A Reading-based company, founded in 2014, that builds the digital air traffic systems drones need to fly safely alongside crewed aircraft.
Altitude Angel builds the airspace infrastructure that lets drones and crewed aircraft share the sky. Think of it as the road signs, traffic lights and rules of the road for low-level flight, but delivered as software. Its first public product, the Drone Safety Map in 2015, showed drone pilots where they could and could not fly. Since then it has added Drone Assist, a mobile flight planning tool launched with NATS in 2016, and the GuardianUTM family of products. UTM stands for unmanned traffic management, which means systems that keep track of many drones at once so they do not collide or stray into restricted areas. Its timeline also describes Arrow, which it calls a superhighway in the sky, with patents granted for the system and for automated air traffic, plus a Conflict Resolution Service and a Pop-up UTM solution. The company says its platform supports more than 50,000 drone flights a month in 152 countries, from delivering medicine in sub-Saharan Africa to food delivery in Ireland.
Richard Parker founded the company in 2014. On its own timeline it describes itself as the lower airspace experts, creating pathways to advanced air mobility. We did not find a longer written mission statement, so we have not invented one. What the timeline does show is a clear purpose: making it safe and routine for drones to fly in everyday airspace, which is what has to happen before drone deliveries, inspections and air taxis can become normal. It lists ISO 9001, ISO 27001 and Cyber Essentials certifications, which are marks of good quality and security practice, and awards in 2020 and 2024.
Altitude Angel was founded in Reading, and it remains headquartered there. In 2021 it moved into larger offices in central Reading, in a building called The Blade. It also opened a Dutch company, Altitude Angel B.V., in 2019 to serve European customers. Its timeline lists partnerships with NATS, which runs UK air traffic control, as well as BT, the insurer Coverdrone and DJI. A consortium including BT and Altitude Angel planned a UK drone superhighway, and a local Reading news site covered Reading's part in that plan.
The timeline shows the team growing from 10 people in 2017 to 100 in 2024, which are the company's own figures. Its careers page says its team draws on aviation, software and product experts, and describes diversity and inclusion as central to its culture and products. It lists perks including 25 or more days of holiday, hybrid working, mental health support, a pension, a cycle-to-work scheme, a referral bonus, team socials and a weekly coffee and cake morning. These are the company's own claims and we have not checked them independently.
The jobs at a company like this cover software engineering, systems engineering, aviation and regulation experts, product management, and commercial and customer teams who work with drone operators, airports and governments. If you are interested in computing, maths, geography, physics or aviation, there is plenty of overlap with what the company does. Its job board lists current openings, and it also invites people to send an introduction if no role fits.
Website: www.altitudeangel.com
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