Principal / Lead Systems Engineer - Naval

Job Description:

Your impact

Are you a Systems Engineer who loves contributing to the UKs Defence Industry and making impactful change? We are looking for a Principal or Lead Systems Engineer to provide technical support within the Cyber and Electro Magnetic Activities (CEMA) and Integrated Communication Systems (ICS) business group, covering Naval Systems.

Within the Naval Systems IPT, the projects are diverse and exciting. There is a portfolio of work from core products that have been in service for many years, requiring support alongside forward looking developments, technology demonstrators and research projects. With customer intimacy and close collaboration with other organisations across the industry, we work to achieve a market leading position in products primarily relating to RF, Comms and Networking based domains. The opportunity to be involved as a Principal or Lead Systems Engineer represents a chance to be at the heart of a range of technologies and exciting projects across the full engineering lifecycle.

In this role, you will work as part of a multi‑disciplinary IPT, supporting the current Chief Project Engineers who are the technical leaders for our products and projects. These projects will push the boundaries of innovation, technology, and the ingenuity of our engineering community to provide the required level of performance and capability of our various customers.

Key Responsibility Areas:

• Own the technical solution for your system or sub‑system, as delegated by the SDA, through all phases of the solution development by representing Leonardo with external stakeholders and representing the Line of Business with internal stakeholders to ensure all elements of Product development are considered as part of the integrated solution
• As a technical lead on the project, ensuring governance is followed and that you keep up to date on related processes and requirements
• Work closely with the SDA and wider development teams and supply chain to ensure that your system or subsystem is developed to meet the requirements flowed down from the higher system level requirements, taking into account the End Users need and looking to understand their Concept of Use and Operation
• Ensure your system or subsystem is compliant with any performance, legislative and contractual requirements, with a strategy for completing a traceable evidence set in place and that any deviations to compliance are clearly recorded and managed appropriately
• Support the assembly of evidence for your systems or subsystem to validate, verify and qualify in support of a Certificate of Design or Declaration of Design Performance
• Ensure robust quality, performance, cost and time trade‑offs are undertaken and then to establish the technical solution coherent with the agreed budgets and timescales
• Provide technical direction, control, evaluation and recommendations with respect to risks and opportunities for your system or subsystem
• Lead and mentor more junior members of the technical team to enable a cost effective design programme and good product solution results
• Manage and communicate issues and opportunities to the Systems Design Authority

What you’ll bring

The Principal or Lead Systems Engineer will need to:

• Be able to achieve Design Authority (DA) status for systems and/or sub‑systems, approved by the SDA and Chief Engineer Design Integrity, in accordance with the Leonardo Design Integrity framework.
• Work as a technical lead within their area of specialism, to ensure our products are implemented in accordance with the design and architecture approved by the SDA
• Ensure independent product assurance through Design Reviews and ensuring company processes are adhered to (eg functional reviews)
• Be responsible for ensuring the delivered product design, compliance, safety and integrity under the supervision of the SDA
• Work as part of a multi‑disciplined project team in close partnership with key stakeholders.

You really must have:

• A strong background in development of complex military products
• Have experience in developing systems solutions within at least one of the following: IP networking, RF or Comms domains.
• Experience of working with Requirements, Test, Qualification and Acceptance strategies.
• Experience of managing the Design Standard and associated Configuration Management.
• Experience in gaining Design Certification and Customer Acceptance.
• Have the ability to develop technical solutions, compliant with requirements within agreed programme budgets and timescales.
• Have the ability to produce innovative system solutions.
• Possess excellent communication and interpersonal skills, to be able to interact with SMEs and End Users of various nationalities regarding a wide range of technical and operational topics.
• Be a self‑motivated leader and team player capable of working with minimal direction.

It would be nice if you had:

• Knowledge of IP networking, RF and Comms equipment in the customer domain
• Experience of developing products for Naval platforms
• Knowledge of Training Development
• Knowledge of Software Development
• Degree qualified in a relevant Engineering or Scientific discipline (or equivalent)
• Chartered engineer / member of the Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET)
• Have substantial analytical and technical problem solving skills.

Security Clearance

This role is subject to pre‑employment screening in line with the UK Government’s Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS). An additional range of Personnel Security Controls referred to as National Security Vetting (NSV) may apply, this could include meeting the eligibility requirements for The Security Check (SC) or Developed Vetting (DV). For more information and guidance please visit:

Salary Range:

• Principal Engineer £54k - £71k
• Lead Engineer - £67k - £81k

Where this vacancy is being recruited across more than one grade, the successful candidate will be appointed to a specific assessed grade, and the applicable salary range will be that associated with the grade of appointment.

Leonardo UK operates a grade‑based salary framework with broad bands. The salary range shown reflects the approved grade band for this role, or a narrower hiring range published within that band, and is benchmarked against the external market. Exceptions above the standard range are managed through governance controls to protect internal equity.

Why join us

• Time to Recharge: Enjoy generous leave with the opportunity to accrue up to 12 additional flexi‑days each year.
• Secure your Future: Benefit from our award‑winning pension scheme with up to 15% employer contribution.
• Your Wellbeing Matters: Free access to mental health support, financial advice, and employee‑led networks championing inclusion and diversity (Enable, Pride, Equalise, Armed Forces, Carers, Wellbeing and Ethnicity).
• Rewarding Performance : All employees at management level and below are eligible for our bonus scheme.
• Never Stop Learning : Free access to 4,000+ online courses via Coursera and LinkedIn Learning.
• Refer a friend: Receive a financial reward through our referral programme.
• Tailored Perks : Spend up to £500 annually on flexible benefits including private healthcare, dental, family cover, tech & lifestyle discounts, gym memberships and more.
• Flexible working: Flexible hours with hybrid working options. For part time opportunities, please talk to us about what might be possible for this role.

For a full list of our company benefits please visit our website.

Leonardo is a global leader in Aerospace, Defence, and Security. Headquartered in Italy, we employ over 53,000 people worldwide including 8,500 across 9 sites in the UK. Our employees are not just part of a team—they are key contributors to shaping innovation, advancing technology, and enhancing global safety.

At Leonardo we are committed to building an inclusive, accessible, and welcoming workplace. We believe that a diverse workforce sparks creativity, drives innovation, and leads to better outcomes for our people and our customers. If you have any accessibility requirements to support you during the recruitment process, just let us know.

Be part of something bigger - apply now!

Primary Location:

GB - Southampton

Contract Type:

Permanent

Hybrid Working:

Hybrid

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