Senior Flight Physics Engineer

Location: Farnborough

Contract Type: Full Time, Permanent

Hours: 37 – Hybrid

AALTO, a global leader in Stratospace. Based in Farnborough, AALTO is an Airbus subsidiary that manufactures, operates, and delivers services with its solar-powered, stratospheric platform: Zephyr.

Zephyr’s persistence enables continuous flight for months at a time. Its current flight-time record of over 67 days in the stratosphere. From above 60,000+ft, or 20km above ground, AALTO can deliver several applications including direct-to-device connectivity and high-resolution Earth observation.

AALTO operates in a new operational layer between most of air traffic and low-Earth orbit, Stratospace. This is where high-altitude platforms led by Zephyr deliver services to commercial and government partners. We can help monitor environments, observe borders, track natural disasters and connect unconnected communities.

Join us as we create a new domain of aerospace: Stratospace. You’ll be part of a highly-skilled, innovative and passionate group of people – Team AALTO. Together, we can Unlock Stratospace.

About The Role

As a Senior Flight Physics Engineer, you will take a leading role in shaping the performance, stability, controllability and safe operation of the Zephyr HAPS platform. Working across aerodynamics, flight dynamics, flight control laws, flight loads and simulation, you will turn complex engineering challenges into robust, certifiable solutions that support the continued evolution of an innovative, high-altitude autonomous aircraft.

This is a senior opportunity for an experienced aerospace engineer who is confident operating at the interface of analysis, design, software, flight test and certification. You will support the development and validation of flight physics capability for Zephyr, with particular focus on stability and control, flight control systems, guidance, navigation and control, flight dynamics modelling and flight test evidence.

You will work closely with software, avionics, systems, test and wider engineering teams to define requirements, mature architectures, assess performance and support safe flight test progression. The role suits someone who enjoys technical ownership, thrives in a fast-moving environment and can bring both deep subject matter expertise and practical engineering judgement to a highly collaborative team.

Responsibilities to include:

As part of the Flight Physics team, you will be expected to provide senior-level technical contribution and practical engineering support across activities including:

· Lead the derivation, review and management of flight physics, flight control and system-level requirements, ensuring clear traceability from stakeholder needs through to verification evidence.

· Define, develop and refine flight control laws, automation algorithms and GNC architectures for autonomous high-altitude flight operations.

· Identify failure modes, assess handling qualities and develop robust contingency strategies that protect aircraft safety and mission continuity.

· Translate complex engineering intent into high-quality software and system requirements that are precise, testable and suitable for implementation by software and avionics teams.

· Manage interface and allocation requirements across onboard systems, ensuring flight physics assumptions and constraints are clearly understood across disciplines.

· Plan, support and analyse flight tests required for envelope expansion, stability and control validation, performance assessment and safe progression of test campaigns.

· Build, maintain and run flight dynamics simulation models, including MATLAB and Simulink-based analysis, to support design decisions, verification activity and flight test readiness.

· Analyse flight test telemetry and simulation outputs to identify trends, validate models, resolve anomalies and recommend practical engineering actions.

· Provide technical leadership within defined work packages, actively driving deliverables, managing technical risk and supporting delivery to agreed quality, cost and schedule targets.

· Collaborate with internal subject matter experts and wider engineering stakeholders, and support overseas flight trials when required.

Skills and Knowledge Required

· Degree or Master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering, Aeronautical Engineering, Control Engineering, Physics, Mathematics or a closely related discipline.

· Significant experience in flight dynamics, stability and control, flight control systems or GNC within aerospace, aviation, autonomous aircraft, UAV, HAPS or a comparable safety-critical environment.

· Strong technical understanding of aircraft stability, flight dynamics, aerodynamics, control theory and flight control law development.

· Proficiency with MATLAB, Simulink and associated modelling, simulation and analysis toolsets.

· Experience defining requirements, supporting verification activity and producing clear technical documentation for complex engineering systems.

· Ability to interpret flight test data and telemetry, extract meaningful engineering insight and communicate recommendations that support safe test progression.

· Demonstrated ability to work effectively across multidisciplinary teams, influencing decisions through sound engineering judgement and clear communication.

· Comfortable taking ownership of technical work packages, balancing analytical rigour with practical delivery in a fast-paced engineering environment.

· Willingness to support flight campaigns and, where required, deploy overseas for flight test or engineering activities.

In addition to an attractive market-aligned salary, we offer:

Rewarding Excellence: Benefit from our short-term incentive plan that rewards your hard work and dedication.

Enjoy Your Time Off

Stay Healthy: We’ve got your health covered with private medical insurance, along with dental and optical cash back.

Secure Your Future: Take advantage of our personal pension plan to ensure a comfortable retirement.

Peace of Mind: Our income protection and life assurance schemes are there to support you when you need it most.

Getting around: Drive the latest vehicles with our discounted salary sacrifice scheme.

We Care About You: Our employee assistance programme is always available to provide the support you need.

Perks Galore: Enjoy a range of employee discounts via Perkbox, from household goods to travel!

Does this opportunity excite you but you’re not 100% sure if you meet all the requirements for the role? Or are you concerned that ‘normal’ office hours aren’t possible given your personal circumstances? Whilst we can’t accommodate every flexible working request, we’ll try to find a practical solution. So why not engage with us and find out more about this role?

If this role isn’t quite what you’re looking for but are keen to be contacted about opportunities at AALTO, you can register your details here: https://careers.aaltohaps.com/connect