Principal Systems Engineer

Job Description

Your Impact

Are you looking to advance your career and work on technology that will shape the future of defence? Does working on developing systems for current and future military aircraft sound like a challenge that would be of interest? If you have skills in systems engineering and five years UK residency, we are looking for engineers to join us at Leonardo in Bristol in a predominantly office and laboratory-based role.

What you’ll do as a Systems Engineer

• Development of Integration and Test Plans
• Control of Parts and Documentation, including change management
• Collaboration with multi-functional teams on system and sub-system development
• Work with suppliers, integrators, and users across the UK

Our Systems Engineers work in multidisciplinary teams spanning a range of activities pulling together the necessary engineering and technology strands into a high-performance system, bridging the gap between the theoretically possible and the practically implementable.

Examples of Work

• Engaging with stakeholders, defining requirements for a new system
• Conducting cost and functional performance trade-offs and evaluation of proposed solutions
• Integrating new functionality into an existing system
• Development of capability within limitations and constraints of the target hardware
• Root-cause analysis of anomalies observed during integration or evaluation activities
• Designing and conducting testing and trials to prove equipment function and performance
• Opportunities to lead technical activities and initiatives
• Mentoring and coaching other engineers
• Creating and delivering reports, presentations and proposals to customers and industry partners
• Supporting knowledge sharing and exploitation of good practice

What you’ll bring

• A science-based Honours degree or equivalent experience
• Experience or a desire to gain electronic warfare domain knowledge
• Knowledge of the systems engineering lifecycle, particularly in the following areas:
  • Problem definition
  • Requirements engineering, including the use of IBM DOORS
  • Systems Architecture
  • Integration, Test and Evaluation
  • Verification and Validation

It would be desirable if you had experience from some of the following:

• Experience of working with related specialisms such as safety, security, airworthiness or reliability
• Domain-specialist knowledge such as:
  • Digital signal processing
  • RF systems
  • Multi-sensor data fusion and tracking
  • Real time data simulation/generation
  • Military Electronic systems
  • Data analysis using AI or Machine Learning
  • Operational Experience in Electronic Intelligence or Electronic Warfare

Security Clearance

This role is subject to pre-employment screening in line with the UK Government’s Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS), along with an additional range of Personnel Security Controls referred to as National Security Vetting (NSV), including meeting the eligibility requirements for The Security Check (SC) or Developed Vetting (DV). For more information and guidance please visit: https://careers.uk.leonardo.com/gb/en/security-and-vetting. Due to the nature of the work and its connections to UK Defence strategy, applicants must have five years UK Residency and hold a UK Passport.

Salary Range

• Principal Engineer £55,000 to £68,000

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

At Leonardo, our people are at the heart of everything we do. We offer a comprehensive, company-funded benefits package that supports your wellbeing, career development, and work–life balance. Whether you're looking to grow professionally, care for your health, or plan for the future, we’re here to help you thrive.

• 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.

Primary Location

GB - Bristol - Coldharbour Lane

Contract Type

Permanent

Hybrid Working

Onsite

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