Advanced Design & Release Engineer

Our Mission

At Vertical Aerospace, we are pioneering the way for electric aviation. The Valo, our eVTOL (electric, vertical, take-off and landing), 'zero emissions' aircraft will set a new safety standard for how we will navigate the sky.

We won't realise our mission following the same legacy processes and traditions our predecessors followed, instead, we want to 'redefine' aerospace best practices. We are growing quickly from a prototype business to a scaling SME, and the next few years will be critical to our success and delivering on our ambitious goals. Valo is targeting airliner-level safety certification in 2028 ahead of entering service with our airline and operator customers.

What to Expect

As an Advanced Design & Release Engineer, you will play a key role in taking engineering designs from concept through to fully released, production-ready hardware. You will work closely with design, manufacturing, quality and supply chain teams to ensure robust, traceable and certifiable design release.

This role sits at the heart of our engineering delivery, ensuring that designs are mature, well-documented and ready to support prototype builds, testing and certification activity.

A typical day could involve progressing designs through release gates, reviewing and approving drawings, supporting manufacturing with design intent clarification, or improving design and release processes across the team.

This role is ideal for an engineer who enjoys ownership, attention to detail, and working across functions to deliver high-quality engineering output.

What You’ll Do

• Own the design and release of mechanical components and assemblies for the VX4 aircraft

• Progress designs through formal release processes, ensuring quality, traceability and compliance

• Prepare, review and approve engineering drawings, models and associated documentation

• Support handover of designs into manufacturing, resolving queries and incorporating feedback

• Work closely with manufacturing, quality and supply chain teams during build and integration

• Ensure designs meet requirements for certification, test and production readiness

• Support continuous improvement of design and release processes, tools and standards

• Use PLM systems to manage configuration, change control and release status

What You’ll Bring

• Strong mechanical design experience within a regulated engineering environment

• Proven experience taking designs through formal release into manufacturing

• Strong understanding of drawing standards, tolerancing and design best practice

• Experience reviewing and signing off engineering drawings and documentation

• Familiarity with PLM systems and configuration control processes

• Ability to work cross-functionally with manufacturing, quality and supply chain teams

• Comfortable working in fast-paced development environments with evolving processes

• Degree in Mechanical, Aerospace or a related engineering discipline

Desirable:

• Experience in aerospace, automotive, motorsport or similarly regulated industries

• Familiarity with CATIA and Dassault 3DX

• Knowledge of DFMEA, GD&T (ISO GPS / BS8888)

• Experience supporting prototype builds and early production phases

#LI-AH1

What can you expect from us?

We're on a mission. Where others see limits, we see opportunity, and we work at pace. Working at Vertical isn't your average role but for those seeking a challenge, a flexible, supportive organisation and an incredible team; working here is an opportunity to do the best work of your career.

Our approach promotes ingenuity and courage, while our environment builds success through diligence in safety and being open in the way we work. The only way we're going to assure the next chapter of aviation history is by working as a team, relentlessly, towards our goal. 

Our benefits

Our people matter - we're not going anywhere without them. Which is why our company benefits go beyond the essentials.

• 26 days holiday, plus bank holiday

• 5 extra days per year to buy (or sell)

• 5 extra days holiday when you get married or enter a civil partnership

• Additional 4% of your salary to spend on extra benefits

• Award-winning digital health and wellbeing service (Help@Hand)

• Company performance based bonus - rewarding company and individual performance

• Company Share Scheme - open to every Vertical employee

• Company Pension Scheme - 5% and we match it

• Breakfast on us, every day

We may just be the hardest job you've ever had, but we're confident it will be the most rewarding. Join the team today and help us shape the future of Advanced Air Mobility.

Disclaimer Statement

We encourage you to apply even if you may not have all the experience listed in the advert. We recognise that talent comes in various forms and we are committed to providing opportunities that create an environment of growth, diversity, and inclusion for everyone. As part of our desire to review and make our processes fair, we may ask you questions related to these aspects during the application process. For more information on how we will use your data, see our Legal section.