Job Description
Principal Configuration & DMU / Space Allocation Engineer
Reports to: Chief Engineer - Platform (Aircraft) for technical authority; Head of Engineering - Platform for delivery and resourcing.
Level / phase: L3 (Principal, individual contributor) · Phase 2 · Platform stream, cross-domain
Key interfaces: Principal Aircraft Conceptual Design & MDAO; Principal Mass Properties; all Domain Chief Engineers; Principal EWIS & Wiring Integration; Chief Engineer - Structures; Manufacturing and Industrialisation (COO org); PLM and Engineering Tools.
Purpose of the Role
You own the aircraft digital mock-up and the allocation of physical space. On a clean-sheet aircraft with distributed propulsion, a large battery installation, a medical cabin and a routing problem across composite structure, physical space is a contested resource with no natural owner. Unallocated space becomes a late clash, and late clashes are expensive.
This role holds the geometric truth of the aircraft: zonal definition, space allocation to each domain, envelope and clearance control, clash detection and resolution, and maintenance and installation access.
Role Boundaries
You own zonal and space allocation, the digital mock-up and clash resolution process. You do not design any installation, and you do not own the PLM platform or the toolchain, which sit with PLM and Engineering Tools. Where domains dispute space you arbitrate on the record and escalate unresolved conflicts to the Chief Engineer - Platform.
Key Responsibilities
- Own the aircraft zonal definition and space allocation to domains, including battery bay, powertrain compartments, avionics bays, cabin and routing corridors.
- Own the digital mock-up: assembly structure, configuration rules, version and baseline control, and the rules by which domains publish geometry into it.
- Own clash detection and resolution: routine clash runs, dispositioning, and arbitration between competing installations.
- Own envelope, clearance and tolerance control, including thermal and vibration movement and structural deflection.
- Own maintenance and installation access as a design requirement, working with continued airworthiness and industrialisation.
- Own routing corridor allocation with EWIS and with fluid and cooling systems.
- Support mass properties with geometric and installation data on consistent assumptions.
- Maintain the geometric configuration baseline through design changes and report configuration status.
Required Experience: Must Have
- 10+ years in aircraft configuration, installation or digital mock-up engineering, including at least four on a development aircraft programme.
- Personal ownership of a digital mock-up or aircraft configuration baseline, including assembly structure and version control.
- Space allocation and zonal management on a programme where space was genuinely contested.
- Clash detection and resolution at aircraft level, and the arbitration that goes with it.
- Envelope, clearance and tolerance control including movement and deflection allowances.
- Working within a PLM and CAD environment at aircraft assembly scale.
Required Experience: Preferred
- Clean-sheet aircraft configuration from concept through detailed design.
- eVTOL or unconventional configuration, including distributed propulsion installation.
- Maintenance access and installation design for a high-utilisation operator.
- Routing corridor management with electrical and fluid systems.
- Model-based definition and its use as released engineering data.