Senior Mechanical Engineer

Overview

Senior Mechanical Engineer role focusing on end-to-end mechanical design for avionics and payload installations within a fast-paced aerospace and defence programme. You will own hardware from concept to flight, integrating mechanical, thermal and electrical considerations and collaborating with cross-functional teams to meet rigorous qualification and production timelines. You’ll solve high-power thermal management, sealing, environmental protection and harness installation challenges, delivering robust designs that fly. This role offers hands-on ownership, rapid feedback loops, and opportunities to shape high-impact mission systems on tactical aircraft and platforms.

Pay / Benefits

• competitive salary
• discretionary annual bonus
• pension contribution up to 10%
• 25 days holiday + bank holidays
• private medical insurance
• wellbeing support”,”flexible hybrid working from Bristol”),

Responsibilities

• Design avionics, payload installations and airframe components in SolidWorks
• Own models, drawings and design packs through lifecycle
• Develop thermal management solutions for high-power electronics (heatsinks, ducting, fans, interface materials)
• Design harness routing, grounding and serviceability considerations
• Implement sealing and environmental protection for maritime and extreme climates
• Support qualification testing across vibration, shock, temperature, altitude, humidity and salt exposure
• Coordinate mechanical interfaces with electrical, systems and aerodynamics teams
• Collaborate with suppliers/manufacturing on machining, additive manufacturing and composites
• Contribute to design reviews and produce analyses and test documentation
• Provide guidance to engineers earlier in their careers

Key requirements

• Degree in Mechanical or Aerospace Engineering
• Mechanical design experience in aerospace/defence or similar environment
• Experience taking hardware through environmental qualification and testing
• Experience with machining, additive manufacturing and/or composites
• Ability to use structural or thermal FEA/CFD for initial analysis
• Strong SolidWorks and engineering drawing experience; GD&T knowledge beneficial
• Interest in cross-disciplinary work across mechanical, thermal and electrical interfaces
• Practical approach with hand-calculation and sanity-checks before simulation
• Ability to make decisions and perform under changing priorities and tight timescales

• cross-functional collaboration
• strong decision-making under pressure
• effective communication
• SolidWorks
• GD&T
• FEA/CFD (structural/thermal)

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