About the job
Our Vision
At Vertical Aerospace, we are at the forefront of transforming electric aviation. Our groundbreaking eVTOL (electric, vertical take-off and landing) aircraft, the Valo, is designed to establish new safety benchmarks for aerial navigation, all while achieving zero emissions.
We are committed to breaking away from traditional aerospace practices. As we transition from a prototype-focused company to a rapidly growing SME, the upcoming years are pivotal for our success and for realizing our ambitious objectives. The Valo aims to achieve airliner-level safety certification by 2028, paving the way for service with our airline and operator partners.
Your Role
As a Principal Flight Control Laws Engineer, you will lead the design, development, and validation of advanced, certifiable control laws for the Valo aircraft, ensuring optimal performance across all flight scenarios.
You will manage the non-linear dynamic inversion control law work-stream, guaranteeing a smooth transition through various flight modes—from thrustborne to wingborne—whilst delivering fault-tolerant, safety-critical flight control capabilities. Your role will involve collaboration across multiple teams and suppliers, setting the technical vision, promoting rigorous standards, and representing our control laws both internally and externally.
Key Responsibilities
Spearhead the architecture, development, implementation, and optimization of non-linear dynamic inversion control laws for a fly-by-wire eVTOL.
Ensure that control laws achieve performance, robustness, and safety targets across all flight modes and in failure scenarios.
Establish the control-law architecture, tuning strategy, and model-based approach to implementation.
Collaborate with Flight Control Systems, Actuation, and Control Law teams to guarantee seamless requirements integration and interface definitions.
Assist in integrating control laws within the flight control computer framework, simulation, and testing environments.
Define and manage verification strategies, including piloted simulation, hardware-in-the-loop, and flight test correlation.
Ensure compliance with certification requirements, aligned with CAA/EASA SC.VTOL, ARP 4754B, DO-178C/DO-331.
Provide technical leadership and mentorship to engineers within the Flight Control Laws team.
Act as the primary technical point of contact during reviews, liaising with certification authorities and suppliers.