The UK arm of Portuguese drone maker Tekever, with sites in Southampton, Wales and the South East, building surveillance drones and growing its British workforce.
Tekever is a drone and unmanned systems company founded in Portugal in 2001, and Tekever UK is its British arm. It makes long-range surveillance drones, including the AR3 and the larger AR5, which the company says have flown more than 10,000 hours in Ukraine. A UK project called StormShroud is an electronic warfare system for the Royal Air Force based on the AR3, designed to support crewed aircraft. Its UK team works on artificial intelligence, sensors and the Ground Control Station, the software and screens used to fly and manage a drone. In July 2024 a trade site reported the company's first entirely UK-made aircraft.
Tekever's chief executive is Ricardo Mendes. In coverage of its UK expansion he is quoted as saying that defence technology is no longer a niche, and the company describes building up sovereign manufacturing capability in Britain, meaning making what the UK needs on British soil. The company's news pages do not give a single mission statement, so we have not written one for it. Its UK Wales announcement says its British engineers work with UK universities and research institutes to guide research and develop future talent.
Tekever UK began in Southampton, with offices on the University of Southampton Science Park, where a small team set up a centre of excellence in autonomy and data exploitation. A second UK site opened at West Wales Airport in Aberporth, chosen for its segregated airspace where drone software and hardware can be tested. The company's footer also lists a Bristol office. A UK government news item and company announcements refer to a facility in the South East and to jobs in the South West and Wales. Reports on a larger investment programme say the company plans to create more than 1,000 UK jobs and double its British workforce, mostly in engineering, advanced manufacturing and AI development.
The Southampton page describes a start-up feel and an aim to build a new technology company in the UK, with a small team with unmanned systems and communications experience. Its CEO has said the UK is home to some of the brightest minds and that tech companies can succeed beyond London and Silicon Fen. The company advertises cross-functional training and rapid career development. These are the company's claims, and the figures on future hiring are plans rather than results.
Work in the UK teams spans aeronautical, mechanical and software engineering, AI development, flight test and training teams who prepare operators, and production staff as manufacturing grows. Maths, physics, engineering and computing are the natural starting subjects. Because the company works with defence customers such as the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy, some roles may need security clearance, so read each advert carefully. Its website lists current openings.
Website: www.tekever.com
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