Head of Software Engineering

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.

The Head of Software Engineering is accountable for the end-to-end software engineering capability that underpins aircraft development, certification, production, and in-service operations.

This is a senior leadership role responsible for setting technical direction, building scalable engineering capability, and ensuring software platforms, systems, and services are robust, secure, and certification-ready. The role is critical to enabling safe aircraft certification, production ramp-up, and long-term operational performance.

Key Accountabilities

Software Engineering Strategy & Leadership:

• Define and execute the software engineering strategy aligned to certification timelines (2028), production ramp (2030), and long-term commercial sustainability.

• Ensure software engineering priorities are tightly aligned with aircraft programmes and core business objectives.

• Own the software engineering roadmap, balancing speed, quality, safety, and regulatory compliance.

Engineering Delivery & Platform Ownership

• Lead the delivery of software systems supporting engineering, airworthiness, flight test, manufacturing, and operations.

• Establish strong engineering practices across development, testing, deployment, and support.

• Ensure predictable delivery outcomes, effective dependency management, and proactive risk mitigation across the software landscape.

Architecture, Quality & Compliance

• Work closely with Solution Architects and enterprise architecture teams to ensure coherent, scalable, and compliant software designs.

• Ensure software solutions meet certification, safety, cybersecurity, and regulatory requirements.

• Drive high standards for code quality, system reliability, and lifecycle management.

Organisation & Capability Building

• Build and lead a high-performing software engineering organisation across multiple disciplines and domains.

• Define the operating model, engineering standards, tooling, and vendor/partner strategy.

• Develop engineering leadership and talent to support rapid company growth and increasing system complexity.

Stakeholder Partnership & Governance

• Act as a trusted technology partner to Engineering, Airworthiness, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, and Operations leadership.

• Represent software engineering at senior governance forums and contribute to executive-level decision-making.

• Translate complex technical considerations into clear, business-relevant insights.

Skills & Experience

• Senior leadership experience in software engineering or technology roles within complex, regulated, engineering-led environments.

• Proven track record of building and scaling software engineering teams and platforms.

• Strong understanding of software development in safety-critical or certification-driven contexts (aerospace experience highly desirable).

• Credibility at executive level, with the ability to influence across technical and non-technical stakeholders

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.