Physically build UAV prototypes end-to-end — from design concept and material selection through to first flight, take full ownership through the entire engineering design cycles till a working prototype is achieved.

Apply engineering rigour to informal knowledge: if you learned it in a club field or a shed, document it, systematise it, and make it repeatable. Learn from your mistakes and update your designs.

Demonstrable end-to-end experience across a full engineering development cycle: concept, design, analysis, detail design, prototyping, programming, testing, iterate, repeat and have fun.

Comfort with ambiguity and fast iteration — you've shipped hardware under competition pressure and know what good-enough-to-test looks like versus good-enough-to-deploy. Perfection is the enemy of good enough for prototyping.

Strong spatial and logical problem solving mindset; you can look at a broken airframe and know what happened before anyone tells you. You can see a path to the root cause and can imply corrective actions quickly.

Active A2/A3 drone pilot certification or equivalent national licence

Exposure to fixed-wing platforms, not just multirotor

Workshop or motorsport background — you love to build stuff not just a pencil pusher.