical baseline across the air portfolio, initially focusing on Platform N and expanding to other platforms sold outside Ukraine. You’ll work closely with Ukrainian engineering teams to understand the wider Nemesis pipeline, translate field experience into product improvements and build a consistent view of configurations and engineering evidence across the portfolio.

This is a hands-on senior technical leadership role. You’ll stay close to the hardware and the field, build a small engineering team, and bring engineering, manufacturing, supply chain and commercial partners together to deliver products at pace without compromising technical rigor.

The role is based in the UK and involves regular travel to engineering teams, manufacturing sites, test ranges and customers. Reporting arrangements and travel expectations will be confirmed during the hiring process.

What you’ll do

• Own the air portfolio’s technical baseline. Establish controlled requirements, configurations, bills of materials and test evidence, starting with Platform N and extending across Western and Ukrainian air platforms. Put clear ownership and practical change control in place.

• Lead end-to-end systems engineering. Make and coordinate technical decisions across airframe, propulsion, power, avionics, flight control, communications, navigation, payload interfaces, software interfaces and ground systems, bringing in specialists where needed.

• Improve reliability and performance. Establish a disciplined failure-reporting and corrective-action process, investigate priority field and test issues, and demonstrate improvements against agreed requirements through repeatable testing.

• Turn operational lessons into product improvements. Work with Ukrainian engineering and field teams to understand what has worked, capture operator feedback and agree a prioritised design-change roadmap for Western variants.

• Build for repeatable production. Lead design-for-manufacture reviews and partner with manufacturing teams to release production-ready engineering packages for US and allied sites.

• Strengthen the supply chain and cost position. Work with supply-chain and compliance partners to assess component sourcing, qualification, capacity and critical supplier risks. Develop a unit-cost roadmap and evaluate where components and systems should be built across UFORCE locations.

• Support go-to-market and customer delivery. Partner with Sales and Business Development on customer requirements, priority markets, product positioning and business cases. Provide technical input on configurations, capability claims, pricing, delivery and support assumptions.

• Prepare for trials and launch. Establish technical readiness gates covering demonstrations, compliance evidence, production readiness and handover to field support. Communicate product capabilities and limitations honestly to customers and test authorities.

• Set the direction and build the team. Work with founders, Ukrainian colleagues and global leadership to develop the air product roadmap. Hire and develop engineers, establish clear ownership and build the practices needed as the function grows.

Required Skill

• Experience leading the design and development of a complete UAS, with personal ownership of system-level technical decisions and demonstrated flight or field outcomes.

• Strong systems engineering judgement across airframe, propulsion, power, avionics, flight control, communications, navigation and software interfaces.

• Experience taking an aerial or comparable electromechanical product from prototype into repeatable production, including design for manufacture, configuration control and production testing.

• A track record of investigating field failures, identifying root causes and measurably improving reliability through verified corrective actions.

• Practical experience with applicable NDAA / Blue UAS sourcing requirements, restricted components and export-control considerations, including qualification or re-sourcing decisions.

• Understanding of how contested operating conditions, including GNSS denial, jamming and communications resilience, influence product requirements and testing.

• Experience supporting customer trials, competitions or tenders and communicating technical capabilities, limitations and risks to customers or test authorities.

• Experience hiring or developing engineers and leading multidisciplinary teams across organisational and geographic boundaries.

• Sound judgement on cost, performance, production readiness and supplier trade-offs, with the ability to make decisions in an evolving startup environment.

• A hands-on approach, clear communication and the ability to balance speed with appropriate engineering discipline.

• 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 with military or Ministry of Defence contracts.

• Experience with military or civil airworthiness, qualification or certification.

• Experience with payload integration or payload-release systems.

• Experience coordinating engineering and manufacturing across multiple countries.

The nature of combat has changed.

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

And UFORCE is ready.

Are You?